In
class recently, we learned about diabetes, specifically what is it, how it
occurs, and why it occurs. We discovered that in diabetes, hormones do not
properly regulate the glucose concentration in one’s blood stream. I’ve always
know that diabetes had to do with an imbalance of sugars, but I never knew how
it worked in a more in depth manner. I found it intriguing how there is a
feedback mechanism for the distribution of glucose, something so small yet so
important to the functioning of one’s body!
This
process challenges me to think about how organisms have evolved over time to
not just fit the niche of their environment, but to also internally maintain
homeostasis. They have evolved to regulate the distribution of small molecules
in the blood, making me think further about how simple the first organism must
have been to not only survive but maintain homeostasis of all of the molecules
present inside of it.
In the
negative feedback control of blood glucose, there are two options that may
occur. When the blood glucose level is too high, the pancreas releases insulin,
which either stores glucose in the liver as glycogen or distributes the glucose
in other cells. Therefore, the blood glucose level drops. When the blood
glucose level is too low, the pancreas releases glucagon to trigger the release
of glycogen from the liver to break down into glucose, causing the blood
glucose level to rise. In a diabetic person’s body, the pancreas has trouble
producing either insulin or glucagon to regulate the blood level of glucose.
I
decided to research diabetes further to see how the regulation of blood glucose
may affect the rest of the body. First I discovered that diabetes may cause
increased thirst, increased urination, increased hunger, extreme fatigue,
blurry vision, bruises slow to heal, and increased weight loss (Diabetes
Symptoms 2014). In type 1 diabetes, it is common to loss weight while in type 2 diabetes it
is common to feel tingling, pain, or numbness in the hands or feet (Diabetes Symptoms 2014).
Beyond
these common symptoms, I found that the University of Leicester conducted a
study “establishing a link between hypoglycaemia and increased risk of
cardiovascular events and mortality in patients with diabetes” (University of
Leicester 2014). Professors Kamlesh Khunti and Melanie Davies found this
correlation with patients being treated with insulin, suggesting that patient’s
treatments may change in the future (University of Leicester 2014).
Specifically, they found that patients with diabetes have a 60% higher chance
of cardiovascular problems due to atherosclerotic plaques in blood vessels (University
of Leicester 2014).
While
these findings increased my awareness of the seriousness of diabetes and taught
me about its symptoms, I wonder how doctors will go about reforming the
treatment to decrease the risk of cardiovascular problems. Melanie Davies, a professor of Diabetes
Medicine at the University of Leicester and Honorary Consultant at Leicester's
Hospitals, agrees with this principle, suggesting that "going forward we
need to focus on management strategies that help patients minimise their risk
of having hypoglycaemic events" (University of Leicester 2014).
Work Cited:
University of
Leicester. (2014, December 12). Link between low blood
glucose, cardiovascular events revealed. ScienceDaily.
Retrieved
December18,2014fromwww.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141212085045.htm
Diabetes
Symptoms. (2014, September 12). Retrieved December 16, 2014, from
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/symptoms/
