Living with the syringe

It usually begins as a teenager: The worse affected are in school and in sports. Take it off without it they want. Increasingly, they are thirsty and have to go to the toilet as often. These symptoms are typical for type 1 diabetes

In Germany there are about 250,000 people with type 1 diabetes. What goes wrong in their body, is easy to describe your pancreas produces no insulin. This hormone is a vital strike in the energy metabolism: Insulin helps many body cells to absorb sugar - the one fuel that the cells need to survive.

Lack of insulin, glucose enters the no longer in the cells of muscles, but instead he stays in the blood and accumulates there. Thus, the body loses a lot of water. At the same time mobilizing the body's fat reserves, and transform them into energy. So acid occur in the blood. Then the person gets no insulin, he is unconscious - the body is fighting for survival.
Blame for the drama is usually the immune system

There are several reasons why the pancreas is not working properly. Usually it is the body's immune system. It focuses its weapons against its own cells. In the case of type 1 diabetes against those cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. The immune system classifies these so-called beta cells as intruders and mistakenly attacks them one until they are destroyed.

Why the immune system starts this campaign of destruction is yet to be clarified in detail. Scientists suspect that direct the body's defense against viruses is misleading, for example, can trigger such viruses, measles, rubella or mumps. However, there are other causes of diabetes. In a specific variant of type 1 diabetes, type 1B diabetes, the pancreas cells that make their insulin production for no apparent reason. However, playing in both versions of the diabetes genes play a certain role.
Critical: the right amount of insulin

People with type 1 diabetes rely on insulin for life. How much must you inject it depends on your lifestyle, your age and your metabolism. If you constantly inject just a bit too much, it affects your body from fatal: The blood of over-sugared and over again and grabs arteries, kidneys, nerves and eyes. If worst comes to worst, the kidney fails blind, eyes, limbs die and have to be amputated, the heart suffers a heart attack. If you forgot to inject insulin, the risk of severe hyperglycemia. Then you can even slip into a coma.

The other extreme is the hypoglycaemia. It occurs when you give the body more insulin than it needs, for example before exercise. Then your brain goes out of fuel. You will notice this because you are distracted and nervous, perhaps even aggressive. Maybe your skin looks pale and other people perceive you as confused. You may talk nonsense and can not find your way around. If you drink at the first signs of low blood sugar or something sweet to eat immediately, you become unconscious.

Cure type 1 diabetes can not: the daily injections will remain lifelong habit for those affected. But well-treated they can lead an almost normal life.