What To Know About Type 1 Diabetes

November is Diabetes Awareness Month and Dr. David Sparling with OU Health's Harold Hamm Diabetes Center joined News 9 to talk about Type 1 diabetes.

“If you think about insulin being the keys that lets your body absorb the food that you're eating, especially sugar. Type 1 [diabetes is] you've lost your keys. Your body's attacked itself, and the only thing we can do is give you back insulin,” Sparling said. “So it's not a lifestyle choice or things like that. It's much more an autoimmune disease, and about one in 300 people walking down the street are dealing with it.”

There are many risk factors to take into account with Type 1 diabetes. 

“So anybody with type one diabetes, their family members are at a higher risk than the general population,” Sparling said. 

Sparling says diabetes diagnoses can be surprising for some, because symptoms are often subtle.

“More lethargy, a little more exhaustion, increased urination, increased thirst,” Sparling said.

Sparling recommends sitting down with a doctor and getting screened for diabetes if it runs in your family.