Diabetes Paper

Diabetes is a disease in which many people around the world suffer from diabetes; to be exact there is a total of 25.8 million people suffering from diabetes. To break it down even further there are 18.8 million people who are diagnosed, 7 million undiagnosed, and 70 million people with prediabetes.

Diabetes is a disease that is characterized by high blood glucose levels that result from defects in the body’s ability to produce or use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that directs our body’s cells to absorb glucose. Glucose is stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen and stops the body from using fat as a source of energy. There are two types of diabetes type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease it destroys the individual’s insulin within the body and creates beta cells within the pancreas. Type 1 diabetes is usually discovered in children and young adults. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes as millions of Americans have been diagnosed. In type 2 diabetes the body is either rejecting its own insulin or simply not creating insulin leaving glucose levels high. This type of diabetes is usually found in elderly patients or older adults; although it can be found in children and teens as well.

Some people who have diabetes do not realize that they are at risk for this disease and they may choose to ignore the signs and symptoms that they are having. Although some individuals are different than others, an individual that is suffering from type 1 diabetes may experience weight loss, dehydration, damage to their body, and diabetic ketoacidosis. Weight loss can occur because the loss of sugar in urine can mean losing calories which provide the body energy, causing individuals with high sugar to lose weight. Dehydration can occur because the increased amount of sugar in the blood can cause the body to urinate more frequent to try to clear the sugar from the blood. If left untreated the sugars in the body can create damage to the nerves...