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Diabetes milletus, or simply diabetes, is a
medical condition wherein a person’s metabolism is disrupted
and his blood sugar is disturbingly high,
both circumstances resulting from low levels of insulin - the
hormone necessary to transform glucose, an important sugar in
the blood and which
we get from foods, into energy - or from resistance to insulin
without enough insulin secretion to enable the person’s system
to cope.
There are three main forms of diabetes recognized by the World
Health Organization. These are type 1, type 2, and gestational
diabetes. All
three forms share the same signs, symptoms, and consequences;
however, they differ in causes and population distribution. All
three forms also
share the same cause: the inability of islet cells, found in
the pancreas and responsible for insulin production (also known
as pancreatic beta
cells), to make enough insulin to avoid hypoglycemia, a
condition when the blood sugar becomes inappropriately
high.
For type 1 diabetes, the autoimmune destruction of these islet
cells is the most common cause. Adolescent and Type 1 diabetes
may not be a popular match. But do you know about juvenile
diabetes or adolescent diabetes? This form of the disease
usually occurs during childhood or adolescence (although it
can, however, still appear at any stage in a person’s life), is
an unceasing medical condition where the pancreas is unable to
produce insulin, or when it does, it produces only an
insufficient amount to allow successful conversion of glucose
into energy.
In the United States alone, approximately 13,000 young children
are diagnosed with the disease every year and, because type 1
diabetes can also occur at any stage, an estimate of one
million Americans - children and adults alike - have the
disease.
Type 1 diabetes is said to be caused by many factors. Among
these factors are genetics and exposure to certain viruses.
However, there are medical
experts who maintain that children and adults who have been
diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have actually done nothing to
cause the disease.
Since 1921, when insulin first became medically available, type
1 diabetes, as well as the other two forms, has become
treatable. Many medical innovations, made possible and further
developed by technology, to help fight the disease have been
practiced since then, including the production of insulin,
either as a direct copy of human insulin or as a genetically
modified copy, through genetic engineering.
Type 1 diabetes is directly treated by injecting levels of
insulin into the diabetes patient or having the diabetes
patient inhale insulin. Of course, adjustments in lifestyle
have to be made and maintained by the patient to allow him to
cope with the condition.
It is important to note, however, that frequent blood
monitoring and insulin delivery - whether through injection or
inhalation - do not really kill the disease, for despite
progressive research, type 1 diabetes has no cure. This is why
it is imperative to stock up on knowledge regarding the disease
even when one has not been diagnosed yet. As the saying goes,
“prevention is better than cure.” This is equally true of young
children or adolescents and type 1 diabetes
sufferers.
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