Diabetes

Diabetes is a medical disorder which is characterized by varying degrees of hyperglycemia (elevated blood sugar levels). This usually happens after meals in diabetic people. All of the various types of diabetes mellitus have similar symptoms in common, as well as similar complications with advanced stages of diabetes.

The state of high blood sugar, or ‘hyperglycemia’, can itself lead to dehydration and ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis is a type of metabolic acidosis that is caused by high concentrations of keto acids, formed by the deamination of amino acids. Ketoacidosis that accompanies diabetes happens when the liver breaks down protein and fat in response to a perceived need for respiratory substrate.

Long term complications of diabetes include cardiovascular disease, which is doubled in those with diabetes, chronic renal failure, retinal damage, nerve damage and even gangrene. Renal failure is the main reason that some diabetic patients go on dialysis treatment. Retinal damage can, in the most serious cases, cause blindness. Nerve damage has been known to contribute to erectile dysfunction. In serious cases of circulatory problems that lead to gangrene, patients have had to have their toes, feet and even whole legs amputated.

In the more important forms of diabetes the condition is caused by the decrease of complete absence of insulin production, or a decreased sensitivity of the body’s tissues to insulin. The latter type of known as type II diabetes, and the former as type I diabetes and requires regular insulin injections for survival. Type II diabetes is generally managed with weight reduction, diet and exercise in approximately 20% of diabetes cases. Many cases require these factors as well as oral medication for diabetes.

Diabetes is different than living with other types of chronic condition, as it requires a great amount of patient understanding and participation, as glucose levels change constantly. Treatments that keep blood sugar levels normal can reduce or prevent the development of many of the complications associated with diabetes.

There are many other health problems and concerns that exacerbate the damaging effects of diabetes. These include elevated cholesterol, obesity, smoking, high blood pressure and the lack of regular exercise. Patients that have begun regular exercise programs and make an attempt to cut out refined sugar and other high glucose foods have seen marked results in both weight and diabetes symptoms, within several weeks.

Deficiency of insulin or its production plays a huge role in all forms of diabetes, since insulin is the primary hormone that regulates glucose uptake into cells from the blood. Most carbohydrates in food are quickly converted into glucose which is the principal sugar in blood. Beta cells produce insulin in the pancreas as a response to the rising levels of glucose in the blood after carbohydrates have been consumed.

Insulin is what makes it possible for most of the body’s tissues to remove glucose from the blood for use as a fuel, for conversion to other necessary molecules, or for storage. Insulin is also the principal control signal for conversion of glucose, which is the basic sugar unit, to glycogen for storage in the muscle cells and liver. Low insulin levels result in the reverse conversion of glycogen to glucose when glucose levels fall. Only glucose that is produced this way in the liver goes into the bloodstream. Insulin is the main signal in converting many bidirectional processes of metabolism from a catabolic to an anabolic direction.

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