Diabetes

Have you ever heard the word diabetes and wondered what it meant? I wanted to know the meaning because my grandpa, cousin, and uncle all have diabetes. When you hear the word diabetes you think of one disease. Diabetes is really many different types of diseases. The main two are type 1 and type 2 diabetes. So, what is the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

There are two different types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. Well, the real word for Type 1 diabetes is Juvenile-onset, and the real word for Type 2 is Maturity-onset. In Type 1 your body does not produce insulin , so they must have insulin by injection to live. Type 1 usually starts before the age of 35. Type 2 usually starts after the age of 40 to 45. Unlike Type 1, Type 2 does not require an injection of insulin because your body produces some insulin but is unable to use it. In Type 2 diabetes an medication is taken.

What are the caused of Type1 diabetes? In Type 1 being overweight is not a cause. Many people get really sick with a high fever, mumps , German measles , or Coxsackie’s family of viruses . If your family has a history of Type 1 you may get their genes and might develop Type 1. If you’re fed cow’s milk before you’re 3 or 4 months old, you may develop diabetes. Diabetes is not contagious. Meaning you can’t catch it from your friends. Oxygen free radicals may also contribute to Type 1. Many chemicals and drugs may also cause Type 1.

Type 2 diabetes also has many causes. One for instance, like Type 1, you may inherit the gene that causes Type 2. People begin to gain as they get older, so ate plays a factor in Type 2 diabetes. If someone weighs more then 20 percent of your desirable body weight you are technically labeled “obese”. Obesity is one of the major causes of Type 2 diabetes. If your physical activity is low and you are on a high-calorie diet you are a good candidate for Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 is also not contagious. These are the most common causes of diabetes. Researches are still looking for more causes.

Want to know how to prevent Type 1 diabetes? Well, I’ll tell you a few ways. If your relatives with Type 1 are tested doctors can predict who is more likely to develop diabetes. If doctors can identify people who are likely to develop Type 1at an early stage, doctors may be able to treat people early to prevent the cell from destroying the beta cells in the pancreas . Your pancreas is the organ in your body that produces insulin. On study is to see if immunosuppressants can delay or prevent the onset of the disease. Doctors are studying whether insulin can prevent Type 1 diabetes. If researchers find what exactly causes Type 1, doctors are hoping that a vaccine can be developed that would protect people from developing Type 1.

Do you have a family history of Type 2 diabetes? Would you like to know how to prevent the disease? The best way is to have a healthy lifestyle and keep your weight under control. DPP tests whether changing your lifestyle or taking the oral diabetes medication, Glucophage , could prevent or delay the onset of Type 2 in people at a high risk for developing the disease. Volunteers were studied who were overweight and had impaired glucose tolerances . The volunteers were place in one of three groups. The people in the fist group followed a low-fat diet and exercised five days a week for 30 minutes a day. The people in the second group took 850mg of Metformin twice a day. The third group took a placebo (fake) of Metformin. Researchers found that people who lost 5% or greater of their body weight had 50 percent lower risk of Type 2 diabetes. So exercising and a wiser diet can help prevent Type 2.

What really happens in diabetes? Glucose is absorbed into the blood stream when a meal is digested. The blood sugar rises above the normal level, because the body can’t use it all. The glucose that isn’t used is carried to the kidneys. The kidneys treat the excess blood glucose as waste. The sugar rises so high in the kidneys that it spills over into the urine . To get rid of the glucose the kidney draws water from the blood. The blood sugar remains high and the kidneys draw more and more water from the blood which leads to frequent and excessive urination. You may become dehydrated because water is drawn from the tissues to restore the blood volume. The tissue gets a hunger which causes you to feel tired, weak, dizzy, and thirsty. Without adequate treatment they lose weight and energy.

Have you ever heard of hypoglycemia ? It is one of the conditions that causes one of the two emergencies diabetics face. Hypoglycemia is caused when you go too long without food or have injected too much insulin which causes your blood sugar to fall dangerously low. You need a quick sugar source. A glass of orange juice with some added sugar will get glucose rushing into your blood stream and turn around your hypoglycemia.

The second emergency is hyperglycemia . Your mouth gets dry or you have a unquenchable thirst for a drink. The symptoms of hyperglycemia come on slowly, over a day or two. Then vomiting, pains, and breathing problems develop. You can go into a coma. If there is insufficient insulin, the glucose is diminished by burning and your tissue calls on the body’s fat reserves. Ketones pile up in the blood, and the kidneys excrete them in the urine. The ketones excreted in the urine combined with alkali drawn from the blood, which reduces the normal alkalinity of the blood. A ketone body spilling over into the urine is acetone which also escapes through the lungs. Your breath will have a fruity sweet smell easily recognized as a sign of impending coma.

Want to know where diabetes is commonly not found? It is really rare in the Eskimo population. It is also infrequent if you are a black in Africa, Oriental, Japanese, and Asian Indians. Diabetes, especially Type 2, is on the rise in America due to our very unhealthy lifestyles.

As you’ve seen there are many differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. In Type 1 obesity is not a factor but in Type 2 it is a huge factor. Type 1 and Type 2 are totally different diseases. In Type 1 people don’t necessarily have to diet to lose weight but to watch their intake of carbohydrates . Type 2 diabetics need to lose weight. Losing the weight may actually correct the need for oral medication. Despite the fact that Type 1 and Type 2 are extremely different it is very common all over the world.

any of various pharmaceutical preparations containing this hormone that are derived from the pancreas of certain animals or produced through genetic engineering and are used in the medical treatment and management of diabetes mellitus (type I).

An acute, inflammatory, contagious disease caused by a paramyxovirus and characterized by swelling of the salivary glands, especially the parotids, and sometimes of the pancreas, ovaries, or testes. This disease, mainly affecting children, can be prevented by vaccination.

contagious viral disease that is a milder form of measles lasting three or four days; can be damaging to a fetus during the first trimester

Any of a group of enteroviruses that are associated with a variety of diseases, including meningitis, myocarditis, and pericarditis, and primarily affect children during the summer months

One who advocates fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions

A long, irregularly shaped gland in vertebrates, lying behind the stomach, that secretes pancreatic juice into the duodenum and insulin, glucagons, and somatostatin into the bloodstream.

Suppression of the immune response, as by drugs or radiation, in order to prevent the rejection of grafts or transplants or to control autoimmune diseases. Also called immunodepression

Diabetes Prevention Program

an antidiabetic drug (trade name Glucophage) prescribed to treat type II diabetes

The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others.

The waste product secreted by the kidneys that in mammals is a yellow to amber-colored, slightly acid fluid discharged from the body through the urethra

An abnormally low level of glucose in the blood.

The presence of an abnormally high concentration of glucose in the blood

Not sufficient; inadequate

Any of a class of organic compounds, such as acetone, having a carbonyl group linked to a carbon atom in each of two hydrocarbon radicals and having the general formula R(CO)R  , where R may be the same as R  .

A carbonate or hydroxide of an alkali metal, the aqueous solution of which is bitter, slippery, caustic, and characteristically basic in reactions.

Any of a group of organic compounds that includes sugars, starches, celluloses, and gums and serves as a major energy source in the diet of animals. These compounds are produced by photosynthetic plants and contain only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, usually in the ratio 1:2:1