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| Diabetes |
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I went to the search engine "Google", and typed in Diabetes. It came back with 27,700,000 websites containing information on diabetes.
There isn't enough time in anyone's life span to read all those website's, so I will relay the basic's of what most of those website's tell you about diabetes. I will start by telling you what I have learned from personal experience.
Basically -- Diabetes is a disease of the pancreas! |
If you could see the organs inside your body, the pancreas would be resting near the top of your stomach. I have been placed in the hospital two times for "pancreatitis", the first time was 3-days before Thanksgiving 1996. Luckly, my doctor caught it when I had the required quarterly blood work done for the ICD I have implanted. I was out of the hospital on Thanksgiving day. The second time was in 2004 when the pancreas flared up (pancreatitis is an inflimation of the pancreas), and I was taken to the hospital for a ten day stay that was a little harder to get under control. One thing I can tell you from personal experience is that the pain from pancreatitis is worse than any pain I have ever known.
The following was taken from one website I found very informative. It would be a good place to visit for more information about the function of the pancreas, and how diabetes begins and evolves into the destructive medical presence it has become. |
After reading bunches of information on diabetes -- my simple mind comes to the conclusion that -- when the pancreas stops making the hormones insulin and glucagon, or at least quits making the proper amounts of digestive enzymes to properly process the sugar you injest while eating and drinking food, you will develop the common disease known as "Diabetes".
Diabetes will reck havoc on the main organs (heart, kidneys, and liver) of the body by rasing the blood sugar levels in the blood (blood circulates throughout the entire body) and goes to all organs.
Diabetes is one of the causes of kidney failure, high blood presure is another.
In my case of kidney failure, diabetes was not found to be the root of the disease that caused my IgA nephropathy. |
| Please see:
http://www.endocrineweb.com/pancreas.html |
The day was Thursday March 23, 2006, and the time was 6:00 p.m. (PST). The phone rang right as the clock chimed its six little dings -- it is a baby grandfather clock, otherwise it would have been DONG! DONG!, etc. (a little laugh here please!)
I picked up the phone and met Patrick Lecky. I had read about him and the work he is doing to inform people about that disease which is causing havoc in this modern day of overindulgence -- Type 2 Diabetes.
We had a very interesting discussion on several topics including diabetes, dialysis, kidney disease, and some guy who sells a book on the "infomercials" from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. His name eludes me, but it reminds me of Truman Capote except there's a Kevin in there someplace. He's been sued by the FDA and others, but he's still advertising everyday. The point I'm trying to make here is that if you buy that book he sells, you will wish you hadn't. The information it contains can be looked up on any computer.
Now when you compare either my story on how I actually recovered from an irreversible kidney failure or you read about Pactrick Lecky's actual recovery from the overweight condition he was in and how he beat the odds in that game of balancing the insulin produced by the pancreas to get his diabetes and weight under control, then you will have something you can sink your teeth into and hopefully get a grip on your own problems.
If you click on the link I provided below, you will get a very informative lesson on how to treat your own diabetes. |
| Please see: http://www.diabeticwarrior.com/ |
Normal Regulation of Blood
Glucose
The important roles of insulin and glucagon:
Diabetes and
Hypoglycemia
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The human body wants blood glucose (blood sugar) maintained in a very narrow range.
Insulin and glucagon are the hormones which make this happen. Both insulin and
glucagon are secreted from the pancreas, and thus are referred to as pancreatic endocrine
hormones. The picture on the left shows the intimate relationship both insulin and
glucagon have to each other. Note that the pancreas serves as the central player in this
scheme. It is the production of insulin and glucagon by the pancreas which
ultimately determines if a patient has diabetes, hypoglycemia, or some other sugar
problem.
Insulin and glucagon are hormones secreted by isletcells within the pancreas
(more about islet cells of the
pancreas). They are both secreted in response to blood sugar levels, but in
opposite fashion!
Insulin is normally secreted by the beta cells (a type of islet cells) of the pancreas. The stimulus for insulin
secretion is a HIGH blood glucose...its as simple as that! Although there is
always a low level of insulin secreted by the pancreas, the amount secreted into the blood
increases as the blood glucose rises. Similarly, as blood glucose falls, the amount
of insulin secreted by the pancreatic islets goes down. As can be seen in the
picture, insulin has an effect on a number of cells, including muscle, red blood cells,
and fat cells (shown in the picture). In response to insulin, these cells absorb
glucose out of the blood, having the net effect of lowering the high blood glucose levels
into the normal range.
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Glucagon is secreted by the alpha cells of the
pancreatic islets in much the same manner as insulin...except in the opposite direction.
If blood glucose is high, then no glucagon is secreted. When blood glucose
goes LOW, however, (such as between meals, and during exercise), more and more glucagon is
secreted. Like insulin, glucagon has an effect on many cells of the body, but most
notably the liver. The effect of glucagon is to make the liver release the glucose
it has stored in its cells into the blood stream, with the net effect of increasing blood
glucose. Glucagon also induces the liver (and some other cells such as muscle) to
make glucose out of building blocks obtained from other nutrients found in the body (e.g.,
protein). |
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Our bodies desire blood glucose to be maintained between 70 mg/dl and 110 mg/dl (mg/dl means milligrams of glucose in 100
milliliters of blood). Below 70 is termed "hypoglycemia".
Above 110 can be normal if you have eaten within 2 to 3 hours. That is why your
doctor wants to measure your blood glucose while you are fasting...it should be between 70
and 110. Even after you have eaten, however, your glucose should be below 180.
Above 180 is termed "hyperglycemia" (which translates to mean "too
much glucose in the blood"). If you have two blood sugar measurements
above 200 after drinking a sugar-water drink (glucose tolerance test), then you are
diagnosed with diabetes. We have many pages on diabetes which go into this in much
more detail. |
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