I Didn't Give Myself Diabetes. I Was Five.

I've been living with Type 1 diabetes since 1985. I was five years old.

And for over 40 years, one thing has wound me up more than almost anything else: people mixing up Type 1 and Type 2.

"Should you be eating that?" "Just cut out sugar." "Did you eat too many sweets as a kid?"

I've heard them all. So let's set the record straight.

They are different conditions

They share one result: high blood sugar. They get there in completely different ways.

Type 1 is an autoimmune condition. Your own immune system attacks and destroys the cells in your pancreas that make insulin. Scientists still don't fully know why. Genes and things in the environment both seem to play a part.

It is not caused by sugar. It is not caused by your weight. It can't be prevented. One new medicine can now delay it in some people at high risk, but it can't stop it.

Without insulin, from injections or a pump, someone with Type 1 can't survive. Before insulin arrived in 1922, a Type 1 diagnosis was a death sentence. Most children died within months to a few years.

Type 2 is different. The body doesn't make enough insulin, or the insulin it makes doesn't work properly. That second part is called insulin resistance. Age, ethnic background and carrying extra weight all raise the risk. But plenty of people who aren't overweight get it too.

There's no cure for Type 2, but some people can put it into remission. In one major UK trial, almost half the people on a structured weight-loss programme were in remission after a year.

The numbers

• In the UK, about 90% of people diagnosed with diabetes have Type 2. About 8% have Type 1.
• Around 9.5 million people worldwide were living with Type 1 in 2025.
• Type 1 isn't just a kids' thing. Of the half a million people newly diagnosed worldwide in 2021, the typical age was 29.

I was diagnosed at five. Plenty of people are diagnosed as adults.

Why the confusion hurts

When people mix them up, Type 1s pay for it.

• We get told we "gave ourselves" diabetes. We didn't. I was five.
• We get told to "just cut out sugar". Cutting out sugar doesn't replace a pancreas that has stopped making insulin.
• People assume it comes from bad choices. It comes from an immune system that turned on us.

That stigma makes it harder to be open about your diabetes. And when you can't be open, you hide it. I know, because I hid mine for years. I lived what I call a solitary diabetic existence. That did my mental health no favours, and it did my body even less.

What I want you to do

Both types are serious. Both deserve respect, support and good care. But they are not the same.

If you're Type 1, you don't owe anyone a biology lesson. But next time someone gets it wrong and you've got the energy, tell them. Calmly. One conversation at a time is how this changes.

If you're Type 2, or you love someone with diabetes, learn the difference and back us up when you hear it.

Knowing the difference, and speaking up when someone gets it wrong, is part of being a conscious diabetic.