Chronic Disease Paper

Chronic Disease Paper

A chronic disease is one that has symptoms that recur over and over, and can become better or worse over time. These types of diseases, “…cannot generally be cured, but an individual can often minimize the negative effects of a chronic disease through sane, healthy living and medical treatment.” (MSUcares.com, 2005) Diabetes is just one chronic disease that affects many people in this country. To begin, a brief discussion will follow describing what diabetes is, what risk factors and incidences are involved, and symptoms to look for. In addition to providing treatment options and prevention strategies, a look at how nutrition and exercise impact the prognosis of diabetes may show more ways to live longer and healthier lives.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that causes the pancreas to stop producing insulin or not produce enough insulin. Insulin is the hormone that helps breakdown and monitor carbohydrates and fats consumed in a person’s diet. Too much insulin or not enough: can cause many parts of the body to shut down or not work properly such as the kidneys or eyesight. (Hales, 2003, pg. 462) Diabetes is broken down into two groups: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 means a person has an insulin deficiency, whereas type 2 diabetes means a person is producing too much insulin. The imbalance can cause glucose to become too high in the blood and too low for the cells, which means whatever is not used is passed through the urine. This can cause the body to use stored fat as a source of energy that results in ketones being produced (acids). (Hales, 2003, pg. 462)

Having a risk factor for diabetes does not mean that a person will develop diabetes but, the more risk factors a person has increases the chance of having it. Over 20.8 million people in the U.S. have diabetes but, only 14.6 million of these populations have actually been diagnosed. This means that just over 6 million people have no idea they have this high risk and quickly growing disease. (American Diabetes Association, n.d.) Children and minority groups of people are diagnosed with diabetes more than anyone else. Those one in three Americans that do not know they have diabetes in addition to high risk factors could cause the incidence of diabetes to double over the next decade. (Hales, 2003, pg. 463)

Some risk factors include:

• Family history – parent or sibling (webMD, 2005)

• Obesity – body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 (webMD, 2005)

• Ethnic background – African Americans, Asians, Native Americans, and

• Hispanics (webMD, 2005)

• Age – over 45 (webMD, 2005)

• Hypertension – high blood pressure (webMD, 2005)

Symptoms are physical indications that something is not right with the body. Diabetes symptoms often go unnoticed because of the ordinary nature that seems harmless to most people. Every action has a reaction, and symptoms’ of diabetes are masked by things that look like everyday occurrences. These symptoms, if untreated, can cause serious damage or death to a person if not treated quickly and early.

The following is a list of symptoms that people must be cognizant of during daily routines.

• Urinating often

• Extreme hunger

• Extreme thirst

• Dramatic weight loss

• Amplified fatigue

• Emotional

• Dry eyes

Nutrition and exercise are very important to the prognosis of diabetes. A prognosis is a prediction of what is to come, and nutrition and exercise make the chances of a recovery far better than keeping old and harmful habits. The body’s way of regulating insulin is directly affected by the diet one follows. In conjunction with this, exercise helps maintain activity levels to help the body use the necessary sugars and dispose of the bad sugars that are left over. With the right diet and exercise risk factors for diabetes such as high blood pressure, obesity, and age can be lowered, which could possibly result in proper regulation of the body’s glucose without having to take insulin injections to make up for the irregular production.

Preventative measures and treatment plans a person could follow to keep from developing diabetes is eating healthy, exercising, education, seeking medical treatment early, and awareness.

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