Today’s Prompt: Profound

The modern approach to treating diabetes is profoundly different from the way it was in the mid-20th century.

In the late 1950’s, it was noticed that while some people with diabetes can make their own insulin, some others can’t. Thus a classification of diabetes was coined: insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent. The former was thought to be a Type 1 and the latter, Type 2. Back then, it was not uncommon to hear that someone with Type 2 became a Type 1.  The only criteria to differentiate the two types was the fact of either having or not having to take insulin as a treatment.

Today this sounds profoundly confusing because now we know that the two types are materially different in a way other than being “insulin-dependent” or not, and besides, someone with T2D can become “insulin-dependent” as well. But back then, no one knew better.

Now we know that Type 1 Diabetes is a condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin, a hormone needed to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells in order to produce energy. Type 2 Diabetes, on the other hand, occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn’t make enough insulin.

Both Type 1 and Type 2 can happen to people of any age, whether a child or an adult. And then, there is a Type 1.5 or LADA which I will blog about later.

This post was written in response to The Daily Post Prompt:  PROFOUND.