Common Characteristics of Diabetes (Juvenile)
Diabetes is a chronic disease in which, because of an insufficiency or total lack of the hormone
insulin, the body cannot use the sugars and starches in the diet properly. The full name is diabetes
mellitus, the latter word meaning "honey-sweet." It is estimated that there are as many as 10 million
people in the United States today who suffer from the disease, four million of whom are unaware of
their condition.
Diabetes takes two forms: insulin-dependent (juvenile onset) and non-insulin-dependent (maturity
onset) diabetes. The former, which usually starts during childhood through young adulthood, is
characterized by a failure to produce sufficient or any insulin, the hormone needed to regulate the
body's use of glucose or sugar. To control the insulin-dependent form of the disease, diabetics must
have injections of insulin on a regular--daily or more often--basis.
Insulin is produced by cells in the islets of Langerhans, which are located throughout the pancreas.
In insulin-dependent diabetics, the islets produce little or no insulin. The reasons are not fully
understood. Without insulin, or with insufficient insulin, glucose accumulates in the blood. There is
normally some glucose in the blood (about one part in 1,000), but in diabetes the amount rises
considerably to dangerously high levels, and spills over into the urine.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
The most common symptom of diabetes is thirst, accompanied by frequent urination (as often as once an
hour). There is often marked weight loss and there also may be repeated infections of the skin, gums or
urinary tract, and fatigue, weakness or apathy. Tingling sensations in the hands and feet, cramps in
the legs and blurred vision are further symptoms. the weight loss occurs because fat and muscle are being
burned up to provide energy. In insulin-dependent diabetes, the symptoms usually develop rapidly.
Diabetes is usually diagnosed by a simple test in which the glucose level in the blood is measured; if
it is persistently elevated, the patient has the disease.
