| What is diabetes?
Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose (a sugar) that
our body uses for energy. The pancreas, a little organ near the
stomach, produces insulin (a hormone) to help glucose get into
our body's cells.
With diabetes, the pancreas either doesn't make enough insulin, or the
body can't use the insulin properly. The glucose then builds up in the
blood, overflows into the urine, and is carried out of the body instead
of being used by the cells for energy.
Diabetes can lead to serious, even life-threatening emergencies and serious
damage to many parts of the body: the heart, eyes, kidneys, blood vessels,
nerve endings, feet, and legs.
Symptoms of diabetes:
- Feeling extremely thirsty
- Needing to urinate often
- Losing weight without trying
- Feeling extremely hungry
- Having sudden vision changes
- Feeling a tingling or numbness in hands or feet
- Feeling tired much of the time
- Having very dry skin
- Having sores that are slow to heal
- Experiencing more infections than usual
- Having nausea, vomiting, or stomach pains may come with the
sudden development of juvenile diabetes.
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Types of diabetes:
Type I (juvenile) Diabetes: Usually occurs in children and
is caused when the body's immune system attacks its ability to
produce insulin. People with this condition need daily injections
of insulin to live. They also need to follow a strict diet and
monitor their blood sugar level.
Type II (adult-onset) Diabetes: Primarily affects overweight
adults. In many cases, it can be regulated with diet, exercise,
and weight control.
Gestational Diabetes: Appears in pregnancy in some women,
and it usually goes away after the baby is born. It can cause
complications during pregnancy, and it must be monitored carefully.
Women with gestational diabetes are at higher risk of developing
Type II diabetes later on.
In the future
A new, portable, battery-operated device will use laser
energy to penetrate the skin to test the blood sugar level
in people with diabetes without the pain of a finger prick.
Gel tablets that resist the natural digestive
juices of the stomach will deliver insulin in the
body through a pill instead of shots.
Special sensors implanted under the skin will
measure blood sugar levels without using a finger
prick.
New insulin-producing cells will be developed
to provide a regular dose of insulin in the body.
New methods will be devised to get insulin-producing
cells into the body, either through injections or
little silicone capsules. |
