Insulin Newbie

Just a friendly note that type 1 and type 2 diabetes are two completely different diseases-- they're both called diabetes, and they both involve glucose imbalance, and they both can be treated with insulin therapy, but they are caused by very different things-- type 1 is thought to be an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys its own pancreatic insulin-producing cells, whereas type 2 is a condition of insulin resistance, where usually, especially at first, there's plenty of circulating insulin, but the body's cells can't utilize it.

So when you ended up needing insulin, Terry, you didn't change from a type 2 to a type 1, you simply became an insulin requiring (or insulin dependent) type 2. Please don't think you have type 1 now, because you don't.

Just thought I'd step into the discussion and remind everyone of this, because there often is some confusion about what to call oneself when a type two finds himself needing insulin.

Judy D.

Some 6-7 years into my type-2 diagnosis, I've apparantly switched over to type-1. I've been dreading when my doctor would put me on insulin. I, too, hate needles. I cringe and whince when I get blood drawn for my A1C. I hate the finger sticks. But the diabetes educator nurse talks you through it - having you practice administering doses to an orange. It's not bad, really. The needles are extremely fine, some barely 1/4 inch long, so they don't penetrate deep. And you're usually injecting yourself in fleshy areas such as belly or thighs where there is no nerve endings (like in the fingertips). Despite my wimpiness when it comes to needles, I do manage to get up the courage to donate blood. Don't know how I do it.

Posted by: "Sherry"