Ten percent of the population has type 1 diabetes. It is known as juvenile onset diabetes and insulin-dependent diabetes. It strikes young children, adolescents, and young adults. It is thought to be an auto immune disease. Your own body kills the beta cells in the pancreas. The beta cells produce insulin. Without insulin your blood glucose levels skyrocket. The only treatment for type 1 diabetes is insulin injections. In the 1930s,insulin was manufactured from slaughtered cows and pigs. It was all that was available until the 1980s!

In 1978, using recombinant DNA techniques, scientists synthesized human insulin from the E coli bacteria. Eli Lily marketed the first human insulin, called Humulin, in 1982. In fact, "human insulin" does not come from human beings; rather, it is "synthetic insulin" manufactured from DNA sources, in a laboratory. This synthetic insulin is almost identical to the hormone produced by the human pancreas.

In 1995, Metformin became a drug of choice for type 2 diabetes. It helps the muscle cells use insulin. It also promotes weight loss and improves lipid levels (HDL and LDL).

Testing for diabetes

Regular testing of your blood glucose levels is important to prevent complications. Those complications are explained in other places on this web site.

The testing for diabetes at home, several times a day, uses a blood glucose meter and diabetes test strips. The glucose meter is the size of a cell phone. The diabetes tests strips are smaller than a paperclip. One end fits into the glucose meter and the other end accepts a drop of blood from your fingertip.

The worst part of home testing is pricking your finger. You really do get used to it. You learn how to prick your fingertip ever so gently. You need just a small drop of blood for the test.

The current glucose meters give you results in 5 seconds. They are very fast. The number is in milligrams per deciliter. And, the meters have a memory feature with the exact time of day you measured your glucose blood level.

In addition to home testing for diabetes, your doctor will order other diabetes blood tests. They include test for fasting blood glucose levels and hemoglobin A1C. The hemoglobin A1C test is a measure of the percent of hemoglobin with glucose attached to it. A level of 6.5% is considered diabetic.