Diabetes

In America, Diabetes is becoming a widely prominent disease. Diabetes can be the result of many things from unlucky genetics to an unhealthy lifestyle. Diabetes is a serious, life-long illness ultimately caused by high levels of glucose in the blood. The condition makes it so that the pancreas cannot produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that controls the blood’s glucose level. Glucose is significant since it is “the main source of fuel” for the body (Wilson, 2013). The American Diabetes Association found that in 2011 in the United States, 25.8 million children and adults were diagnosed with diabetes (2012). There are many types of diabetes; Type I, Type II and gestational. Each has its own causes and treatments. Cures for each are being extensively researched. Type I diabetes is also known as “Juvenile Diabetes” because it normally occurs in children and young adults. It is typically found in people ages one year to thirty years old (Zhao and Mazzone, 2010). Type I diabetes is “an autoimmune disease caused by an autoimmune destruction of pancreatic islet beta cells” (Zhao & Mazzone, 2010). The symptoms for Type I diabetes are frequent urination, extreme thirst and hunger, unusual weight loss, and exhaustion (American Diabetes Association, 2012). Many new concepts about the causes of this disorder have come about and it has been questioned whether the cause is nature versus nurture (Atkinson & Eisenbarth, 2001). The treatment for patients with Type I diabetes has significantly improved over the past few decades; however, it is still impossible to fully normalize blood sugar levels as there is only current technology to work with when it comes to finding a cure (Gallagher, Goland & Greenbaum, 2011). A necessary treatment for patients with Type I diabetes is daily insulin injections (Zhao & Mazzone, 2010). In the “American Medical Association Guide to Living with Diabetes,” Dr. Boyd Metzger explains that insulin is injected under the skin rather

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