Conditions & Treatments

In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin, which is needed to take sugar (glucose) from the blood to the cells. You can learn more about these conditions and how to prevent them in this section. You will also find helpful information about insulin, diagnostic tests and tips on what to expect from your health care provider.

Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia, or low blood glucose, can happen even during those times when you're doing all you can to manage your diabetes.

Hyperglycemia
Hyperglycemia is a major cause of many of the complications that happen to people who have diabetes. For this reason, it's important to know what hyperglycemia is, what its symptoms are, and how to treat it.

Ketoacidosis
Ketoacidosis is a serious condition where the body has dangerously high levels of ketones -- or acids that build up in the blood -- and it can lead to diabetic coma (passing out for a long time) or even death.

Managing Your Blood Glucose
Keeping your blood glucose as close to normal as possible helps you feel better and reduces the risk of long-term complications of diabetes. Learn about checking your blood glucose, tight diabetes control, and an A1C test.

About Insulin and other drugs
In people with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas no longer makes insulin. The beta cells have been destroyed. They need insulin shots to use glucose from meals. Learn more about insulin and other drugs.

Insulin Pumps
Learn how you can use an insulin pump to help manage your diabetes.

Transplantation
Diabetes sometimes damages kidneys so badly that they no longer work. When kidneys fail, one option is a kidney transplant. There are also pancreas transplants, as well as islet cell transplants.

Related Conditions
Learn more about celiac disease, hemochromatosis and frozen shoulder, and how they relate to type 1 diabetes, in this section.