Disease Pathophysiology And Treatment Of Diabetes Mellitus

Disease Pathophysiology and Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Rogelio Gonzales University of Texas Rio Grande Valley 1. Introduction â€Å"Diabetes mellitus, by far the most common of all endocrine disorders, is one of the foremost public health concerns confronting the world today. Over 23 million individuals in the United States, or 8% of the population, have diabetes. An estimated 17.5 million have been diagnosed, but 5.5 million (nearly one fourth) are unaware they have the disease† (Nelms, Sucher, Lacey, Roth, 2011). The prevalence of Type 1 diabetes mellitus in the U.S. is staggering, and in today’s society these estimated figures do not seem to be declining. Furthermore not only is it affecting the U.S., but also many other†¦show more content†¦These two hormones work hand in hand to balance the body’s glucose levels. In normal function, the pancreas secretes insulin in response to the introduction of glucose into the body and to meet basal metabolic needs. In type 1 diabetes, there is a deficiency of the hormone insulin, which can have many contributing facto rs. There is no one cause for this disease. However, one cause stems from the body’s immune response. The immune mediated response of type 1 diabetes is an, â€Å"autoimmunity directed against pancreatic islet cells [that] results in slowly progressing beta-cell destruction, culminating over years in clinically manifested insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus† (Krishna Srikanta, 2015). In short, an individual’s pancreatic beta cells begin to slowly die off which obviously affects the feedback mechanism that is regulating blood glucose concentration. Thus, it makes an individual rely on mechanically introduced insulin. As for clinical symptoms of this disease, the body compensates for the unregulated amount of glucose circulating within the body tissue by expelling glucose by any means necessary. This occurs by having excessive amounts of glucose released into the urine (glycosuria) as the kidneys become incapable of filtering the blood. Polyuria is the outcome o f the urine’s sudden increase in osmolarity. This symptom triggers a