Diabetes Essay -- essays research papers

Diabetes Mellitus is a serious disease shared by 16 million Americans (PharmInfoNet1). It is a disease characterized by a failure of the pancreas to produce enough if any insulin. Insulin is the chemical in the body that turns sugar into usable energy. â€Å"While it is treatable, diabetes is still a killer. The fourth leading cause of death in America, diabetes claims an estimated 178,000 lives each year. So the treatment is aimed at holding the disease in check, reversing it where possible, and preventing complications† (Hingley 33). Due to the life threatening nature of diabetes, the necessity of controlling it is absolutely imperative. Philip Cryer, M.D., president of the American Diabetes Association and a professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, believes that people don’t understand how much of a problem diabetes can be. He says, â€Å"Diabetes is an increasingly common, potentially devastating, treatable yet incurable, lifelong diseas e. It’s the leading cause of blindness in working aged adults, the most common cause of kidney failure leading to dialysis or transplants, and is the leading cause of amputations† (Hingley 33).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For decades since its discovery in 1920, injectable insulin has been the standard treatment for diabetes. In fact, it is the only treatment for insulin-dependent diabetes. And the standard method of administering it has remained injection with a syringe. But in recent years, there have been enormous advances made in the development of new and better ways to administer insulin. By far the best, most effective way to administer insulin that exists today – the way that most closely mimics the way the human body releases insulin into the bloodstream – is no longer through injection with a syringe, but rather, through the insulin pump.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To understand diabetes, it is important to first understand how a non-diabetic body functions to process the normal presence of glucose in the bloodstream. Everything a person consumes is converted to glucose, at different rates depending on exactly what was consumed, and ultimately deposited into the bloodstream. There it circulates, waiting to be called to action. When the body perceives that energy is running low, glucose in the bloodstream is ushered into the various cells of the body where it is converted into energy as n... ...ts today. Work Cited Page A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries. â€Å"Banting and Best Isolate Insulin 1922.† http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm22in.html (Retrieved 10 October 2000) American Diabetes Association: Diabetes Info. â€Å"The Diagnosis.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.diabetes.org (Retrieved 10 October 2000) Hingley, Audrey. â€Å"Diabetes Demands a Triad of Treatments.† FDA Consumer May/June 1997: pg. 33. Lebovitz, Harold E. MD. Therapy for Diabetes Mellitus. Alexanderia: American Diabetes Association, 1999. Ledger, Marshall. â€Å"Electronics in the Body Shop.† Alumni Magazine Consortium Aug. 1988: pg. 3. McCarren, Marie. â€Å"Prepare To Pump.† Diabetes Forecast Sept. 1995: pg. 2. McIntyre, Mike. Telephone interview. 19 Nov. 2000.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PharmInfoNet: Diabetes Statistics. â€Å"Prevalence* of Diabetes in the United States.† http://pharminfo.com/disease/diabetes/diabstat.html (Retrieved 10 October, 2000) Pump Therapy. â€Å"Flexibility!† About.com:http://www.minimed.com/files/whypi.htm (Retrieved 10 October, 2000) Scavini, Marina MD, and David S. Schade, MD. â€Å"Implantable Insulin Pumps† Clinical Diabetes Vol. 14 No. 2 March / April 1996.