Diabetes Case Study - Essay Example

Diabetes Diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by greater glucose levels in the body because of the body’s resistance to insulin or lack of insulin in the body. Type I Diabetes can be easily detected in the preliminary stages because the symptoms of such a disease are acute. However the signs and symptoms of type II diabetes may be difficult to interpret. In diabetes mellitus it can be generally seen that a person suffers from polyuria, polydipsia and polyphagia. Moreover the person also gets fatigued easily, suffers from infections, has a reduced wound healing time and loss of weight occurs in the individual.

The reduced wound healing time of the individual can be related to the production of granulocytes which require glucose as their source of energy and as glucose as is not entering the cells energy is not being provided to the cells for the uptake of amino acids. Because of this proteins cannot be synthesized in the cells. All these factors lead to reduced wound healing in the tissues. In polyuria the urinary output of a person is increased in diabetes, in polydipsia the person gets thirsty again and again and lastly polyphagia increases the appetite of the person (Lawal 2008 & Deshpande et al 2008).

Diabetes mellitus is said to be working as a slow poison in the body and it can affect many processes in the body. It is noted that Diabetes Mellitus can further cause a huge damage to the different systems of the body. Neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, cardiovascular stroke and peripheral vascular diseases are common diseases caused by the chronic processes of diabetes. In neuropathy the nerve cells of the body are damaged because of which the autonomic nervous system is affected usually.

In retinopathy the macular retina of an individual is destroyed and this can lead to blindness. In nephropathy it can be seen that diabetes causes an alteration in the structure of the kidneys. And this may also lead to kidney failures in the long term if not treated properly. It is also seen that diabetes is related to the blood pressures as it is a major cause of hypertension nowadays. Because of hypertension the individuals also tend to develop ischemic heart diseases which further lead to hypoxia in the heart muscles and thus cardiac failure or cardiac stroke may occur.

Peripheral Vascular Disease is another major disease caused by diabetes in the body. Diabetes can directly act on the blood vessels and narrow them. The most affected blood vessels by diabetes are the ones leading to the stomach, legs, arms and kidneys. After these vessels get narrowed it is necessary that the original form of the vessels is restored so that the blood supply is back to normal to these tissues. If this does not happen then amputation or removal of the tissue from the body is the only solution.

Diabetes is a process which affects different processes being carried out in the body. As glucose is an important source of energy for almost all the cells in the body, diabetes may restrict this source of energy from being consumed and it would rather cause other diseases to develop in the body (Lawal 2008 & Deshpande et al 2008).BibliographyTop of FormLawal, M. (2008). Management of diabetes mellitus in clinical practice. British Journal of Nursing : BJN. 17 (17), 1106.Top of FormDeshpande, A. D., Harris-Hayes, M.

, & Schootman, M. (2008). Diabetes Special Issue - Epidemiology of Diabetes and Diabetes-Related Complications. Physical Therapy.88 (11), 1254.Bottom of FormBottom of Form