Facts about Diabetes.
What is Diabetes? Diabetes is actually an endocrine /metabolic disorder. It is classified as both a disease and a chronic condition. A disease because it can be aquired, and a chronic condition because you never rid yourself of it and it has no cure. Diabetes is based on the definition that the endocrine or hormone gland known as the pancreas has for some reason stopped working or is limiting the making the hormone enzyme Insulin. The insulin is what makes the body use the foods we eat to turn to energy producing elements.
They are finding that the small little clusters of cells called beta cells, are interrupted. This has been linked to an autoimmune compromise. hence the diabetics inability to combat infections as well.
Diabetes really does make your blood sweet. It is because all of the glucose (or sugar) that is supposed to be in the cells is not, and it builds up in the blood stream. This has a number of dangerous effects.The Glucose (sugar) which is also chemically an acid harms your entire body. This is done by the sugar acids and enzymes and other biochemically acids to digest or eat away at the vital tissues.
This happens because the body is literally starving for energy. And the body feels that the only way to get the extras that it needs is by "eating away" at the tissues. This eating away has a technical name fo rthe resulktant condition. Called wasting or marasmus. This is what causes a lot of the complications that a diabetic has.
So in a nutshell, diabetes is a disease or condition where the pancreas does not produce any or enough of the hormone insulin, which allows our bodies to utilize the sugars and carbohydrates that we eat.
Who gets diabetes?
Anyone can get diabetes. Anyone at any time can get it. Many people are born with it. Family genetics are a signal that you may one of the close to 18 million American
( 380 million world wide) diabetics.
Normally the family has a history of a diabetic at some point in time. Dont be fooled by the age old addage, he go it when he was older. Many people do not get diabetes by rule when they get older. So if you have a family relative- blood lineage) you stand a good chance of developing it eventually.
Many people aquire diabetes from a host of reasons. From accidents, disease , illnesses, lifestyle, stress, operations can aquire the condition.
,By physiological definition the pancreas has to be either missing or damaged. So in many ways an abdominal injury like from a car accident or those who have had a pancrectomy (a surgical procedure where the pancreas is removed), have aquired diabetes type 1 or Insulin Dependant Diabetes Mellitus ( IDDM).
In curent research trends, they are finding that some reactions to inocculations, stress, antibiotic use or wrong antibiotic treatments or even antibiotic over use, cortecosteroids over use, or simple viruses can cause damage to the pancreas. They are also finding that more and more of the junk food lifestyles can be a causative factor in getting the disease. That could be one reason why we are seeing many children developing type 2 diabetes, known as MODY (Maturity Onset Diabetes in Youth).
No one is protected from it, not even the highly health concious. As anything can cuase it at any age and any time.
Specific types of diabetes
There are two basic classifications of diabetes. There is type 1 and there is type 2. And there are many combinations and offshoots of each. Below we have covered, briefly the main type of diabetes, definitions of each, and some characteristics of each that are most commonly seen.
Tecnically there are right now two basic classifications. Insulin dependant and non insulin dependant,
Ther are in fact almost 13 sub types of diabetes that are labeled according to their specific organs and causes.
Some sub types are Diabetes Insipidus Its called diabetes insipidus because it shows the same frequent urination as a diabetic, with some leveated and ketones present. But its cause is a hypothalmic secrection absence.)
Glycogen secreting liver, muscle catabolism, aquired, etc. The particular type is often the re classified into either 1 or 2. On the next page we learn a little about the sub type of 1 and 2 and brittle etc. |
