Diabetes

The topic of my presentation is diabetes. I have divided my presentation into few parts. They are: diabetes in general, its treatment through time, different types of this disease, what is prediabetes and some myths about diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus or in short diabetes is a disease in which the person has high blood sugar. This occurs either because of unsuitable insulin production or because of the improper body's responds to insulin or even both.

Most of our food- intake is transformed into a simple form of sugar known as glucose. After the meal, the glucose level rises and pancreas than automatically produces the right dosage of insulin which moves glucose from blood into muscles, fat and liver cells… and thus blood sugar levels start to drop as well as insulin production.

When a person has diabetes, there is no insulin production or is too little. Without insulin glucose stays in the bloodstream, overflows into the urine and makes a person urinate much more than usual. A person also might feel tired, hungry and thirsty.

For 2 000 years diabetes has been recognized as a disturbing and fatal disease. Physicians in ancient times recognized the symptoms of diabetes but weren’t capable to effectively treat it- in most cases people were recommended to eat oil of roses, dates and gruel.

In the 17th century Thomas Willis from London sampled his patient’s urine to see whether his patients had diabetes or not. If it had a sweet taste he would diagnose them with diabetes. This method was used largely unchanged until the 20th century.

In the early 20th century many doctors ordered low calorie diets which lengthen the life of people with diabetes but were very weak and suffering from near starvation because of it.

In 1921 a youn...

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...lucose with a laboratory test called the A1C. The result of the test reflect average blood glucose over a 2- to 3-month term.

Healthy eating, physical activity and blood glucose testing is necessary for type 2 diabetes. Many people also need one or more diabetes medicines (pills, insulin and other injectable medicine) to control their blood glucose levels.

In 2005, 1.1 million people died from diabetes most of them in less develop countries. What is more- the lack of awareness about diabetes and insufficient access to health care system can also blindness, amputation and kidney disorder.

In my presentation I told you most important things about diabetes-- a 'silent killer disease' as there is usually no early symptom of the disease. I also presented 3 types of the disease, explained what is prediabetes and some facts that are not true while talking about diabetes.