The Diabetic Difference (Type 1 and Type 2)

I will be referring to type 1 diabetes as T1 and type 2 diabetes as T2.
Many of you are probably aware of diabetes (if you don't already have it) and its pandemic level of importance in our society today. Most people (especially the ones diagnosed with T2 in my experience) are still not aware of the differences between the two types of diabetes.

As soon as I tell someone I am a diabetic, I can feel them judging my life choices as an adult. Once they hear that I've had diabetes since I was a kid, I can feel them judging my choices as a kid and my parents to some degree. Now you may say that I am being paranoid and in reality it might not be the case, you may be correct in some cases but mostly I believe I am accurate in my assessment and I'll explain why.

Now when most people hear the word diabetes, they think of a disease that is caused by horrible eating habits and being fat. To be fair to them, this is the image shown in every pharmaceutical commercial for diabetes medication all over main stream media. Plus there are more children being diagnosed with T2 diabetes these days as well as obesity. So sometimes you as a T1 diabetic have to explain to another person (diabetic or non-diabetic) that you are not like them. That this disease was not your doing and that its not something you can cure. I'll explain what the main differences are between the two types of diabetes.

T1 is an autoimmune disease caused by your immune system attacking your pancreas. This prevents the insulin hormone to be formed causing your blood sugar levels to be high all the time. So a person diagnosed with T1 Diabetes has to take insulin, maintain a well planned diet and exercise in order to live a healthy life. T1 is not curable as of yet but there is always hope with new advances in medicine.

T2 is a disease where your overworked pancreas produces a lot of insulin but other factors such as lack of proper diet, exercise, and even genetics has caused your body to be insulin resistant. Insulin resistance is when your body stops responding to a certain level of insulin that it makes naturally and needs to be aided. This is where you need to have meds or extra insulin to provide additional support to your body in order to be healthy. Also, you have to overhaul your entire lifestyle and live a cleaner, healthier life, with a modified diet and moderate exercise on a regular basis. T2 is curable usually by losing weight and maintaining a clean, healthy diet.

Now I am just scratching the surface of T1 and T2 it is usually more complicated than what I just described