Module 2 The Endocrine System

Lessonn 1.2.5

1.2.5 page 4

Blood Glucose Imbalances

Among your friends, relatives, and teachers, you are likely to know someone who has diabetes mellitus. This is a disorder in which blood glucose levels are abnormally high because the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or the body cells do not respond to the insulin that the body produces. Doctors usually use the full name rather than diabetes alone to distinguish it from diabetes insipidus, which has nothing to do with blood glucose levels. Do you remember what happens in this disorder ? Lack of insulin causes blood glucose levels to spike after meals and to remain high for long periods of time. This is called hyperglycemia. If there is too much insulin, glucose levels plummet and the person has hypoglycemia (a hypoglycemic episode). Diabetes is usually grouped as Type 1 diabetes (also called insulin dependent/juvenile diabetes) or Type 2 diabetes (also called insulin independent/adult onset diabetes). Untreated glucose imbalances lead to many symptoms and can result in blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage and severe infection in the limbs, which may lead to the need for amputation. Several medical technologies have been developed to help diabetics deal with their problems.

diabetes mellitus: a serious chronic disorder that results when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, insulin receptors, or body cells do not respond to insulin; levels of blood glucose tend to rise sharply (spike) after meals (hyperglycemia) and remain at significantly elevated levels

hyperglycemia: a condition resulting from high levels of blood glucose; occurs in individuals with diabetes mellitus

hypoglycemia: a condition resulting from low levels of blood glucose; occurs in individuals who secrete excessive amounts of insulin when a tumor develops in the beta cells, or in diabetics who have injected too much insulin

Type 1 diabetes: also called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes; an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system produces antibodies that attack and destroy the beta cells of the pancreas so that they are unable to produce insulin; usually diagnosed at an early age and the individuals require daily injections of insulin

Type 2 diabetes: also called adult-onset diabetes or insulin-independent diabetes; a disorder that develops slowly over time because the insulin receptors on the body’s cells stop responding to insulin, or because the beta cells of the pancreas produce less and less insulin over time; appears to be related to overweight and obese individuals

Read

Read pp. 457 – 459 of your textbook and make notes on the types of diabetes, the causes, the symptoms, the effects, and the medical technologies that have been developed to deal with glucose imbalances. File your work in your course folder.