5-10 Years

What is diabetes ?
Diabetes is when your body cant control how
much sugar it has in the blood, this is a very
serious condition, as too little or too much
sugar can result in having to come back to
hospital.

How your body controls blood sugar.

Well, if you imagine your body as a set of scales, with sugar on one
side and insulin on the other, then if there is too much sugar, more
insulin is need to balance it, and if there isn’t enough sugar ( Or too
much insulin ) Then more sugar is needed.

Insulin

Balanced
11-16 years
What is diabetes ?
Diabetes is when the body can no longer control its own blood
sugar level, as a result of insufficient insulin production from the
pancreas, the direction of treatment from here is fairly clear, as if
the level of sugar in the diet can be controlled by reducing sugar
intake, then intravenous insulin is not required.

How your body controls blood sugar

The alpha and beta cells in the pancreas release insulin and
glucagon, insulin is released into the blood when blood
sugar is too high, it works by allowing sugar to be absorbed
into the cells more readily, and glucagon releases
glycogen( The stored form of glucose ) to increase blood
sugar levels.

The following links are just a few of the many out there that I
think will be most beneficial.

http://www.nhs.uk/Search/Pages/Results.aspx?q=diabetes+
http://
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/Pu
blicationsPolicyAndGuidance/Browsable/DH_4096591
http://www2.halton.gov.uk/content/educationandlearning/e
cm/hcypab/?
a=5441
http://
www.nice.org.uk/Search.do?keywords=Diabetes&searchsub
 17 + Years
What is diabetes ?
Diabetes is a condition which is a result of either a genetic disorder or a
long term high calorie diet, these factors are what distinguish type 1
and 2 diabetes, and consequently what course of treatment we would
use, for type 1 the effects are unfortunately irreversibly without a
transplant, but for type 23 recent studies have shown that a low calorie
diet of around 600 calories a day 7/11 people have significantly
reduced dependency on insulin, meaning that although the pancreas’
islets of Langerhans (producing the beta cells and consequently the
insulin) have shut down, they can somewhat be repaired if rested for a
period of a few months,.
How your body controls blood sugar
First of all if there is an increase in blood glucose levels then the
pancreas will release insulin which will allow the glucose to be absorbed
more readily into the muscles cells and liver etc, where it can be stored
as fuel, thus not contributing to the overall blood glucose concentration,
if there is too not enough glucose in the blood, then you’d expect the
converse to be true, and it is, as when there is not enough glucose in the
blood then a hormone called glucagon is released which converts the
stored from glucose, or glycogen (which is stored in the liver), back into
glucose, which then increases blood sugar levels again. This both of
these hormones are produced in the pancreas,. And therefore the only
way to “Cure” diabetes ( Type 1 in particular ) is either a whole
pancreas transplant or just an islet of Langerhans transplant, which both
are usually from cadaveric sources, with recent research forking into two
main branches, one looking into porcine substitutes and the other
looking into stem cell research.