What Exactly Is Diabetes Essay Research Paper

What Exactly Is Diabetes?

Diabetes is actually called Diabetes Mellitus. Diabetes is a disease in which there is a lack of insulin because of the existence of an element that obstructs the body from using metabolizing glucose or sugars pragmatically. It is an estimated that 16 million people in the US have diabetes. Glucose gives your blood cells energy to do their jobs. Insulin is one of the most important key words in this disease. Insulin is a hormone that is made by the pancreas. This disease affects the pancreas, which is an organ in the human body.

There are three types of diabetes. There is type 1, which is also called Insulin-dependent diabetes. There are around 12,000 children that get type 1 every year. Symptoms of diabetes are blurred vision, thirst and hunger, frequent urination, losing weight, feeling weak and tired, being sick to your stomach, slow healing of sores and being nasty to people. Type 1 is hereditary and you can possibly get it from your parents or even your grandparents.

Then there’s type 2 diabetes or is also known as Noninsulin-dependent diabetes. This type is not hereditary and is also the worst type. About 90 to 95 percent of people have type 2 diabetes. This type is usually developed in an adult over the age of 40 and a lot more common in adults over 55. Around 80 percent of people with type 2 are obese or overweight.

The third type of diabetes is gestational. Gestational diabetes develops during a pregnancy when a pregnant woman has no history of diabetes and clears up after the woman has delivered her baby. Studies have shown that about 40 percent of women with gestational diabetes develop type two within fifteen years. Doctors say that most women should get tested for gestational diabetes in their 24th and 28th week of pregnancy.

Scientists believe that heredity plays a significant role because IDDM (type 1) usually gets passed on in families. Anyone with any type of diabetes is at great risk for blindness, heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, amputations, and also nerve damage. Diabetes is also expensive. Diabetes cost the US around $98 billion dollars in 1997. In diabetic research there have been some advances in technology. These include laser treatments for diabetic eye disease, plummeting the risk of blindness, modern forms of filtered insulin like human insulin formed through genetic manufacturing, and improved ways for doctors to observe blood glucose levels. People with diabetes can also check their own blood glucose levels at home.

Researchers are looking for genes that may be implicated in both types 1 and 2 and are also working to enlarge a smaller amount of destructive drugs and better techniques. Ways to prevent type 2 diabetes include losing weight, exercising more, and making sure that you have a healthy diet.

In upcoming years it just may be possible to administer insulin through nasal sprays, or also in a form where you can take a pill or have a patch.

Even though diabetes is a devastating disorder, people can prevent this disorder by their knowledge of the risk factors and symptoms. They should take this advantage and work towards a goal so there is a lesser chance of them getting any type of diabetes. Examples are that if you are overweight you should pursue a healthier diet, and try to lose some weight, and exercise regularly. Some people think that these tasks are impossible, but they aren t. They just need to believe in themselves and say that they can do it.