Introduction
Diabetes, which is commonly referred to as diabetes mellitus gives a description of diseases that relates to metabolism. An individual suffering from this disease has very high levels of blood glucose or blood sugars. This is because of inadequate insulin production. The other reason as to why a person may contract diabetes is because insulin may not be functioning properly. Patients suffering from high levels of blood sugar experience frequent urination which is at times known as polyuria. Such patients can at times get thirstier, a condition known as polydipsia, and hungry, which in this case is known as polyphagia.
When diabetes ends up getting untreated, it can lead to many complications. Acute complications may include; hyperosmola coma that is non-ketotic, and diabetes ketoacidosis. However, this disease may also be associated with stroke, foot ulcers, and damages on the eyes along with heart diseases. Diabetes can be attributable to either the body cells not responding to proper production of insulin or the failure of the pancreas to produce sufficient insulin. Diabetes mellitus can be categorized into three namely; diabetes mellitus type 1, diabetes mellitus type 2, and gestational diabetes (Liburd, 2010).
Type 1 diabetes mellitus is attributable to the failure of the body to produce sufficient insulin. This type of diabetes was initially referred to as diabetes mellitus that is dependent on insulin or juvenile diabetes. The cause of diabetes mellitus type 1 has been unknown for a considerable long period. The other type of diabetes mellitus of diabetes starts with the resistance of insulin, which is a condition whereby the cells do not give a proper response towards insulin in a proper manner. As this disease progress overtime, insufficient insulin may develop in the body. The initial name of diabetes type 2 was referred to as diabetes mellitus that is not dependent on insulin, or the diabetes that is onset to adults. The major cause of type 2 diabetes is excess body weight and lack of enough exercises. The third type of diabetes is gestational diabetes. This occurs when pregnant women who do not have a history related to diabetes, develop very high levels of blood glucose.Prevalence The prevalence for diabetes in all the age groups all over the world has been estimated to be at 2.8% in the year 2000. The current forecasts indicated that the prevalence rate will be at 4.4% by 2030(Liburd, 2010). The total number of diabetic persons has been projected to increase from 171 million in the year 2000 to 366 million in the year 2030. Men are known to have high prevalence rates as compared to women. Funny enough is that more women suffer from diabetes as opposed to men (Liburd, 2010).
Recent research conducted in the United States indicates that almost 8.5% of the population found in the United States suffers from diabetes. This is approximately 25.8 million of both children and adults (Liburd, 2010). Apart from that, approximately 18.8 million persons are known to be diagnosed of diabetes. When it comes to the undiagnosed, statistics indicate that almost 7 million of the population are affected. Prediabetic cases have also been approximated at 79 million (Liburd, 2010). In the year 2010, those persons who were newly diagnosed and older than 20 years, was estimated at 1.9 million persons. In this similar year that is in 2010 about 215,000 persons who were less than 20 years old, were diabetic. This represents 0.26% of the total population (Liburd, 2010).
Signs and symptoms The symptoms of untreated diabetes include weight loss, increased thirst, frequent urinations, and increased hunger. The last three symptoms can also be referred in clinical terms as polydipsia, polyuria, and polyphagia respectively. The symptoms related to diabetes may end up developing rapidly in some few weeks or months, especially in diabetes type 1. Such symptoms can develop less rapidly, and can also be subtle or rather absent in diabetes of type 2(Qiao, 2012).
Several signs and symptoms can be attributable to the onset of diabetes, though such symptoms may not be so specified. Other signs and symptoms of diabetes may include headache, fatigue, blurred vision, itchy skin, along with less rapid healing of body cuts. Prolonged high levels of blood glucose may lead to glucose absorption in eye lenses. This may cause changes in the shape of the eye, thereby leading to a change in vision. Skin rashes can also be associated with diabetes. This condition is referred to as diabetic dermadromes.Diagnosis
Diabetes mellitus can be described by the recurrent or constant hyperglemia. Diagnosis can be done through demonstrating the following pertinent conditions. These are; the fasting plasma of glucose that may either be equal or more than 7.0 mmol/l or 126mg/dl, plasma glucose that can either be equal to or more than 11.1 mmol/l, which usually occurs two hours after loading oral glucose that is 75g in relation to the tolerance test of glucose. Diagnosis can also be done when the symptom related to hyperglycemia, along with the levels of the plasma glucose that is causal, is equal to or more than 11.1 mmol/l. Lastly, diagnosis can also be done when the glycated hemoglobin is more than or equal to 6.5%.
According to the standards set by the World Health Organization, individuals suffering from the
fasting levels of glucose that ranges between 6.1 and 6.9 mmol can be said to have damaged fasting glucose. Individuals portraying plasma glucose that is more than 7.8mmol can be said to be tolerant to impaired glucose. The latter stated type of diabetes can pose as the main risk factor in relation to the progression towards diabetes mellitus that is full blown, along with cardiovascular disease.Treatment The treatment of diabetes depends on the type as well as the level of severity of this disease. For instance, the type one diabetes is usually treated using insulin, diabetic diet, and exercise. On the other hand, type 2 diabetes can be treated through weight reduction, exercise and diabetic diet (Brown, 2008). Failure of these measures to regulate the high levels of blood sugars can lead to oral medication as an alternative measure. In case oral medication does not prove to be sufficient; insulin along with medications that are injectable may be considered (Fuhrman, 2012).
Conclusion
In conclusion, diabetes is metabolism disorder. Metabolism refers to the manner in which an individual’s body utilizes digested food, especially for energy and growth. An individual suffering from diabetes has too high levels of blood sugar in the body. This condition can also be referred to as hyperglycemia. The main reason as to why diabetes occurs in an individual’s body can be either due to the production of insufficient insulin or rather no insulin at all. Last but not least, treatment of diabetes will depend on the level of severity of the disease and the diabetic type.
References
Qiao, Q. (2012). Epidemiology of type 2 diabetes. Sarah, United Arab Emirates:
Bentham Books.
Liburd, L. C. (2010). Diabetes and health disparities: Community-based approaches for
racial and ethnic populations. New York: Springer Pub. Co.
Brown, R. M. (2008). Diabetes: Good food choices : more than 100 delicious, nutritious
recipes suitable for people with diabetes--and everyone else!. Laguna Beach, CA:
Basic Health Publications.
Fuhrman, J. (2012). The end of diabetes: The eat to live plan to prevent and reverse diabetes
. New York: HarperOne.
