Diabetes!

Diabetes is any disorder characterized by excessive urine excretion. The most common form of diabetes is diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disorder in which there is an inability to oxidize carbohydrate due to disturbances in insulin function. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by elevated glucose in the plasma and episodic ketoacidosis.

Additional symptoms of diabetes mellitus include excessive thirst, glucosuria, polyuria, lipemia and hunger. If left untreated the disease can lead to fatal ketoacidosis. Other forms of diabetes include diabetes insipidus and brittle diabetes.

Diabetes insipidus is the result of a deficiency of antidiuretic hormone. The major symptom of diabetes insipidus (excessive urine output) results from an inability of the kidneys to resorb water.

Brittle diabetes is a form that is very difficult to control. It is characterized by unexplained oscillations between hypoglycemia and acidosis.


Criteria, which clinically establish an individual as suffering from diabetes mellitus, include:

1. having a fasting plasma glucose level in excess of 126mg/dL (7mmol/L). Normal levels should be less than 100mg/dL (5.6mmol/L) or:
2. having plasma glucose levels in excess of 200mg/dL (11mmol/L) at two times points during an oral glucose tolerance test, OGTT, one of which must be within 2 hrs of ingestion of glucose.
The earlier a person is diagnosed with diabetes (principally type 2) the better chance the person has of staving off the primary negative consequences which are renal failure, blindness and limb amputations due to circulatory problems. The American Diabetes Association is planning to recommend that physicians consider patients to be pre-diabetic if their fasting blood glucose level is above 100mg/dL but less than 125mg/dL and whose glucose levels are at least 140mg/dL but less than 200mg/dL following an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).

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Glucose tolerance curve for a normal person and one with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, Type 2 diabetes). The dotted lines indicate the range of glucose concentration expected in a normal individual.