9781422280379

Diabetes and Other Endocrine Disorders

Diabetes mellitus can cause many types of complications . Acute complications can occur suddenly at any time during the course of the disease. Chronic complications develop over a long time, often several years. Both the acute and the chronic complications of diabetes mellitus can be very serious, even life- threatening. People with diabetes mellitus must learn to carefully manage their blood sugar levels in order to reduce their risk of developing complications. Depending on what type of diabetes they have, they may need daily injections of insulin. They may take medications. They have to monitor their diet, especially their intake of sugars and nutrients that break down into sugar. Cells are enclosed by a cell wall. To get glucose into a cell, you have to use insulin to unlock an entrance in that wall. If there’s no insulin, or if the insulin isn’t working, it’s like cells have lost the key to the gas tank. Even if they’re at the gas station, they can’t pump fuel in the car. Cell Metabolism To make a car go, you fill it with gasoline and turn it on. The engine mixes tiny drops of gasoline with air, and ignites the mixture. The energy created by these small explosions turns the wheels of the car. The cells of your body get energy in a comparable process. Instead of gasoline, cells mix glucose with oxygen. This combination creates chemical energy in the form of a molecule called ATP, for adenosine triphosphate. To get gasoline into your car, you have to open the little door that protects the gas cap. That door is locked and must be opened with either a key or by flipping a switch inside the car. Then you can pump gasoline into the fuel tank of your car.

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