Free Essays on Diabetes

Diabetes Diabetes mellitus has a long historical record dating back to second century AD. The word "diabetes" was first used by the Greek physician Aretaeus. The word diabetes means "siphon". It was first used to describe patients with excessive thirst and urination. In the 17th century, the word mellitus, meaning "like honey", was added when diabetes patients' urine was noticed to be sweet. However, the disease is not directly related to urine, but instead to the pancreas. Today many other symptons and complications of the disease are known. Although, the disease has many complications there are also simple treatments to follow to avoid serious problems. Diabetes is a familiar health problem that affects millions of people world wide. Diabetes results from the failure of the pancreas to produce a sufficient amount of insulin. Insulin is the hormone that regulates the body's use of glucose. Therefore, the excess gluce remains in the bloodstream and passes out the body in urine. In some cases, the pancreas produces a sufficient amount of insulin, but the insulin is blocked from the body's cells and cannot be used. This causes diabetes patients to have abnormally high amounts of sugar in their blood and urine. Diagnosing a patient with diabetes is more complicated than measuring the glucose level of urine only one time. Instead the diagnosis involves several hours of glucose-tolerance tests. These tests measure the rate in which sugar is removed from the bloodstream. After the test are complete, a high glucose level indicates insufficient insulin and the patient is diagnosed with diabetes. There are several symptoms and complications involved with diabetes mellitus. The symptoms are excessive thirst and urination, unusual hunger, a lot of weight loss, and fatigue. The complications are heart attack and stroke, chronic kidney disease, lower-extremity amputations, blindness, and death. Arteriosclerosis is a conditi... Free Essays on Diabetes Free Essays on Diabetes Diabetes Diabetes mellitus has a long historical record dating back to second century AD. The word "diabetes" was first used by the Greek physician Aretaeus. The word diabetes means "siphon". It was first used to describe patients with excessive thirst and urination. In the 17th century, the word mellitus, meaning "like honey", was added when diabetes patients' urine was noticed to be sweet. However, the disease is not directly related to urine, but instead to the pancreas. Today many other symptons and complications of the disease are known. Although, the disease has many complications there are also simple treatments to follow to avoid serious problems. Diabetes is a familiar health problem that affects millions of people world wide. Diabetes results from the failure of the pancreas to produce a sufficient amount of insulin. Insulin is the hormone that regulates the body's use of glucose. Therefore, the excess gluce remains in the bloodstream and passes out the body in urine. In some cases, the pancreas produces a sufficient amount of insulin, but the insulin is blocked from the body's cells and cannot be used. This causes diabetes patients to have abnormally high amounts of sugar in their blood and urine. Diagnosing a patient with diabetes is more complicated than measuring the glucose level of urine only one time. Instead the diagnosis involves several hours of glucose-tolerance tests. These tests measure the rate in which sugar is removed from the bloodstream. After the test are complete, a high glucose level indicates insufficient insulin and the patient is diagnosed with diabetes. There are several symptoms and complications involved with diabetes mellitus. The symptoms are excessive thirst and urination, unusual hunger, a lot of weight loss, and fatigue. The complications are heart attack and stroke, chronic kidney disease, lower-extremity amputations, blindness, and death. Arteriosclerosis is a conditi... Free Essays on Diabetes Biochemistry is about life at the molecular level. Biochemists have the ability to work in many fields and look into life from the view of the molecule. Diabetes is very common among people and is not a major problem now but will be in the next century or so. Diabetes is defined by resting hyperglycemia. Glucose has to stay in a fine concentration area. It’s needed for the brain, muscles and fats. In the normal state, it’s controlled by insulin and glucagon which is both produced by the pancreas. Insulin is required by muscle, fat and the liver. It is vital for life. When you eat, the relative concentration of insulin is increased. Later, glucagon rises and balances the hormones. Glucagon is there to mobilize and stabilize the levels of insulin. Diabetes is a relative or absolute deficiency of insulin. Two types of diabetes: Type I and Type II. Type 1 (or juvenile onset) is an alter-immunitive disease which causes the body to recognize the Beta cells as a foreign entit y and destroys it. The Beta cell is the cell which creates insulin. Without treatment, it is fatal. These people are insulin dependant for life. A cure for Type 1 is currently being investigated. It’s treated with insulin but a better way is needed. The most promising approach is eyelet transplantation. Take eyelets from recently deceased and transplant into diabetic patients. However, there is a chance of rejection of the cells as in any transplantation. Also, there is no where near enough tissue to generate enough eyelets for all of the diabetics. Stem cells are also being investigated to see if its possible to generate Beta cells. Type 1 is less than 10% of diabetics. Type II diabetics are over 90%. They have the Beta cells and some insulin but the Beta cells can’t keep up. There is a relative insulin deficiency, it can’t keep up. The problem is the body is developing a resistance to insulin. There is a genetic component that is related to Type II diabetes. T ... Free Essays on Diabetes Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body does not make, or does not properly use, insulin. Insulin is the hormone that helps your body use the energy from sugar, starches and other foods. The result is that your body doesn’t get the energy it needs, and unmetabolized sugar or glucose, builds up in your blood causing damage to the body and its systems. In the United States of America, about 16 million people have diabetes. That is about six percent of the total population. Every year about 798,000 new cases are introduced and diagnosed (Lifescan 1). Many different kinds of people are affected with this horrible disease. The three different types of diabetes are type one diabetes, type two diabetes, and gestational diabetes. The people that most often get type one diabetes are people younger than 30 years of age. The people most likely to get type two diabetes are people over the age of 40. But those are just the normals, that doesn’t mean that you canâ⠂¬â„¢t get them earlier or later. An estimated 18 percent of the US population, over 65 years old, have diabetes (Lifescan 1). Gestational Diabetes affects women during their pregnancy. Common cases happen in the sixth month of pregnancy or weeks 24 through 28. Approximately two to five percent of all women who become pregnant will develop gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes is much more common in African Americans and overweight women (Lifescan 1). And about 35 to 50 percent of women who develop gestational diabetes will develop type two diabetes. The complications of diabetes will be very serious if it is not diagnosed early. There are major differences in the three types of diabetes. Type one diabetes the patient needs to take insulin because their bodies do not make enough of it. Insulin helps turn food into energy for the body to work. Most people make insulin in their pancreas. If you have type one diabetes, your body does not make insulin. Ins... Free Essays on Diabetes Hyperglycemia, which means high blood sugar level. This is usually over 250. The normal range is 80-120 for a person without diabetes. High Blood sugar is when a diabetic eats too many sugars, with out covering it with insulin. High Blood sugar causes a diabetic to become very tired, they get dry mouth and get very thirsty. This causes frequent urination. This is usually how a person is diagnosed with Diagnosed with diabetes. If you have constant high blood sugar, you will start to lose weight. The body will not be able to convert the sugar to energy, which makes the person very tired. If you treat Hyperglycemia early enough you will not get these symptoms, that is why it is a good idea for diabetics to frequently check their blood sugar levels. Ways to treat Hyperglycemia is to exercise or take some insulin depending on high your blood sugar level is. It requires a different amount for every diabetic. Or just take some extra insulin if you plan on eating more than usual. Hypoglycemia is when your blood sugar level is to low, this usualls occurs when you don’t eat enough or exercise more than you have planned. Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar cause: Shakiness, Dizziness, Sweating, Hunger, Headache, Pale skin color, Sudden moodiness or behavior changes, Clumsy or jerky movements, Difficulty paying attention, or confusion. The Best way to treat low blood sugar is to keep good control over your blood sugar levels by testing the blood sugar level often. If you plan to exercise a lot eat a little extra. If you test your blood sugar level, and you feel that your sugar levels are going down eat some time of sugared food. A good thing for diabetics to carry around with them are glucose tabs, which are just sugared type pill that is very fast acting and will bring the sugar to its normal level. If you don’t not treat low blood sugar levels, a person may pass out and going into a diabetic coma, which means...