Did you know that people with Type 1 diabetes don’t just lose the ability to produce insulin?
Most people know Type 1 diabetes as the disease that requires insulin.
They see the Dexcom sensors on our arms. The insulin pumps attached to our bodies. The Omnipods, the needles, the glucose monitors, and the devices that seem to be constantly beeping at us.
And understandably, that’s what they associate with Type 1 diabetes.
But what people physically see is only a fraction of what living with this disease actually involves.
Because Type 1 diabetes isn’t just about insulin… It’s about an entire system in our bodies that no longer works the way it’s supposed to.
And something that I think is rarely talked about, even within the Type 1 community, is that insulin isn’t the only hormone we’re missing.
There’s another one called amylin.
Never heard of it? I wouldn’t be surprised.
Amylin is a hormone normally produced by the same pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin. In a functioning pancreas, these two hormones are released together, particularly when we eat.
While insulin helps our bodies regulate glucose, amylin plays its own important role.
It helps slow the movement of food from our stomach into our intestines. It helps communicate feelings of fullness to our brain. And it helps regulate glucagon, another hormone involved in controlling blood sugar.
Essentially, these hormones work together to help our bodies process food and maintain balance.
But when someone develops Type 1 diabetes, their immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in their pancreas.
And those beta cells don’t just produce insulin… They produce amylin, too.
So for most of us living with established Type 1 diabetes, our bodies are deficient (or simply just don’t create) in BOTH.
Think about that for a second.
Most people understand that I have to give myself insulin because my body no longer produces enough or any of it.
But how many people realize that another hormone involved in digestion, appetite regulation, and blood sugar control is also missing?
And unlike insulin, which I replace through my Omnipod every single day, amylin isn’t something that most people with Type 1 routinely replace.
That doesn’t mean we all experience the same appetite or digestive issues. Our bodies have other systems that help regulate those functions.
But it does mean we’re missing another piece of the incredibly complicated process that normally happens automatically when someone eats.
And that’s just ONE example.
There’s also glucagon, a hormone that helps raise blood sugar when it gets too low.
Our bodies can still produce glucagon, but the way it’s regulated can become disrupted in Type 1 diabetes.
The normal glucagon response to falling blood sugar can become impaired. At the same time, glucagon can be released inappropriately after meals, contributing to blood sugar spikes.
So now we’re talking about insulin, amylin, glucagon, digestion, appetite, and the complicated relationship between all of them.
And that’s before we even begin talking about exercise, stress, sleep, illness, adrenaline, hormones, or the countless other things that influence blood sugar.
This is what I wish more people understood about Type 1 diabetes.
It’s not simply that my body doesn’t produce insulin, so I wear a pump to replace it.
It’s that my body has lost a critical part of its ability to regulate itself.
And now, every single day, I’m responsible for trying to recreate part of a biological process that 99.886% of the world population will never have to think about.
When someone without diabetes eats a meal, their body automatically coordinates an incredibly complicated series of hormonal responses.
They don’t have to calculate how many carbohydrates they’re eating.
They don’t have to consider whether the fat or protein in their meal might delay their blood sugar rising.
They don’t have to decide how much insulin to take, when to take it, or whether the amount they calculated will actually be enough.
They don’t have to wonder whether going for a walk afterward will cause their blood sugar to drop.
Their bodies just do it.
Mine doesn’t. Type 1 Diabetics doesn’t.
And even with some of the most incredible diabetes technology available today, I still have to make decisions constantly to help my body do something it was originally designed to do on its own.
My Dexcom can tell me what my glucose is doing.
My Omnipod can deliver insulin and automatically adjust delivery based on glucose readings.
But neither one can perfectly replicate the complex hormonal coordination of a functioning pancreas.
And neither one makes Type 1 diabetes disappear.
I think that’s something that gets lost when we talk about how far diabetes technology has come.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly grateful for it.
The technology I wear today has changed my life, and I cannot imagine managing this disease without it.
But better technology doesn’t mean the disease itself has become simple.
A pump isn’t a pancreas.
A sensor isn’t a cure.
And an automated insulin delivery system isn’t the same thing as having a body that can regulate itself without intervention.
I also think it’s important to understand that Type 1 diabetes isn’t caused by poor lifestyle choices, eating too much sugar, or simply becoming resistant to insulin.
It’s an autoimmune disease.
My immune system attacked cells in my own body that I needed to survive.
And while much of my pancreas continues to function, the loss of those beta cells has consequences that go far beyond the absence of insulin.
That’s the reality of Type 1 diabetes that I wish more people could see.
Not just the devices.
Not just the finger pricks, the site changes, or the insulin.
But the constant responsibility of managing a body whose normal glucose-regulating system has been fundamentally disrupted.
Because the hardest parts of Type 1 diabetes aren’t always the things you can physically see.
Sometimes they’re the invisible biological challenges.
Sometimes they’re the hundreds of decisions we make without even realizing we’re making them.
And sometimes they’re the simple fact that there is never a moment when we get to stop being responsible for something our bodies were supposed to handle automatically.
So the next time you see someone wearing a Dexcom or an insulin pump, I hope you recognize that what you’re seeing is only a small part of the story.
There’s so much more happening beneath the surface.
And that is exactly why awareness matters.
Because Type 1 diabetes is so much more than insulin. And living with it is so much more than what you see.
SEE T1D.
#SeeT1D #DiabetesAwarenessMonth #Type1Diabetes #T1D #BreakthroughT1D
