Can diabetes be cured or reversed?
Can diabetes be cured or reversed?
Although these seem like simple questions, the answers are not so simple. Depending on the type of your diabetes and its specific cause, it may or may not be possible to reverse your diabetes. Successfully reversing diabetes is more commonly called achieving “remission.”
Type 1 diabetes is an immune system disease with some genetic component. This type of diabetes can’t be reversed with traditional treatments. You need lifelong insulin to survive. Providing insulin through an artificial pancreas (insulin pump plus continuous glucose monitor and computer program) is the most advanced way of keeping glucose within a tight range at all times – most closely mimicking the body. The closest thing toward a cure for Type 1 is a pancreas transplant or a pancreas islet transplant. Transplant candidates must meet strict criteria to be eligible. It’s not an option for everyone and it requires taking immunosuppressant medications for life and dealing with the side effects of these drugs.
It’s possible to reverse prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes with a lot of effort and motivation. You’d have to reverse all your risk factors for disease. To do this means a combination of losing weight, exercising regularly and eating healthy (for example, a plant-based, low carb, low sugar, healthy fat diet). These efforts should also lower your cholesterol numbers and blood pressure to within their normal range. Bariatric surgery (surgery that makes your stomach smaller) has been shown to achieve remission in some people with Type 2 diabetes. This is a significant surgery that has its own risks and complications.
If you have gestational diabetes, this type of diabetes ends with the birth of your child. However, having gestational diabetes is a risk factor for developing Type 2 diabetes.
The good news is that diabetes can be effectively managed, treated and controlled. The extent to which your Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes can be controlled is a discussion to have with your healthcare provider.