Complaints & connections · borters.ch
Here insulin is missing entirely — it is not a consequence of lifestyle but an autoimmune disease.
Also known as: type 1 diabetes · insulin-dependent diabetes · juvenile diabetes
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
An autoimmune disease in which the immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas — fundamentally different from type 2 diabetes despite the shared name. It usually begins in childhood or adolescence but can occur at any age. Signs develop over weeks and are characteristic: intense thirst, frequent urination including at night, unintended weight loss despite appetite, fatigue, sometimes fruity-smelling breath. This is an urgent situation — untreated, a dangerous metabolic crisis can follow. Treatment is lifelong insulin; modern pumps and sensors have greatly eased daily life. Type 1 is neither caused by diet or lifestyle, nor curable.
Less sugar, white flour and sugary drinks lowers spikes and, over time, HbA1c most directly.
Even 10–15 min of walking after a meal markedly lowers the spike — muscle pulls glucose from the blood.
Less (especially visceral) fat strongly improves insulin sensitivity — often the single most effective lever.
Insulin replaces what the pancreas no longer makes — it is replacement, not treatment of the cause. The dose follows carbohydrates, movement and time of day; so it is less a medicine than a craft that is learned.
HbA1c reflects the last eight to twelve weeks, because red cells live about 120 days — so it does not change within days. After the diagnosis many go through a recovery phase of weeks to months in which less insulin is needed; it passes and does not mean a cure. Insulin acts, depending on type, after ten to twenty minutes or only after one to two hours — that difference decides the gap between injection and meal.
Drinking a great deal, passing a great deal of water — at night too —, losing weight despite a normal or large appetite, and a growing tiredness. These four together, over days to a few weeks, are the picture.
A child who wets the bed again after being dry for a long time, with constant thirst and weight loss. That is one of the most common first pointers — and it is often explained away.
Belly pain, vomiting, breath smelling of acetone or nail polish remover, very deep and fast breaths, drowsiness. That is the acid state and an emergency — not a stomach bug.
Trembling, sweating, palpitations, ravenous hunger, irritability and confusion that vanish within minutes after glucose. Anyone who no longer feels their own heralds needs different targets — that belongs discussed.
A thyroid illness, coeliac disease and more rarely adrenal failure occur together more often. So with unexplained tiredness, belly complaints or swinging sugar the look goes there too.
Low values are common with raised body weight because the vitamin is bound in fat tissue. Correcting it makes sense; as a means of losing weight there are no studies.
Involved in the action of insulin inside the cell. With poorly controlled sugar it is lost through the urine — a circle that can be closed.
Metformin lowers the uptake measurably over years. With tingling in the feet under this treatment B12 belongs checked before it is put down to nerve damage from the sugar.
They slow the uptake of sugar from the meal and satisfy for longer. Pulses, oats, vegetables and wholegrain work differently from a powder out of a tin.
In type 1 diabetes the level is more often low. An influence on the course is not established; correction is worthwhile for the usual reasons — bone and muscle.
Effective when deficient; effects on sleep and stress plausible but moderate. Too much causes loose stool.
Clearly worthwhile and well supported when deficient — vegan, older adults, certain drugs. No energy boost without a deficiency.
The insulin dose follows the carbohydrates in the meal. One bread unit is 10–12 g; misjudging by 20 g means being off by 1–2 units depending on the factor.
A fatty meal makes sugar rise later and longer — with pizza often only after 3–5 hours. That is the most common reason for high readings late in the evening.
Movement lowers sugar for hours afterwards — the most common reason for night-time hypos after evening sport. The insulin dose is therefore adjusted beforehand, not after.
In type 1 diabetes the level is more often low. An influence on the course of the disease is not established; correction is worthwhile for the usual reasons — bone and muscle.