Eli5: How diabetes work and how insulin helps diabetics?
In: 5
Carbohydrates are the sugars that get turned into energy. Insulin is what does that. The pancreas is what creates insulin. Diabetics have non/partial functioning pancreases. Instead of our body creating it and dispensing it automatically, we calculate and inject it ourselves. There is a lot more that can be detailed, but that’s the description I got when I was diagnosed at 6.
Insulin levels are (and this is an oversimplification) signals your body uses to regulate how much sugar is in your blood.
When your blood sugar is high, the body releases insulin. This chemical helps the body’s cells absorb and use the sugar. This brings the blood sugar levels down to more manageable levels.
Diabetics either have a resistance to insulin (Type 2) or have a condition that prevents them from producing it (Type 1). Without insulin, blood sugars can get dangerously high.
The cells of the body use insulin to absorb glucose(sugar) for energy which reduces the amount of sugar in the blood. Type 2 diabetics don’t produce enough insulin for their cells to use to absorb glucose so they end up with too much sugar in their blood. Type 1 diabetics don’t make any of their own insulin. Taking insulin is a substitute for the body not producing it in quantities needed.
Glucose is a sugar molecule and is the main fuel source for most of your cells. The problem is that it’s a rather large molecule, so it has to go through a specific gate to get into the cell. Insulin is the key to that gate.
There’s multiple types of diabetes:
1. Used to be called “Juvenile Diabetes” because it mostly starts early in life, but adults can develop it. We don’t know why, but for some reason the cells in the pancreas that create insulin stop/die off. So a Type 1 diabetic *has* to introduce insulin from an outside source, they have none of their own. This can be done with injection or a pump.
2. Used to be “Adult onset”, but unfortunately we’re seeing it in children now as well. This is a more gradual onset, where the body slowly becomes resistant to it’s own insulin. Back to the lock and key metaphor, imagine that the lock is slowly becoming rusty….you can still make the key work, but it takes more tries and more force, until eventually you break the key in the lock. That’s basically what happens. This is because the body doesn’t understand why the insulin isn’t working right, it just assumes that it must not have produced enough to start with. So it signals for more insulin, not realizing the issue is the lock, not the key. A Type 2 diabetic doesn’t need insulin initially, and often takes medications that helps make their body respond better to their own insulin. But eventually the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas can get burnt out and die. They may need to take insulin then, usually by injection.
3. Gestational diabetes happens when pregnant women start developing insulin resistance. We have no idea why, and it often resolves after delivery, although the mother remains at higher risk with subsequent pregnancies. Additionally the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life is higher.
4. Diabetes Insipidus is a whole ‘nother thing that we don’t need to go into unless you wanted to.
Latest Answers