Type 1 diabetic, risk of developing type 2 diabetes? Answers from Dr Abdou Razak Moukaila, Internist and Diabetologist

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Extract from the article: Although the term diabetes is generally used to designate the disease associated with a tendency to have high blood sugar levels (glycaemia), it is important to know that there are two substantially different types of diabetes in terms of the mechani

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Although the term diabetes is generally used to designate the disease associated with a tendency to have high blood sugar levels (glycaemia), it is important to know that there are two substantially different types of diabetes in terms of the mechanism by which they occur: type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is considered to be an autoimmune disease because, for complex reasons, the subject's body begins to produce antibodies directed against the pancreas, which destroys the cells responsible for producing insulin. As a result, the body is deprived of insulin, the hormone that is essential for controlling the rise in blood sugar levels in the body. Type 1 diabetes generally occurs in young people, on average before the age of 25. It requires lifelong administration of insulin.

Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, is a form of diabetes that generally appears in middle-aged people in their forties.Its mechanism combines persistent insulin resistance or insulin deficiency, which stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin, a condition known as hyperinsulinism. The vicious circle of persistent insulin resistance and hyperinsulinism will, over the years, lead to the pancreas running out of insulin, creating a situation of insulin deficiency (Insulinopenia) which will encourage the onset of signs of diabetes.In type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity play a key role in the insulin resistance mechanism.While type 1 diabetics are treated automatically with insulin combined with hygiene and diet education, type 2 diabetics are also treated with medication.

However, it is important to stress that type 1 diabetics on insulin may find themselves putting on weight for a variety of reasons (genetic predisposition, sedentary lifestyle, poor eating habits, the effects of insulin, etc.). This weight gain would expose them to insulin resistance, which would require them to adjust their insulin doses.But this does not mean that they will develop type 2 diabetes as a secondary outcome: a type 1 diabetic does not become type 2 diabetic, they remain type 1.A type 2 diabetic, on the other hand, may find himself in a situation identical to that of a type 1 diabetic: the type 2 diabetic is said to have become insulin-requiring.At the insulin-requiring stage, a type 2 diabetic becomes like a type 1 diabetic and will have to use insulin by continuous injection.Be careful not to use type 2 diabetes medication for type 1 diabetes.Each diabetic patient is unique, and only doctors qualified to manage diabetes can prescribe the right treatment for each situation.

Interview by William O.