What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the cells of our bodies. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use its own insulin as well as it should. This causes sugar to build up in your blood. Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower-extremity amputations. Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
Diabetes is a devastating disease where the body is unable to break down the glucose in the blood stream. There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 (or Juvenile diabetes) is when the body no longer produces insulin to break down the glucose in the blood stream. People with type 1 diabetes must inject several doses of insulin each day, just to stay alive. Type 2 (or Adult Onset diabetes) is where the insulin produced within the body is rejected and either slows down or stops breaking down the glucose in the blood stream altogether. Because of this inefficiency within the blood stream, diabetes affects every single organ in the body, which is why diabetes leads to so many terrible diseases and complications. Both types of diabetes lead to these same devastating complications, shortening a person’s life by an average of 15 years. Every year, more than 30,000 new cases of juvenile diabetes are diagnosed. Diabetes affects more than 24 million people in the U.S. alone, a large and growing perc
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease in which blood glucose (sugar) levels are too high. The hormone insulin is responsible for regulating glucose levels in the blood. Insulin must be present to help glucose enter cells of the body. Then the cells break down glucose in order to provide energy for movement, growth, and repair. Abnormally high levels of glucose can damage the small and large blood vessels, leading to Diabetic blindness, kidney disease, amputations of limbs, stroke, and heart disease. There are three common types of Diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes is usually (but not always) diagnosed in children and young adults. Persons with Type 1 Diabetes make no insulin and must take insulin every day. Type 2 Diabetes is usually (but not always) diagnosed in adults over the age of 45. In Type 2 Diabetes, either the person is not making enough insulin, or the body is resistant to insulin and cannot use it properly. Gestational Diabetes occurs during pregnancy: 2-4 percent of all pregnant
‘Diabetes’ is the abbreviated term for a condition known as ‘diabetes mellitus’. There are two main forms of diabetes in the general population, type 1 and type 2. A third type, known as ‘gestational diabetes’ is associated with pregnancy. All forms of diabetes involve a reduced ability of the body to handle blood glucose (the type of sugar transported in the blood). In normal health, blood glucose is maintained at a fairly constant level, although it does fluctuate slightly. Blood glucose level is controlled largely by the action of insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas. Insulin stimulates the uptake of glucose, amino acids and fat (in the form of triglycerides) from the blood into the tissues for use. Insulin also promotes the storage of blood glucose in the liver and muscles. Thus insulin prevents the glucose level becoming too high in the blood. If insulin production is too low, or the insulin does not have its usual effect, blood glucose can climb to dangerous levels (a cond
When we use the word “diabetes, we’re actually using shorthand. It would probably be more accurate to use the full term “diabetes mellitus” in order to make a clear distinction from those conditions that also include diabetes in their name but which have nothing to do with blood sugar. But it seems to be human nature to contract phrases and names. “Diabetes” comes from the Greek word for “siphon” and “mellitus” derives from the Greek word for “honey” and means “sweet”, hence, “diabetes mellitus” is the “sweet siphon”. This is a reference to the observation in ancient times that suffers produced huge amounts of urine, siphoning fluid from their bodies, and the urine was obviously sticky and attracted ants, flies, and bees in the days before modern plumbing.
Related Questions
- Can an LVN in the state of California perform Routine Diabetic nail care? Can we trim DM nails? Under the direction of a podiatrist or RN?
- Can an LVN in the state of California perform Routine Diabetic nail care? Can we trim DM nails? Under the direction of a podiatrist or RN?
- Is Complan suitable for type 2 diabetics?
