Type 1 Diabetes: Top 5 Myths Busted

As per 10th October 2019, the Government survey found 11.8% diabetic cases from the total population in India. This autoimmune disease is one of the most serious health risks in modern society, it is not only a major cause of blindness but also may result in amputation and kidney failure. It is also responsible for heart disease and stroke. Yet despite its prevalence and severity, misconceptions about diabetes abound.

In this blog, I am about to bust the top 5 diabetes myths. Are you ready?

Myth 1: Only children get Type 1 diabetes:

Can you throw a wild guess on when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes? The answer is 24 years. As we are aware type 1 diabetes is also known as Juvenile diabetes, 24 years is definitely not a juvenile age. It was previously called juvenile diabetes because it mostly occurred in children and adolescents. Now, these statistics are changing and there is no specific reason why.

Myth 2: I have Type 1 Diabetes because I ate too much sugar:

We are aware type1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, it is a case in which your immune system falsely attacks your body. The duty of the immune system is to safeguard the body against germs like bacteria and viruses. Its job is to sense these harmful foreign invaders, then the immune system gets an army ready to fight them. An immune system can hence differentiate between foreign cells (harmful cells) and your own cells (healing cells). So what happens In an autoimmune disease? here the immune system confuses the parts of your body, like your joints or skin, as foreign. Because of this misguidance, the immune system unleashes its army to attack healthy cells. Few autoimmune diseases target only one organ. Type 1 diabetes damages the pancreas. Other diseases, like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), affect the whole body. If your type 1 diabetic, it ain’t your fault buddy. You have had sugar exactly as your neighbor did, the difference is his/her body can process sugars correctly, but yours can’t.

Myth 3: Insulin will harm me:

This statement has been believed to be true since its inception to date. Yes, I agree insulin is not simple as drops or an oral pill, its a bloody injection. With medical advancements and modernity, an injection that would need a vial inn which your insulin is stored, a syringe and a needle to suck the insulin out to make it injectable. Now an all in one device (Flex Pen) which makes insulin portable and life of a type 1 diabetic simpler. Do you still think if harms you? For a type 1 external insulin is the only medication to maintain stable blood sugars as we do not make it naturally. If an injection helps you to live longer and healthily, don’t you think it does you good?

Myth 4: An insulin pump is like an artificial pancreas:

Before we break this myth, let us learn what is an insulin pump. An insulin pump is a small, automated and computerized device that attempts to mimic the characteristics of the human pancreas. It delivers small doses of short-acting insulin continuously. The device also is used to deliver variable amounts of insulin when a meal is eaten making the efforts of injecting a needle in you multiple times a day.

Myth 5: Type 1 diabetes can be reversed with exercise and diet:

Many people confuse the management of type1 and type 2 diabetes. As the condition of both type 2 and type 2 are different, hence the treatment and cure also varies. As explained above type 1 is an autoimmune disease, where your good cells are attacked by mistake and we do not exactly why the body does that. If we would know the cause of this mistake, we could rectify it giving it a cure. There is no reversal other than a panacea transplant. Unlike a kidney, we all have only one: The pancreas, so a transplant is not a feasible remedy.

I believe that knowledge is power. With an open mind accept the myths and follow the tricks to manage diabetes well. 

Ref:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-diabetes/2020/01/03/9002680e-2d83-11ea-bcb3-ac6482c4a92f_story.html