Consider the following: The endo says you’re in DKA with an A1c of 11 and that there’s a chance you’re still in the honeymoon phase.
Wait, what? If you’re new to type 1 diabetes (T1D), that probably doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But these terms are ones that people with T1D have had to make part of their everyday vernacular.
A T1D diagnosis comes with a lot of new things, including a flurry of emotions, needles and syringes, unfamiliar technology, and a whole new vocabulary to learn. Breakthrough T1D wants to help bring some order to the chaos of a type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Last year, we delivered 13,200 Bags of Hope® to newly diagnosed children and their families across the United States. The bag contains a variety of resources to help inform and comfort a family during what can be a scary time. We also provided 3,600 newly diagnosed adults with care kits to help ease their transition to their “new normal.”
Now, we have one more tool to offer people new to the disease. The Breakthrough T1D Dictionary defines the terms needed to understand T1D management and daily life. The next time you’re discussing treatment options with your doctor or swapping stories with someone well-versed in T1D, this little cheat-sheet can help you navigate this new vocabulary.
So what does that first sentence actually mean?
- Endo, or endocrinologist, is the type of physician that specializes in glands (like the pancreas) and helps people manage their T1D.
- DKA stands for diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition that happens when a prolonged period of high blood sugar leads to a buildup of toxic acids called ketones in the blood and urine.
- A1c, short for HbA1c (which is short for hemoglobin A1c), is the three-month average of blood glucose that is often used to gauge health outcomes in people with T1D (however this metric is increasingly seen as limited in this respect).
- Honeymoon phase is a period of time shortly after diagnosis when some people with T1D can still produce their own insulin.
The Breakthrough T1D Dictionary is divided into three categories to help you better navigate this strange new lexicon: scientific terminology, living with T1D, and T1D-related conditions. As an intro to T1D, we hope it’ll help you start speaking T1D like a pro.
