In this essay I will be explaining both types of diabetes mellitus, how diabetes is tested for and how it is treated.

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Diabetes CDA                   

Introduction

Diabetes is a condition that affects approximately 2.5 million people in the UK and shockingly ½ a million people, don’t even know they have it.  There are several types of diabetes. In this essay I will include type 1 and type 2 of diabetes mellitus, they have different causes and can be treated differently. Even though you cannot cure the condition, it is still easy for people to treat and manage. However, there have been ethical issues, because of the use of certain types of insulin to treat diabetes, but is it possible for the treatment to be ethical for all people?

In this essay I will be explaining both types of diabetes mellitus, how diabetes is tested for(  using Benedict’s test, Clinistix, a blood test and an oral glucose tolerance test), how it is treated and the ethics behind the use of different types of insulin for treatment.  I will also include the data from the experiments that I undertook at school (including Benedict’s test) and explain and evaluate the results.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is an incurable- but manageable condition in which a person’s glucose level in the blood is high, the cause of this is either the pancreas does not make enough or any insulin, or the pancreas does not make working insulin. When the pancreas does not make insulin that works properly it is called ‘insulin resistance’.  

First I will explain type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is a condition that usually appears before the age of 40 and is very common in young children; it is a condition that is much less common than type 2 diabetes. The condition appears from lack of the insulin hormone as the pancreas tissues are damaged.  The cause of the damage to the pancreas is commonly known as an ‘auto immune’ disorder, meaning that the body’s immune system is turning against its own tissues- by recognizing the good tissue as foreign and creating anti-bodies to destroy the islet cells’ capability of making insulin . Therefore, the pancreas becomes damaged and the lack of insulin leads into the condition ‘diabetes’.  Only an estimated 15% of people who have diabetes have type 1 and the rest have type 2.

Type 2 diabetes is a condition that usually appears after the age of 40. 1 in 20 people over the age of 65 and 1 in 5 people over the age of 85 have diabetes. The cause of type 2 diabetes is when your pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the insulin that is made does not work properly. You’re more likely to develop it if you’re overweight, do less exercise, drink too much alcohol, smoke,  have high blood pressure, have had a heart attack or a stroke, type 2 diabetes runs through your family, you have polycystic syndrome , have impaired glucose tolerance and if your of Afro- Caribbean, South-Asian and Hispanic origin. There are a lot of things that could lead to diabetes; this is most likely why type 2 diabetes is much more common than type 1.

Symptoms of diabetes

The symptoms of diabetes are the same for both types of diabetes however, people with type 1 diabetes may experience these symptoms quickly and over a few weeks- also the symptoms are very obvious for people with type 1 diabetes so it may be easier to diagnose.

The symptoms are:

  • Increased thirst
  • Severe tiredness and fatigue
  • Weight loss
  • Passing urine more often- especially at night
  • Wounds heal more slowly
  • Itching genitals or persistent thrush
  • Vision is blurred  (less common in type 1)
  • Constipation (less common in type 1)
  • Cramps (less common in type 1)
  • Recurring skin infections (less common in type 1)

For people with type 2 diabetes the symptoms can be unnoticed  for a few years as there may be little symptoms or none at all, also as type 2 diabetes is common with older people, they may dismiss some of the symptoms as signs of ‘getting older’ and therefore not regard as serious.  It’s only when more serious symptoms appear on people with type 2 diabetes (such as blurred vision) that they begin to seek medical help and a test for diabetes.  It is crucial to diagnose the diabetes quickly as soon as you begin notice these symptoms, as this will prevent any serious health problems such as: blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, strokes, complications in pregnancy and toot, amputations to toes, feet or legs required because of infections and gum disease.

How is diabetes diagnosed?

A doctor may need to sample your urine to see if it has glucose in it, as usually people without diabetes do not have glucose in their urine. This is because glucose can overflow through your kidneys and into your urine- in the case of you having diabetes. The test in which you sample your urine for glucose is called ‘Benedict’s test’, but nowadays instead of using Benedict’s test to determine urine in your glucose (as it is a longer process), ‘Clinistix™’ or ‘Clinitest™’ are used. Later in this essay I will include a detailed write up experiment for both of these tests. Benedict’s test is also called Benedict’s reagent. It is made out of copper sulphite, sodium hydroxide and tartaric acid and is a chemical compound (the union of 2 or more chemical elements). It is sometimes called Benedict’s reagent because a reagent is a chemical that is added to another substance to produce a chemical reaction in order to have valuable effect. For instance, you have to add Benedict’s solution (a blue solution) onto a urine sample and boil, if the urine has glucose in it; the solution will turn red, orange or yellow.

This picture shows the difference in the colour of the solution if the urine has glucose in it.   (http://www.diabetescareinformations.com/tests-to-detect-the-presence-of-sugar-in-the-urine.php)

Clinistix sticks contain two enzymes (proteins which increase the rate of chemical reactions) which are called glucose oxidase and peroxidase. The glucose oxidase causes a chemical reaction between the glucose and oxygen in the urine, and because of this it produces gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The peroxidase causes a chemical reaction between the hydrogen peroxide and the pigment in the stick. This causes the pigment to change colour. This test is a qualitative test; also these sticks prove to be a quantitative test - as the intensity of the colour in the sticks will show how much glucose is in the urine.

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                                                                                                          (http://www.glucosemet ers4u.com/clinistixmedium.jpg)

In the case that your urine has glucose in it, your doctor will give you a blood test just to confirm your diagnosis. This blood test is also called a fasting blood glucose level as you will not be allowed to eat after midnight. You ...

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