Diabetes
Diabetes is a
disease affecting the manner in which the body handles digested
carbohydrates. If neglected, diabetes can cause extremely severe
health complications, ranging from blindness to kidney failure.
Around eight percent of the population in the United States has
diabetes. This means that around sixteen million people have been
diagnosed with the disease, based only on national statistics. The
American Diabetes Association estimates that diabetes accounts for
178,000 deaths, as well as 54,000 amputees, and 12,000-24,000 cases
of blindness annually. Blindness is twenty-five times even more
common among diabetic patients in comparison with non diabetics. If
current trends continue, by the year 2010 complications of diabetes
will exceed both heart disease and cancer as the leading cause of
death in America.
Diabetics have a high level of blood glucose. Blood sugar level is
regulated by insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas, which
releases it in response to carbohydrate consumption. Insulin causes
the cells of the body to absorb glucose from the blood. The glucose
then serves as fuel for cellular functions.
Traditional diagnostic standards for diabetes have been fasting
plasma glucose levels greater than 140 mg/dL on 2 occasions and
plasma glucose greater than 200 mg/dL following a 75-gram glucose
load. However, even more recently, the American Diabetes
Association lowered the criteria for a diabetes diagnosis to
fasting plasma glucose levels equal to or higher than 126 mg/dL.
Fasting plasma levels outside the normal limit demand further
testing, usually by repeating the fasting plasma glucose check and
(if indicated) initiating an oral glucose tolerance test.
The many symptoms of diabetes include excessive urination,
excessive thirst and hunger, sudden weight loss, blurred vision,
delay in healing of wounds, dry and itchy skin, repeated
infections, fatigue and headache. While suggestive of diabetes,
these symptoms can also be caused by other factors, and therefore
anyone with symptoms suspicious of the disease should be
tested.
There are 2 different varieties of diabetes.
Type I Diabetes (juvenile diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent
diabetes): The cause of type I diabetes starts with pancreatic
inability to make insulin. This causes 5-10% of cases of diabetes.
The pancreatic Islet of Langerhans cells, which secrete the
hormone, are destroyed by the patient's own immune system, probably
because it mistakes them for a virus. Viral infections are believed
to be the trigger that sets off this auto-immune disease. Type I
diabetes is most prevalent in the Caucasian population and has a
hereditary component.
If untreated, Type I or juvenile diabetes can lead to death within
two to three months of the onset, as the cells of the body starve
because they no longer receive the hormonal prompt to absorb
glucose. While a great majority of Type I diabetics are young
(hence the term Juvenile Diabetes), the condition can develop at
any age. Autoimmune diabetes is diagnosed by an immunological assay
which shows the presence of anti-insulin/anti-islet-cell
antibodies.
Type II Diabetes (non insulin dependent diabetes, also known as
adult onset diabetes): This diabetes is a consequence of body
tissues becoming resistant to the effects of insulin. It accounts
for 90-95% of cases. In many cases the pancreas is producing a
plentiful amount of insulin, however the cells of the body have
become unresponsive to its effect due to the chronically high level
of the hormone. Finally the pancreas will exhaust its over-active
secretion of the hormone, and insulin levels fall to beneath
normal.
A tendency towards Type II diabetes is hereditary, although it is
unlikely to develop in normal-weight individuals eating a low- or
even moderate-carbohydrate diet. Obese, sedentary individuals who
eat poor-quality diets built around refined starch, which
constantly activates pancreatic insulin secretion, are prone to
develop insulin resistance. Native peoples like North American
Aboriginals, whose traditional diets never included refined starch
and sugar until these items were introduced by Europeans, have very
high rates of diabetes, five times the rate of Caucasians. Blacks
and Hispanics are also at higher risk of the disease. Though Type
II diabetes isn't as immediately disastrous as Type I, it can lead
to health complications after many years and cause serious
disability and shortened lifespan. As with Type I diabetes, the
condition develops primarily in a certain age group, in this case
patients over forty (which is why it's typically termed Adult Onset
Diabetes); however, with the rise in childhood and teenage obesity,
this condition is being seen for the first time in school children
as well.
If treatment is neglected, both Type I and Type II diabetes can
lead to life-threatening complications like kidney damage
(nephropathy), heart disease, nerve damage (neuropathy), retinal
damage and blindness(retinopathy), and hypoglycemia (drastic
reduction in glucose levels). Diabetes damages blood vessels,
especially smaller end-arteries, leading to very severe and
premature atherosclerosis. Diabetics are prone to foot problems
because neuropathy, which afflicts about ten percent of patients,
causes their feet to lose sensation. Foot injuries, common in
day-to-day living, go unnoticed, and these injuries cannot heal
because of atherosclerotic blockage of the microscopic arteries in
the foot. Gangrene and subsequent amputation of toes, feet or even
legs is the result for many elderly patients with poorly-controlled
diabetes. Usually these sequelae are seen sooner in Type I than
Type II diabetes, because Type II patients have a small amount of
their own insulin production left to buffer changes in blood sugar
levels.
Type I diabetes is a severe disease and there is no known permanent
cure for it. Nonetheless, the symptoms can be controlled by strict
dietary monitoring and insulin injections. Implanted pumps which
release insulin immediately in response to changes in blood glucose
are in the testing stages.
In theory, since it induced by diet, Type II diabetes should be
preventable and manageable by dietary changes alone. However, as so
often happens, clinical theory is defeated by human nature in this
case, as many diabetics (and many obese people without diabetes)
find it personally impossible to lose weight or even stick to a
diet free of starchy, sugary junk food. So Type II diabetes is
frequently treated with drugs which restore the body's response to
its own insulin, and in a few cases injections of insulin.
Please note that this article isn't a substitute for medical
advice. If you suspect you have diabetes or even are in a high risk
demographic group, please see your doctor.
- Symptoms Of Adult Diabetes
The symptoms of adult diabetes are symptoms that should be recognized. Recognizing a symptom or sign for diabetes is important because diabetes is a condition that can be life-threatening.
- Diabetes Facts
Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body is unable to properly control the amount of sugar in the blood. The body cannot control the sugar in the blood due to the lack of the hormone insulin.
|
