Diabetes Is Not One Condition

Type 1 and type 2 both raise blood sugar. Your pancreas, a gland near your stomach, makes insulin. Insulin is like a key that lets sugar into cells.

Type 1 is autoimmune. The immune system attacks the insulin-making cells. So the body makes little or no insulin.

In type 2, cells respond poorly to insulin. At first, the pancreas makes extra. Later it may fall behind.

Prediabetes means blood sugar is higher than typical. It is not yet in the diabetes range. Think of a yellow traffic light: past green, not yet red.

A fasting reading is taken after a night without food. For adults, 100 to 125 mg/dL (5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L) on this test means prediabetes. The doctor decides what it means for your loved one.

Gestational diabetes starts during pregnancy. It usually goes away after the baby is born.

A glucose test is still advised 6 to 12 weeks after delivery. That holds even when the pregnancy is over. Ask the care team when to book it.

A pregnant person stands beside a round close-up of the womb, with a band of blood at the top, the placenta below it and the baby on its cord. Hormones from the placenta float out and more sugar cubes stay in the blood. The cubes cross to the baby, the baby grows larger, and after birth the wrapped newborn gets a blood sugar check while a test vial stands for the parent's glucose test later.

Key takeaways

• Type 1 comes from an immune attack, and type 2 from cells that respond poorly to insulin.
• Prediabetes sits between typical readings and the diabetes range.
• Gestational diabetes usually goes away after birth, but a glucose test is still advised 6 to 12 weeks later.

Try it

Explain the difference between type 1 and type 2 aloud in your own words, as if telling a neighbor.