Diabetes Mellitus: Symptoms, Treatments, Prognosis and Impact on Life

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of diabetes mellitus, defining it as a chronic disease resulting from the pancreas's inability to produce sufficient insulin, leading to elevated blood glucose levels. It distinguishes between type 1 diabetes, caused by the pancreas's failure to produce insulin, and type 2 diabetes, characterized by insulin resistance. The essay details common symptoms such as frequent urination, excessive thirst, and unexplained weight loss, and explains how diabetes affects various body systems including the heart, blood vessels, nerves, eyes, and kidneys. Current treatments focus on managing blood sugar levels through anti-diabetic medications and dietary control, while highlighting potential side effects of insulin treatment. The prognosis of diabetes involves the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and other complications, with type 1 diabetes posing more immediate threats like diabetic ketoacidosis. The essay also addresses the impact of diabetes on family lifestyle, including dietary changes and increased healthcare costs, and identifies support systems like Diabetes Canada that assist patients and their families. References to various research articles and organizational websites are included to support the information presented.

Running head: DIABETES MELLITUS 1
Diabetes mellitus
Student’s Name
University

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Diabetes mellitus
According to the WHO, this is a chronic disease caused by a deficiency of the pancreas to
produce insulin leading to high concentrations of glucose in the blood which affects the body
system. Generally, there is type 1 and 2 diabetes (WHO, 2018). Type 1 diabetes results from the
pancreas fail to produce insulin due to loss of beta cell while type 2 diabetes is an insulin
resistance condition where cells fail to respond to insulin which eventually weakens the system
leading to lack of insulin. In lay language, it is a sugar disease that makes the body weak and
limits the individual from consuming sugar.
Signs and symptoms of the disorder/disease.
Urinating frequently
Excessive thirst.
Extreme hunger.
Weight loss.
Numbness of hands or feet.
Getting tired often.
Dryness of the skin.
Slowness in the healing of sores.
Increased infections than usual.
Body systems affected by the disease
Diabetes affects the heart, blood vessels, nerves, eyes and kidneys due to complications
of maintaining blood sugar levels in the body. As the sugar increases in the body, it affects these
systems because they have to work more. For example, increased urination means that the kidney
works more than normal to secrete the excess sugar in the body. In most cases type 2 diabetes

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affects older people who are aged from forty years and above, this is because age is a factor in
developing the condition due to wearing out of body organs (Yang, Hu, Zhang, & Zou, 2016).
On the other hand, Chiang, Kirkman, Laffel, & Peters (2014) suggests that type 1 diabetes is
regarded as a juvenile condition mostly affecting children mostly affecting children below the
age of fourteen years. The disease affects both men and women but research has proven that men
are more susceptible to the disease than women since men need to gain far less weight than
women to gain the disease.
Current treatments
According to Chatterjee & Davies (2015), in the last five years, the most common
treatment of diabetes is glucose control through lowering of blood sugar levels thus reducing the
effects to the body system. Since the disease cannot be cured the best way is to manage the
condition by keeping the body in check through anti-diabetic medications available by mouth
like metformin and by injection like GLP-1 agonists. These drugs have synthetic insulin that
assists the body in controlling sugar levels. Further, support systems and therapies have been
effective as remedies for glucose where the individuals maintain a strict diet which ensures that
foods low in glucose are the ones consumed. However, insulin treatment has several side effects
like swelling of arms and legs, weight gain, low blood sugar, skin changes, and injection site
reactions.
Prognosis of the disease
The prognosis of the disease is its likelihood to increase the chances of developing other
conditions if not managed well. Diabetes condition increases the likelihood of developing other
cardiovascular diseases which vary by age. The prognosis varies with the age of onset of the
disease in the individual. In type 1 diabetes, the prognosis is more fatal since children can

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develop diabetic ketoacidosis and other complications like blindness, renal failure, heart attacks
or foot amputations if the condition is poorly managed (WHO, 2018). However, research has
shown that increased glycemic control decreases microvascular and macro-vascular diseases.
How the disease affect lifestyle including the impact it has on the family
Diabetes affects family lifestyle due to the need to adjust to meet the conditions of the
patient. This includes changes in the type of diet to be taken where most families run parallel
diabetes, for the diabetic individual and the rest of the individual. On the other hand, this leads to
increased costs for therapies and insulin medications in areas that are not supported by the
government.
Support systems in place to assist the patient (client) and their family
Diabetes Canada is a national body that offers support to patients and family of diabetic
individuals. The body has programs that seek to assist people to lead healthy and meaningful
lifestyles through providing information that people need to prevent, delay or manage the
condition (Diabetes Canada, 2018). The program has regional offices and community volunteers
who conduct services at local levels.

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References
Chatterjee, S., & Davies, M. J. (2015). Current management of diabetes mellitus and future
directions in care. 91(1081).
Chiang, J., Kirkman, M., Laffel, L., & Peters, A. (2014). Type 1 Diabetes Through the Life
Span: A Position Statement of the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care, 37(7),
2034-2054.
DiabetesCanada. (2018). Programs and Support Services. Retrieved from Diabetes Canada:
https://www.diabetes.ca/in-your-community/programs-support-services
WHO. (2018). Diabetes Fact sheet . Retrieved from WHO:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130826174444/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/
factsheets/fs312/en/
Yang, Y., Hu, X., Zhang, Q., & Zou, R. (2016). Diabetes mellitus and risk of falls in older
adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Age and Ageing, 45(6), 761-767.