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Diabetes Mellitus, Often Overlooked as Not Serious When It Actually Is

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Diabetes mellitus, commonly referred to as diabetes, is a disease that is commonly overlooked as not being as serious as it actually is. According to the national diabetes fact sheet, in 2007, 71,382 people died from diabetes and doctors ruled that diabetes was a contributing cause of the death of an additional 160,022 people. That is a total of 231,404 deaths in one year related to diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2013). Diabetes is definitely a disease that many should research to learn just how serious it really is. Diabetes Mellitus has been changing the lives of humans since 2000-3000 B.C. The name Diabetes Mellitus was given by Greeks and Romans, Diabetes meaning frequent urination and Mellitus meaning sugar in the urine …show more content…

This test indicates to the doctor whether or not the body is processing glucose correctly. Diabetes is diagnosed with this test if after two hours the blood glucose level is greater than or equal to 200 mg. There is also a Random Plasma Glucose Test, which is a blood test that can be done at any point in the day when experiencing diabetic symptoms (American Diabetes Association, 2013). There are four different types of diabetes, they are all related with regards to low insulin and high blood sugar, but they are also all very different. The different types of diabetes include; Pre diabetes, Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, and Gestational diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2013).Pre diabetes occurs when the blood glucose levels are elevated, but not quite high enough to have a diabetes diagnosis (American Diabetes Association, 2013). When someone is at the pre diabetes stage it is important for them to change their eating and exercise habits in order to prevent their blood glucose levels for elevating and eventually becoming diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is generally diagnosed early in life, generally in children and young adults. Individuals with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin at all. Insulin is the hormone that secretes sugar and other foods into the energy needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle (American Diabetes Association, 2013). Unfortunately, there is

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