Diabetes Essays (2543 words) - Diabetes, Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes Diabetes is a very grave and serious disease involving many hardships, but a good diet, exercise, and overall healthy habits can keep your diabetes under control which in-turn makes you feel better and avoid later complications. Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce enough insulin, a hormone needed to convert the sugars and starches that we eat into energy needed for daily life. The cause of the disease is a mystery, but genetics and environment seem to play major roles. There are two kinds of Diabetes, Diabetes Insipidus and the more common Diabetes Mellitus. Diabetes Insipidus is a rare disease caused by a deficiency of vasopressin, a hormone of the posterior pituitary gland that controls the amount of urine secreted by the kidneys. It's symptoms of extreme thirst and frequent urination can usually be stopped by injection or nasal inhalation of vasopressin. Diabetes Mellitus is a more severe and common disease affecting over five percent of the population of the United States, approximately 14 million people. Mellitus is caused by a defective carbohydrate metabolism. The islets of Lange Hans, granular cells in the human pancreas, secrete a hormone called insulin that facilitates the bloo d's sugar glucose into all the tissues of the body. In diabetics the entry of glucose is impaired due to a deficiency in insulin or a blocking of its actions caused by altered receptor cells, the cells that carry the sugar from the blood into the tissue. So sugar builds up in the blood and is excreted in urine. There are also two types of Diabetes Mellitus. They are Type I and Type II. Type I Diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body has a severe or total reduction in insulin production, most often occurring in children and young adults. The immune system attacks and destroys the beta cells in the pancreas called the islets of Lange Han that unlock the cells of the body allowing glucose to enter and fuel them. Since glucose cannot enter the cells it builds up in the blood and the body's cells literally starve to death. Also since the body lacks sufficient energy from tissue glucose it begins to break down stored fat that produces ketenes, a byproduct of broken down fat, that makes the body's blood acidic interfering with respiration. About 700,000 people in the United States have Type I diabetes. Its symptoms are unusual thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger, dramatic weight loss, fatigue, and irritability. If the disease is undetected or not properly treated it can quickly b ecome fatal. Death by diabetic coma was usually the outcome of the disease before insulin was discovered. The other more common type of Diabetes is Type II, affecting more than 13.3 million people in the United States. Type II Diabetes is a metabolic disorder resulting from the body's inability to make enough or properly use insulin. Sometimes Type II can be due to prolonged obesity when a rise in the level of blood sugar inactivates tissue components that are targets for insulin, consequentially killing off the cells needed to transport the sugar. Type II diabetes is most prevalent in adults over forty, but most people do not recognize the disease until they develop one of it's life threatening complications. Type II has the same symptoms as Type I including frequent infections, blurred vision, slow healing cuts and bruises, and tingling or numbness in hands or feet. Type II diabetes can be treated with oral medications, but as the person gets older and insulin production declines they may be forced to take injections. Diabetes is a chronic disease that has no cure. There are many grim and sobering facts about diabetes and its complications. Of the estimated fourteen million people in the United States with diabetes more than half are not aware of it yet. Every sixty seconds a person is diagnosed with diabetes. 650,000 people will be diagnosed this year. Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death by disease in the US. More than 160,000 people will die from diabetes and its complications this year. Many people first become aware of their diabetes when they develop one of its complications. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness. It destroys