What Is Diabetes and What Does It Cause - Assignment Example

Diabetes Diabetes Diabetes is a disease that is medically known as the diabetes mellitus. In the disease the bodyis unable to control and maintain the level of blood sugar. The certain level of the blood sugar is maintained by the natural insulin that is produced in the body. The natural insulin production is get effected by a number of reasons. The person with higher level of blood sugar will experience frequent urination thrust and hunger. Diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which body is unable to efficiently convert the food into energy. The body glues under diabetic condition is unable to reach the cells where it is broken down to energy. Metabolism is the functionality of the body cells to convert the food and its constituents to attain energy. It helps the cells to grow and divide. The food that our body digests is converted to most simple type of sugar that is glucose. Glucose is entered into our blood stream by our digestive system. Blood transports the glucose to the cells. Insulin is the hormone that helps the glucose to enter the cells. Without insulin our cells are unable to absorb the glucose. Pancreas produces insulin and maintains the level of insulin in the blood. The hormonal system distinguishes how much insulin should be produced to absorb the glucose. It also stabilizes the amount of glucose that is present in the body by producing different amount of insulin according to the diet we intake. Diabetes is a condition in which either body is unable to produce set level of insulin or produce no insulin or the cells of the body do not respond to wards the insulin. The condition may also occur if the pancreas fails due to imbalance hormonal system or any other condition. Without the insulin, the body is unable to convert the glucose into energy. The blood has increased level of glucose. Some glucose is expelled out of the body through urine. The cells are unable to gain the glucose. Besides polyphagia (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thrust) and polyuria (increased hunger) are the common symptoms of the diabetes, diabetes may cause immense damage to other systems of the body. Following complication may occur as the result of untreated diabetes. Eye complications (eyesight got affected due to diabetes), Foot complications (foot muscles are unable to heal and foot wounds are unable to heal and take more time to heal), Skin complications (skin lacks the sensitivity), Heart problems, Hypertension (lack of energy and glucose to the cells may bring the condition of hypertension), Mental health (The brain cells are unable to gain energy and thus mental health got affected), Hearing loss, Gum disease, Gastroparesis, Ketoacidosis, Neuropathy, Nephropathy, PAD (peripheral arterial disease), Stroke, Erectile dysfunction, Infections and Healing of wounds (wounds take longer time to heat and at older age the tissue become dead).   There are basically three types of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes is due to the insufficient or no production of natural body insulin due to the failure of the hormones that enable the pancreas to produce the insulin or due to the failure of the pancreas. The body insulin production mechanism is unable to respond to the elevated blood sugar. This type of diabetes is commonly referred as the insulin dependent diabetes, juvenile diabetes or early onset diabetes. This type of diabetes is more often develops in teenage years. Type 1 diabetic patients develop the disease before their 40th birthday. Only 10% of the diabetic patients have type 1 diabetes. The only cure of the type 1 diabetes is to take the insulin injection to maintain the blood sugar level for the whole life since diagnosis. Regular blood tests are also recommended for the type 1 diabetic patients. The only treatment of the type 1 diabetes is taking insulin injections on regular basis, doing plenty of exercise and taking a special diet. Type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes is due the reduced production of the insulin or due to the resistance of the body cells towards the insulin. Nearly 90% of the diabetic patients have type 2 diabetes. Obesity, elevated BMI and lack of exercise are the major reason of the type 2 diabetes. It is not at all particular that obese may develop type 2 diabetes but obese people are under high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, some people with an unhealthy diet develop the disease as they get older and the conditions become worse as the persons gets older. An obese person may have a higher ratio of blood sugar and body is unable to produce as much insulin to satisfy the demand. An obese person may have an imbalanced metabolism that may tend to release of certain chemicals and hormones that can destabilize the body functions. The persons with visceral fat or belly fat are under higher risks among obese people. Researchers found that drinking a normal no diet soft drink one in a day may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes to 22%. In the similar manner lack of exercise and following an inactive lifestyle may also increase the risk of developing the type 2 diabetes. The lack of the production of the blood insulin does not tend a person to take external insulin intake. It can be controlled by in taking a healthy food that typically has low carbohydrates and high proteins, high vitamins and minerals. However, loosing weight, doing weight loss and cardio vascular exercises and controlling the blood sugar levels may help is reducing the impact of the disease. A person can also develop type 2 diabetes if he/she has a type 2 diabetic patient in blood relation. Middle Eastern, African, or South Asian descents are more likely to develop the disease. Lower testosterone level in men may tempt to imbalance the other hormonal activities in the body and the person may develop type 2 diabetes. Type two diabetes can only be treated with tables and sometimes insulin injection, healthy diet and adequate exercise. Gestational diabetes Gestational diabetes is commonly related to the women under the influence of pregnancy. Some of the women in pregnancy have weak insulin producing mechanism that make the body to produce less amount of insulin as desired by the body. Thus, the transport of the glucose to the cells of the body becomes slow that results in an increased level of blood glucose. Gestational diabetes is diagnosed during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes can be controlled by doing proper exercise and taking healthy diet. Some of the gestational diabetic patients re advised to take insulin based tablets or injections to control the blood sugar levels. About 10-20% of the females are unable to control the blood sugar level in gestational diabetes. If gestational diabetes remains untreated or uncontrolled, the patient may suffer problems during child birth. The child may have a bigger and heavier physique than a normal child. Women who take low cholesterol and low animal fat diet before pregnancy have lower risk of the gestational diabetes. Healthy diets combine the fruits, vegetables, white meat, nuts and plenty of water. References Medicalnewstoday.com. (2014). What is diabetes? what causes diabetes?. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/diabetes/ [Accessed: 14 Mar 2014]. Read More