Diabetes

Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes Mellitus is a disease in which the concentration of glucose increases in the body exceeding the limitations of the body. This is a dangerous disease because if it is left untreated then the patient will develop many more diseases like heart disease, kidney failure and would have weak iris in the eye. The person soon starts to loose weight and will weaken and will fall into coma and die. There are several types of the disease but there are two main types of the disease:

• Type 1 develops in children. This is due to the pancreas not producing enough insulin. The insulin produced is not sufficient enough to reduce the level of glucose in the blood. This raises the blood glucose level and causes diabetes in children. Insulin is provided to the patient by injections regularly.
• Type 2 diabetes occurs mainly in adults. This is mainly due to poor diet and poor lifestyle. Overweight people are likely to develop diabetes. This is because poor diet leads to the insulin receptors in the cells of the liver and target organs unable to recognize the hormone which leads to diabetes. It can be treated with having a balanced diet and exercising which prevents it in the first place. In some cases the type 2 diabetes can also occur in people who have a family history with diabetes is likely to develop diabetes due to genes (This can be understood if you have read my previous posts about genes). Injections are only necessary in severe cases.

The symptoms for both types are same. The person with diabetes is likely to have high glucose level in his/her urine. Other then that the patient would have constant thirst. This is because the high glucose level stimulates the hypothalamus.

Treatment

With type 2 diabetes you should have a good balanced diet. If you are overweight then you should diet/fast and exercise. Rise in glucose concentration happens due to large amounts of carbohydrates in a diet. The patient must keep away from any source of rich amount of carbohydrates, such as bread and pizza and any other food with carbohydrates in it. Keeping a healthy lifestyle prevents diabetes in the first place, however due to the gene which causes diabetes we cannot do anything to prevent it but we can treat it. In case of type 1 diabetes and in severe cases of type 2 diabetes, insulin injections are necessary to be taken every day. We cannot take insulin as tablets because it is a protein and will be digested in the stomach. To determine the use of insulin patients should use the biosensor which uses a test strip to determine blood glucose concentration. The patient must pierce his/her skin and rub the blood on to the test strip and place it in the biosensor. The device is very accurate and will calculate the exact amount of glucose concentration. This determines whether a patient needs insulin injections or not. A patient will have to test this several times a day.

Due to advance in science, a new device is available to help a diabetic (a person with diabetes is called diabetic). This is the insulin pump. It is connected to a very tiny tube called canula which is inserted into the skin to supply insulin. The pump has a monitor on it which calculates blood glucose concentration. The patient can check his glucose concentration and can use the monitor to adjust the amount of insulin entering the blood stream, according to his diet and lifestyle.

Even though a patient might take injections but he/she will develop diseases such as heart disease, kidney failure, and weakening of the iris muscles in the eye. To prevent diabetes and other disease which are caused by our lifestyle we must exercise, be active and keep a good balanced diet.