Question

Diabetes Mellitus

Review Questions

Short Answer

1.      Describe the major characteristics of the two main types of diabetes mellitus. Explain how these characteristics influence nutrition therapy.

2.      Identify and explain the symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes mellitus. How would you explain to a patient the differences between hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia and how to recognize and treat these symptoms?

3.      Describe the possible long-term complications of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. Can these complications be avoided? If so, how?

Answer 1

1) It is a metabolic disorder characterized by a high blood sugar ,symptoms often are frequent urination ,increased thrist , and increased hunger . The mian two types of diabetes melitus are type 1 and type 2 .

Diabetes mellitus type 1 : it is due to the damage of insulin producing cells in the pancreas, In this case pancreas produce little or no insulin ,so sugar cannot get into the cell to produce energy and the people must use insulin injection.

Diabetes mellitus type 2 : In this type the pancreas produce insulin and are not sufficient or doesnot work properly , it is the common type of diabetes . It can be sometimes be controlled by weight management ,excercise and diet. and also includes oral glucose lowering medications or insulin injections .

the nutritional therapy should be to prevent and to control diabetes , the diet promoted should be high in vegetables , furits , whole grains,legumens and nuts and should avoid processed red meat , refined grains and food that containing sugar,

2) The symptoms of diabetes are frequent urination , Excessive thrist , unexplained weight loss, extreme hunger , sudden vision changes, tingling and numbness of hands and feet , sores that are slow to heal , uncontrolled blood sugar levels are above the recommented target range including A1C level above 7.0%

hyperglycemia refers to higher level of glucose in the blood andd it can be reconized by fatique , frequent urination , increased thrist, weight loss, headache, blurred vision , trouble in concentrating and can be treated with changing the lifestyle patterns , drinking more water , exercise, oral medication and insulin therapy

Hypoglycemia is the condition in which the blood glucose level is lower than yhe normal, the signs and symptoms include hunger, confusions, heart palpitation , nausea, sweating, dizziness and weakness, shaking.The person having hypoglycemia should immediately consume a glucose tablet , candy or some juice ,this can bring rapid result and then eat slow release carbohydrate such as bread ,cereals, rice or furit.

3) The main long trem complications of diabetes are heart disease, nephropathy, retinopathy,neuropathy, stroke , feet and skin can develop sores and infection and resulting in amputation , problem in digesting the food. these problems and the complications can be avoided by early diagonosing the disease conditions and having proper medication ,excersise and having balanced diet with low carbohydrate and sugar.