Diebetes

Diabetes

Diabetes is chronic disease that affects as many as 6 million Americans

and can lead to death. However, the good news is that with proper care, people with diabetes can lead normal, satisfying lives. Much of this care is self-managed, meaning that if you have this condition; you must take day-to-day responsibility for your own care. Most important to managing the disease is to know as much about it as you can. The first thing to know is what diabetes is and how the population is affected, organs and system that are affected by this disease, and the prevention.

What is diabetes? Diabetes is a disease that affects the body's insulin and impairs

the body's ability to use food nutrients properly. Diabetes means the body has lost its main source of fuel, and the body cannot survive without fuel. Diabetes is a condition in which the pancreas, a little organ near the stomach that produces insulin, cannot make enough insulin or the body cannot use the insulin properly. Insulin is important because it helps get glucose (a sugar that comes from most of the foods we eat) into our cells for energy. With diabetes, glucose builds up in the blood instead of being used for energy.

Diabetes is a serious and growing problem. An estimated 17 million Americans

have diabetes, but only 11.1 million cases are diagnosed. About nine million women have diabetes, and about a third of these do not even know they have diabetes. In 2000, diabetes was the sixth leading cause of death. However diabetes is likely to be underreported as the underlying cause of death on death certificates. About 65 percent of deaths among those with diabetes are attributed to heart disease and stroke.

In 2002, diabetes cost the United States 132 billion dollars. Indirect costs, including disability payments, time lost from work and premature death, totaled 40 billion dollars; direct medical costs for diabetes care, including hospitalization, medical care, and treatment supplies, totaled 92 billion dollars.

Who gets diabetes? First of all, diabetes is not contagious. People of any age can

have diabetes, people with a family history of diabetes, and other with high risk commonly older people, overweight and sedentary people, African Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Asia Americans, Native Hawaiians, some Pacific Islander Americans, and Hispanic Americans. However, certain factors can increase the risk of developing diabetes. There are two serious type of diabetes, type 1 and type 2;

Type 1 diabetes, occurs equally among males and females, but is more common in whites than in nonwhites. Data from the World Health Organization's Multinational Project for Childhood Diabetes indicate that type 1 diabetes is rare in most African, American Indian, and Asian populations. However, some northern European countries, including Finland and Sweden, have high rates of type 1 diabetes. The reasons for these differences are unknown.

Type 2 diabetes, is more common in older people, especially in people who are overweight, and occurs more often in African Americans, American Indians, some Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islander Americans, and Hispanic Americans.

Lastly, Gestational diabetes, a form of diabetes during pregnancy, affects about 5% of all pregnant women. It usually ends when the baby is born, but some women who have gestational diabetes go on to develop diabetes when they get older. Studies have shown that almost 40% of women who have gestational diabetes will go on to develop type 2 diabetes.

Now let's take a look at what part of our body does Diabetes affects and how the body responds to the affected areas. Diabetes can cause a lot of different major problems with in the human body. Here are a few bodily systems and organs that are affected and can lead to other problems of not treated.

The eyes are a part of your body that can be affected by diabetes. Usually it can lead to cataracts, a cloud like mist forms in front of your lens causing blurriness. Also glaucoma is likely to occur, which is when pressure builds up in the back of the eye causing optic nerve damage. With both conditions you can lose your eyesight or your vision can become very badly damaged. You do not have to have diabetes to get cataracts or glaucoma but the chances go up dramatically for people who do.

The kidneys are another set of organs that are greatly affected by diabetes. About 1/3 of kidney failure patients are diabetic. When a person blood sugar is high the excess sugar flow escapes through the urine. So people who are diabetic have to use the bathroom a lot. Also the flow of blood increases through the kidneys causing them to work harder and possibly swell larger than normal size. Too much stress on the kidney can cause it to lose the ability to store valuable nutrition that the body needs. Over time the kidney becomes useless and loses control, which in turn results in kidney failure.

The body nervous system can also be affected by diabetes. It can be narrowed down into three categories. When the motor nerves are affected muscular weakness occurs. You body feels tired all the time and a simple task such as walking can leave you tired for the rest of the day. If the sensory nerves are affected there is a loss of feeling. It is very common for diabetic people to experience a loss of feeling in there feet. Then we have the autonomous nerves, which control your body functions that we are not aware of. When this happens a person may experience digestive or bladder problems.