Type 1 Diabetes and Adolescents

When the blood glucose levels rise above the optimum, the pancreas detects this, and sends a metabolic signal for the pancreas to produce insulin in the beta cells. The beta cells are a part of a cluster of cells called the Islets of Langerhan. The hormone insulin is made here because the pancreas is a part of the endocrine system. (4) Insulin helps our cells convert glucose into energy, and it helps our bodies store extra glucose for use later. Insulin does this by turning the extra food into larger packages of glucose called glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles. When the body consumes food the pancreas will produce more insulin than normal as more is needed, and less insulin when it is not needed as much. (7)

Patients are usually given a blood test to show if diabetes is present, the test may be given because of questionable symptoms one has had or from genetic history. If after testing hemoglobin levels in your blood, and diagnosed with diabetes, insulin will then be a part of a patients’ daily routine (Insel, Deecher, & Brewer, 2012).Tests are taken to determine whether or not hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia is present. When this is discovered, the tests become more frequent. A variety of tests are done in order to keep one in good health. If diagnosed in time, and with proper care, many complications can be prevented. JDRF will be supporting

Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases to this day. With over 171 million cases of diabetes all over the world, this disease is spreading exponentially fast. Lesser known as Diabetes Mellitus, this disease is all about the amounts of sugar in one's body. Glucose, in particular. Glucose is the powerhouse of the body. It helps run your body by transforming into the energy that we use to function on a daily basis. Whether or not one's diabetes is minor or even off the charts it can lead to terrible outcomes. These include stroke, blindness, vascular disease and heart disease. As mentioned before, the major symptom of diabetes is that too much sugar is in one's body. This is similar to a disease previously mentioned, hemochromatosis. However,

It’s important the beta cells work and this insulin is released so that the body has access to this chemical when needed. People with Diabetes will struggle to naturally produce insulin due to autoimmunity (where the beta cells are destroyed by the immune system). Initially, this means having to maintain your blood glucose levels by injecting or eating sugary foods if your blood sugar levels drop.

Diabetes Mellitus is a disorder characterized by an imbalance between insulin production, insulin need, and the bodies ability to use the available insulin. This imbalance can result from a total lack of insulin, from impaired release of insulin, inadequate or defective insulin receptors in body tissue, or from the production of insulin that is either inactive or destroyed before it can become effective.

Type one diabetes is an autoimmune disease. When a person has type one diabetes the immune system attacks the beta cells that produce insulin. When enough cells are destroyed the body doesn’t produce enough, or any insulin. Without insulin your cells do not absorb the glucose that accumulates in the blood stream. In addition to a spike in the blood sugar, the body is not storing the glucose as glycogen as a reserve.

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas. It is a large gland that is located in the abdomen behind the stomach. Insulin is produced by special cells called pancreatic islets (or islets of Langerhans), which exist as small isolated clumps of cells within the pancreas. Insulin is produced by the beta cells of the pancreatic islets and is released when we have just eaten a meal and the level of glucose in our bloodstream is high. Insulin works by stimulating the cells within our body to take up the glucose in our blood, either for immediate energy, or for storing as glycogen in the liver or muscles cells.

Type 1 diabetes is usually a progressive autoimmune disease, in which the beta cells that produce insulin are slowly destroyed by the body's own immune system. It is unknown what first starts this cascade of immune events, but evidence suggests that both a genetic predisposition and environmental factors, such as a viral infection, are involved.

In recent studies, Diabetes type 1 has been scientifically linked to a chronic autoimmune disorder. The immune system attacks the beta cells, in the Islets of Langerham, located in the pancreas. This leads to the insulin producing cells to be destroyed and damaged, which ultimately ends up with very limited blood glucose or no insulin production at all.

The state of which there is not enough sugar in the blood is called hypoglycemia. The state where there is too much sugar in the blood is called hyperglycemia. Both of these states of low and high sugar in the blood should be monitored in people that have the disease of diabetes. The symptoms of hypoglycemia are; blurred vision, headache, cold clammy skin, sweating and irritability. The symptoms of hyperglycemia are; hot dry skin, kussmaul’s respirations, vomiting, polyuria, polyphagia, and polydipsia. Hypoglycemia in the person with the disease of diabetes is caused by not enough sugar in the blood, or too much insulin in the blood. Hyperglycemia in the person with the disease of diabetes is caused by too much sugar in the blood stream (Stanbridge College, Diabetes Powerpoint pg. 8).

The body regulates the blood glucose levels by producing insulin. Insulin is a chemical messenger essential for the entry of glucose into a cell. When the pancreas fails to produce insulin that is sufficient to use, the level of glucose in the blood will remain high. If to much insulin is produced, or given through medication, the level of glucose in the blood will remain low. In type 2 diabetes the cells become resistant to insulin and ignore its message to be absorbed into the cells, this is known as insulin resistance. Insulin deficit results in decreased transportation of glucose from cells in the body, hyperglycemia then arises causing to much glucose to be present in the bloodstream (Gould and Dyer, 2011: 550). The pancreas is located

Sometimes too much sugar really is a bad thing. Diabetes is a metabolism disorder that affects many people in today’s world. Diabetes can be many diseases that deal with the hormone called insulin, which is produced by the pancreas. The pancreas is a gland in the endocrine system that creates insulin and maintains the body’s glucose balance. Insulin regarding diabetes is important since people who are diagnosed with diabetes are in the stage where their body does not make enough insulin or their cells are not accepting the insulin, which leads to high levels of sugar in the blood. This problem leads to the two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes results from an imbalance of the hormone insulin and is considered a metabolic disorder. Glucose is obtained from food, normally insulin is released as the glucose levels rise. Insulin is produced in the pancreas by cells known as Beta cells. When Beta Cells fail to produce insulin the levels of glucose in the blood rise because the kidney is unable to filtrate the high amounts of glucose in the blood. Another cause of diabetes can be insulin resistance. Insulin resistance occurs when the body is not able to utilize the available insulin. Insulin is in charge of maintaining the proper levels of glucose in the blood. As the levels of glucose increase so does the amount of insulin being released. Insulin activates

Decisions regarding treatment are often based on HbA1c. Although the American Diabetes Association 2003 does not currently recommend HbA1c measurement for the diagnosis of diabetes, studies have shown frequency distributions similar to those of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) used in diagnosing diabetes, HbA1c is a more comprehensive measure of total glycaemic exposure than FPG due to the representation of blood glucose in the postprandial state in

Clinical diagnosis of diabetes used to be based only on elevated fasted blood glucose levels ( > 7 mmol/L) or more than 11.1 mmol/L after 2 hours after an oral glucose tolerance test. Nowadays HbA1c (also known as haemoglobin A1c or glycated haemoglobin) blood measurements are more frequently used in clinical practices as a bio-marker of glucose control over a longer period of time (last 8 - 12 weeks) and it also correlates with microvascular complications that can be related to diabetes. It is considered to be more reliable as there is less variability within the measurement, however it should be used with cautious in patients that suffer from any condition that may affect red cell turnover or renal impairment as the reading can be