![]() ![]() It’s really easy to confuse two things with essentially the same name (because…obviously). People aren’t crazy - there are some really good reasons why they confuse type 1 and type 2 diabetes! Similarity #1: It’s (literally) in the name But First: Why It’s Easy to Mix Up Types of Diabetes With a diabetes diagnosis comes a ton of preconceptions of what it all means -some true and many others false - not to mention a bunch of questions like: Is it because you ate too much sugar? But you look so healthy! So does this mean you can’t eat candy anymore?Īs it turns out, type 1 and type 2 diabetes have some pretty important differences - both with how they affect the body and how they’re managed. It’s a global epidemic, affecting more than 400 million worldwide (and 30+ million in the US alone, representing 10% of the population). The Problem: MisconceptionsĮveryone knows someone with diabetes. ![]() If you’re reading this, hopefully you come away with a better understanding between the two. In this article, I’ll share the similarities and differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Maybe it was just old-school thinking, but more likely they made the mistake a lot of us do when they hear the word diabetes: they confused type 1 diabetes for type 2 diabetes. Looking back, it’s clear the staff got it wrong. And after some more research at home, I had type 1 diabetes -an autoimmune condition where my body no longer made enough insulin to regulate the sugar in my body - and I needed to regulate carbs and insulin for the food I ate… not to limit the number of calories I was eating. I was already 15 pounds underweight as a result of my diagnosis. I was already getting dizzy watching the nurse wave a syringe and plastic orange around when she hit me with the real doozy: We’re putting you on a 2,000 calorie a day diet plan. I had been having weird symptoms (like drinking a ton of water, peeing all the time, and losing a bunch of weight) for a couple months and I finally got the answer why. So there I was, sitting in a training room at the Hammond Clinic just minutes after being told I had type 1 diabetes. Which is why…when I was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the one thing that scared me more than needles was how it would impact what I could eat (at the time I was a freshman in college whose core diet consisted of dorm food, late-night pizza, and Subway). And then…so did my dad…(now that’s true love). ![]() My mom, not wanting to bring more attention to their food-starved son, proceeded to give me hers. We were all served fresh steak - and apparently, I wolfed mine down and immediately looked around for more. My parents still tell the story of me as a little kid going to dinner at a farm (ok, so I grew up in Indiana…). ![]()
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