Type 1 diabetes happens when your pancreas gives up on you and decides not to work anymore.

It can happen at any age with any type of life style. No one knows what causes this type

of diabetes, they say it might be genetic or a kind of virus...

What we know is that the immune system starts attacking pancreas and killing beta cells.

That's why they call it Autoimmune Diseases. So if you are a type 1 do not blame yourself,

it is not your fault.

Now you might be wondering what the pancreas is. It is sitting in your body next to your liver. When you eat carbohydrates or sugary food your pancreas should produce insulin. The insulin

is used to remove sugar from the blood stream and gets it into your cells so you can live. If your pancreas does not make insulin then you will end up with too much sugar (glucose) in your blood, this will make you sick. Being a Type 1 diabetic you need to get the insulin from somewhere else, because your lazy pancreas is no longer doing its job. The way we do this

is with insulin pens (small injections) or pumps (which are always attached to you).

The more carbohydrates (potatoes, bread, pasta etc...) you eat the more insulin you will need.

In a normal body it is the pancreas's job to calculate the correct amount of insulin for your body. But this does not happen when you are Type 1. You need to think like a pancreas and do the calculations yourself to figure out how much insulin you need.

There are many different factors that can effect the amount of insulin you need. Things such

as physical activity, food, sickness, emotional state, stress...

This means that you need to be smart about how much you inject, since getting it wrong means you will either have too much or too little insulin, which leads to being either hyperglycaemia (too much glucose/sugar in your blood from the carbs) or hypoglycaemia (not enough glucose

in your blood). Both will make you really sick.

Type 1 diabetes is a lot to do with developing problem solving skills and learning to use them.

Hypoglycaemia means that you do not have enough glucose in your blood. In a Type 1 diabetic person this happens when you have too much insulin and not enough glucose in your blood.

Our brain needs glucose all the time, just as much as our brain needs oxygen. If you cut off

the supply of oxygen to a person's brain (say by drowning), they will become unconscious.

It is just the same with glucose.

A hypo happens if: you don't eat enough, you miss a meal, you calculate wrong and inject too much insulin, you drink too much alcohol...

If your blood sugar is too low you will feel shaky, confused, sweaty, have a rapid heart beat, feel very hungry and sick. Not good. Its very important to treat your hypos as soon as possible, since it could make you unconscious and lead to a diabetic coma. So if you are a diabetic and feel

any of these symptoms check your blood sugar and eat something NOW, eat something sweet.

It's very important for us to keep our blood sugar levels within a specific range (between 4 and 7). You don't need to know what this number is, but get this number from checking your blood using a blood glucose meter. This will return the concentration of glucose in your blood

as a number (which in scientific speak is mmol/L) but the important thing to know is that

this special number should be between 4 and 7.

These little devices save our lives every single day. It's a love hate relationship and you have

to take them EVERYWHERE. You have one device to prick your fingers (Lancing device) so you bleed a little (just a little it's ok, no need for a plaster) and a second device (the meter) to test the blood for your glucose level (ie how much sugar do you have in your blood).

Some tips:

• Prick your fingers on the side of your finger (towards the tip) rather than on the pad
• of your finger.
• If you drop your hand down close to the floor after pricking it then wait for a few moments, the blood will rush into your hand. When you then squeeze out the blood you will get
• a much larger sample.
• Make sure your hands are clean before testing. If you have been handling something sweet before testing the residue of it on your fingers may get into your test and make it
• falsely high.
• You will get a much better sized drop of blood if your hands are warm before testing.

Exercise is very important. When you exercise you don't need as much insulin. It also helps

to maintain a better blood sugar level in your body. Basically it helps to control your diabetes and reduces the effect of long term complications.

Use it or loose it. Keeping your body fit and active will always help even if you are not diabetic, but for Type 1 you need to make exercise part of your life, no need to run marathons or swim over the ocean, but regular exercise is required.

Hyperglycaemia means that you have too much glucose in your blood. This happens when

you don't have enough insulin in your blood, so your body can not use the glucose.

When you have too much sugar in your blood you will be very thirsty all the time, you will

go to the toilet a lot, you will feel really tired and maybe even a bit sick. Probably when you

were diagnosed you went through all these symptoms and got sent to the hospital. High blood sugar is not dangerous just because of these symptoms, but because of the effect it has on your body in the long term (next 20-30 years).

If your blood sugar is high and you already know how to correct it with insulin then its better

to inject. If not then just drink lots of water and do not eat any more carbohydrates. If you feel sick or your blood sugar level doesn't come down then you should contact your diabetes consultant or doctor.