THE RISE OF TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITIS
Diabetes occurs when either the pancreas fails to produce insulin, not enough insulin for the body mass or as an auto immune disorder. There are two types of Diabetes: is a disease brought on by either the body's inability to make insulin ( type 1 diabetes) or by the body not responding to the effects of insulin ( type 2 diabetes). It can also be brought on by pregnancy. Insulin is one of the main hormones that regulates blood sugar levels and allows the body to use sugar (called glucose) for energy.
Insulin is necessary to enable carbohydrates in the form of glucose, to pass through the body's cells membrane into the cell, the body's cells need energy in order to function and this applies to every cell in the body. It might be simpler to think of insulin as a door key, it unlocks the door to allow glucose to pass through. Now if there is no insulin, there is no key, so what does the body do, its cells still need energy to function, so it has to find an energy source via a different route. It does this by breaking down protein and it takes this protein from the body's muscles and organs, this is what happens in type 1 diabetes, where you see the characterises of severe weight loss and muscle atrophy. As the body does this it forms Ketones (a by product of breaking down protein for energy) and this gives rise to the characteristic acetone breath found in untreated type 1 Diabetics. Ketones in excess are harmful to the body.
With Type 2 this tends not to happen but the body's cells don't function so well and are essentially tired, so the diabetic will present symptoms of tiredness and lethargy. In some cases Diabetics with type 2 can go on to need insulin injections to manage their disease.
Type 1 Diabetes is often known insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, IDDM for short, and juvenile diabetes as it often begins in children and young adults and can start suddenly as a result after a viral illness such as the flu.
Type 2 diabetes: results from insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly, sometimes combined with an absolute insulin deficiency. Formerly referred to as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, NIDDM for short, and adult-onset diabetes.
Lastly we have Gestational diabetes: is when pregnant women, who have never had diabetes before, have a high blood glucose level during pregnancy. It may precede development of type 2
There are other forms much rarer such as congenital diabetes, which is due to genetic defects of insulin secretion, cystic fibrosis-related diabetes, steroid diabetes induced by high doses of glucocorticoids, and several forms of monogenic diabetes. But since I wish to focus of the rise of type 2 and the problems this causes I won't discuss this here.
The rise of type 2 diabetes is because of an increase of obesity, not just in adults but this is now being found in overweight children. More and more of the population are eating a poor diet with too much refined sugars and carbohydrates and not enough exercise. Children in particular seem to be spending more time in front of game consuls and TV and computers instead of running around in the fresh air. It's also an easy option to keep them quiet by feeding them bags of artificially flavoured crisps, sweets and sugar laden fizzy drinks, instead of spending time with them or encouraging healthy snacks such as fruit and encouraging them to drink water when they are thirsty. The same goes for adults, in particular when it comes to taking children to school, instead of walking with them, its too easy to drive them, that does not help with carbon foot prints but thats for another blog in due time lol. In yesterday's blog I discussed how eating too much refined carbohydrates created sugar highs and lows facilitating cravings and leading to eating more of these products. Type 2 Diabetes is often initially managed by increasing exercise and dietary modification. If the condition progresses, medications may be needed.
So what does being Diabetic mean for the patient? It means changes in life style especially so for Type 1 diabetics, where blood sugar levels have to be constantly managed and insulin needs to be replaced by regular injections. Food intake, particularly carbohydrates and exercise have to be carefully managed so prevent coma and if untreated can lead to death, its that serious. Management is gravely important as serious health conditions can be the result, such as the loss of limbs, heart attacks and blindness.
Studies in the United Kingdom have shown that the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance in the 35-65 year age group is about 17%. This is known as pre-diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance. While people with pre-diabetes usually have no symptoms, it’s almost always present before a person develops type 2 diabetes. However, complications normally associated with diabetes, such as heart disease, can begin to develop even when a person has only pre-diabetes.
Once type 2 diabetes develops, symptoms include unusual thirst, a frequent need to urinate, blurred vision, or extreme fatigue. Talk to your doctor to see if you need to be tested for pre-diabetes. By identifying the signs of pre-diabetes before diabetes occurs, you can prevent type 2 diabetes all together and lower your risk of complications associated with this condition such as heart disease.
In type 1 Diabetes the onset is rapid, weight loss, tiredness and complete exhaustion and since the body cannot use or get glucose into the body's cells, it remains in the blood, whereby the kidneys then filter it out of the body into urine, The untreated diabetic's urine has a characteristic sweet aroma. It's full name is Diabetes Mellitis and comes from the latin meaning copious amounts of urine smelling like honey. As the concentration of sugar is very high the body needs to dilute the sugar in the blood. The hypothalamus that area of the brain that is responsible for maintaining homeostasis sends a message to the area of our brains responsible for making us feel thirsty, so in both types of diabetics there will be an increased thirst. Therefore the diabetic will be both thirsty and passing a great deal of urine. Type 2 diabetes is more insidious it creeps up more slowly so the patient might not be aware of an increased thirst or passing more urine but may have noticed they are feeling more tired than usual, or they may notice the development of thrush, as thrush thrives in sugar laden tissues, or skin infections such as boils.
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| GANGRENE CAN OCCUR THROUGH POORLY MANAGED DIABETES |
Coming back to the body's cells because all of the body's cells will be tired this includes blood cells, white blood cells and T'lymphocytes responsible for fighting infection wont work so well and wont be able to cope with infection as well as the non diabetic, hence the increase in skin infections, such as boils, poor healing etc. Nerve cells will also be tired, this goes from the brain all the way to the peripheral nerves, so we have mental exhaustion and nerves responsible for picking up sensation will be impaired so if an infection occurred say in the toes, where a non diabetic might feel the pain of an infection occurring, the diabetic will not, coupled with poor healing you can see why diabetics must be careful with something we take for granted like cutting toe nails as the risk of infection is much greater. The same goes for women diabetics, they shouldn't have waxing as the risk of them developing a serious infection is much greater. The blood vessels are comprised of cells of course, so these will also be compromised, therefore the diabetic's circulation, especially to the extremities, like the toes can become impaired, so the diabetic because their nerve sensations are impaired will not be aware of the circulation is not as efficient. All the body's cells require oxygen, which is delivered by the blood, without this cells will die, the cells will not be able to receive any nutrients either, so they cannot thrive if this happens we have tissues dying which is known as gangrene. If this is not treated, it can become infected and spread, which could result in death and certainly the necessity of having the dead tissue removed resulting in amputation. Blindness is another complication since the body's cells, the blood vessels to the eyes are impaired. Infection in general, not just in the soft tissues but any infection can become serious for the diabetic as they are not as efficient wilt dealing with infection as the non diabetic. There is an increase in heart disease too in diabetics, the heart is also as we know comprised of different types of cells, so you can be sure they are not working as efficiently as the non diabetic. These risks can be lessened with good management of the condition, so it is essential the diabetic takes care of their health and they do this by monitoring their blood sugar levels so that they are kept within normal levels. With type 1 this means constantly checking their blood several times a day, in a type 2 diabetic it means taking your medication you are prescribed and following the diet given to you and with all diabetics you must be vigilant in looking out for infection and any changes or worries discuss them with your doctor and don't put this off.
Prevention is always better than cure and there is much we can do to prevent type 2 Diabetes, there is no excuse to having this in children who are obese and its tantamount to child neglect allowing children to become so obese in the first place. If we all looked after our health, by eating a healthy balanced diet and taking regular exercise and maintaining a healthy weight, not only would we be helping ourselves to better health but we would be saving the country a huge expense.
Maggie Brown (Author)
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