PATHOPHYSIOLOGY2 The term health refers to a person’s mental and physical condition. In relation to pathophysiology, it can be defined as the study of abnormal physical process that causes diseases and is associated with physical injuries in the body. Anatomy and physiology describe the healthy state of the body and its structures, pathophysiology, on the other hand, shows how the body and its components operate to counter the injuries and diseases that attack the body system (Shreiner, Kao & Young, 2015). Homeostasis explains how the body maintains its operation level optimally by balancing the physiological and biological process such as sugar level, temperature, heartbeat, blood sugar blood pressure maintained at optimum levels. How Disease Affects Homeostasis A disease is a disruption of homeostasis. When the body balance is impaired, the outcome is an ailment. At times, some of the illness may be composed of external causes such a pathogen or toxin. Consequently, some other infections can have internal causes. Diabetes mellitus for instance is a disease that seriously affects homeostasis. It is considered as an autoimmune disease, and this implies that body is attacking itself(Neufer, et.al, 2015). The result is usually the death of the insulin producing cells in the pancreas, hence there will no insulin in the blood. The insulin is a critical element because it is protein that aids cells bring in sugar. Often, diabetic patients have much sugar in their blood stream. When such a high blood sugar level is left untreated, the result is usually diabetic coma.
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY3 References Shreiner, A. B., Kao, J. Y., & Young, V. B. (2015). The gut microbiome in health and in disease.Current opinion in gastroenterology,31(1), 69. Neufer, P. D., Bamman, M. M., Muoio, D. M., Bouchard, C., Cooper, D. M., Goodpaster, B. H., ... & Hepple, R. T. (2015). Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of physical activity-induced health benefits.Cell metabolism,22(1), 4-11.