Il diabetes type 1 mellitus, the one diagnosed in Alessandro Ambrosinithe son of the former Milan footballer and now commentator on Dazn, is also called “juvenile” precisely because it manifests itself in adolescence. It is a chronic, autoimmune disease which depends on an alteration of the immune system and which involves the destruction of cells of the body recognized as foreign and to which antibodies (autoantibodies) are produced which attack them. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin (beta cells) are destroyed.
The type 1 diabetes of Massimo Ambrosini’s son
Insulin is the hormone that regulates blood glucose (sugar) levels and, like a key that opens a door, allows it to enter the cells to be used as an energy source. The main sign of illness it is, therefore, the excess of glucose in the blood (hyperglycemia).
Massimo Ambrosini and his son’s illness: “He has type 1 diabetes, it’s incurable”
Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 10% of diabetes cases. It is also called juvenile or insulin-dependent diabetes, to distinguish it from type 2 (also called adult diabetes), as it usually occurs at a young age and the only possible treatment is that with insulin. It usually develops during the teenage years, but can also appear in very young children (even newborns) or young adults and lasts a lifetime. In Italy there are about 300,000 people with type 1 diabetes and the incidence of this pathology is increasing worldwide. Type 1 diabetes can hardly be prevented, as the risk factors, which interact with the genetic predisposition by triggering the autoimmune reaction, are still unclear.
Type 1 diabetes symptoms
Symptoms related to diabetes 1 are manifested by tiredness, increased thirst (polydipsia), increased urine output (polyuria), unwanted weight loss despite hyperphagia (increased appetite),
malaise, abdominal pain. In the most serious cases, mental confusion and loss of consciousness may also occur. The major complications deriving from diabetes can cause the patient even significant damage at a neurological, renal, ocular and cardio-cerebrovascular level.