Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease which comes in two major types or categories: Type 1 and Type 2.  Type 1 is also termed as insulin dependent DM or juvenile onset DM.  In type 1, the pancreas went through an autoimmune attack by one’s body, which results to its inability to make insulin.  There are abnormal antibodies which are found in most who have Type 1 DM.  Patients who have the Type 1 category need to rely on insulation medication for them to survive. 

Autoimmune disease like Type 1 diabetes would result to the erroneous production of antibodies and inflammatory cells in the body which can damage a suffering patient’s own tissues and organs.  In Type 1 DM, it is the pancreas that is affected by the body’s misdirected immune system.  This condition is partly attributed to genetics, though the dynamics are not yet fully understood.  

There are certain viral infections and environmental toxins which can trigger abnormal responses of the antibodies which can damage the cells of the pancreas, that could lead to the impaired production of insulin.  Some of these antibodies would be anti-insulin, anti-islet cell, and anti-glumatic decarboxylase.  These can be measured in most patients which can help determine if a person would have the risk of developing Type 1 DM.

Screening in high risk persons, like those who have relatives of first degree who have type 1 diabetes, is encouraged.  This type can occur even in young and lean individuals, and usually before one turns 30 years old.  Older patients occasionally manifest this type of metabolic disorder.

Diabetes

In the United States, diabetes is estimated to cost about 98 billion dollars.  The statistics worldwide can even be more staggering.  In the United States, it is the third major cause of death after cancer and heart disease.  This is a metabolic disease that is caused by insufficient or defective production of insulin, or the inability of the tissues to efficiently and properly use insulin, leading to hyperglycemia and diabetes.

Hyperglycemia affects most of the fells in the muscle and fat tissues, which leads to a condition called “insulin resistance”.  This problem is the primary condition in Type 2 diabetes.  In Type 1, there is an absolute lack of insulin which is next to a process that destroys the insulin producing cells in the pancreas.  There is also a consistent decline in the beta cells which increases the glucose levels further.  

When one is insulin resistant, the body can increase the insulin production which can help overcome the resistance at a certain degree.  In the event that the insulin  can no longer be vigorously released due to the reduced production, hyperglycemia could develop.  A simple sugar that is contained in the food that we eat is called glucose.  This is the essential nutrient which provides the body’s energy requirement to made the body’s cells properly function.  

Carbohydrates are broken into its simplest form in the small intestine, while the glucose that is in the digested food are absorbed by the intestine’s cells to be distributed to the bloodstream.  Insulin is needed to aid the transport of the glucose to the cells.  In people with diabetes, the cells get starved of glucose energy despite the abundant glucose in the bloodstream.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a metabolic disease that has the characteristics of high glucose (blood sugar) levels which is the result from defective insulin action or secretion or both.  In the ancient world, it was first associated with “sweet urine” and excessive loss of muscle mass.  Increased blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) leads to glucose spillage into the urine, thus the term “sweet urine”.

Blood glucose levels are controlled tightly by insulin in the pancreas.  This hormone is the one that controls the levels of glucose in the blood.  When the glucose levels increase, such as right after eating a meal, the pancreas releases insulin to bring the glucose to normal levels.  Diabetic patients will have insufficient or no insulin production that could lead to hyperglycemia.  Diabetes is considered as a chronic medical condition which can no longer be cured but should be managed for a lifetime.

This disease can have chronic health impacts over time.  Some of these chronic conditions can lead to kidney failure, blindness and nerve damage.  These kinds of damages result to some harm in the small vessels also called microvascular disease.  Diabetics are known to have accelerated narrowing and hardening of the arteries, also called atherosclerosis, which can lead to coronary heart disease, strokes and other diseases of the large blood vessels called macrovascular disease.

In the United States alone, there are approximately 17 million people who are affected by diabetes, which consists 8% of the total population in America.  Moreover, there are those who have the disease who do not even know that they have it, which accounts to about 12 million individuals in the United States.