Diabetes and Glucose Monitoring

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Diabetes and Glucose Monitoring

Chapter 3

Description

Diabetes mellitus, otherwise known as simply diabetes, is a disorder of the metabolism where the body cannot produce or use the hormone “insulin.” The most common symptoms for having this disorder are extreme thirst and the production of excessive amounts of urine. However, the symptom that doctors use as a definite is glucose concentration. A diabetic person's glucose concentration is usually usually higher than normal. To monitor the blood glucose concentration, these people use glucose meters.
Glucose meters are portable devices that measure glucose concentration. They have a strip of paper on them that contain chemicals that readily react with glucose (Brown 90). The person pricks their finger and puts the blood onto the paper, allowing the blood to react with the chemicals and measure the glucose concentration. They must do this every day on timely, individualized plans in order to effectively monitor their glucose. If something is different about it, they must adjust something in their lifestyle––usually their diet––to lower their glucose levels. This home-testing method is referred to as self-monitoring of blood glucose, or SMBG (Whitmore 583).
There are two types of diabetes referred to as Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 diabetes is insulin-dependent while Type 2 diabetes is non-insulin dependent (Ben-Jacob). Type 1 is also sometimes caused by viruses but the exact cause is unknown to scientists. Type 1 is more dependent on a person's diet, inactivity of the physical body, and family heritage. According to Gwen Hall in her journal article, An Introduction to Diabetes, Type 1 diabetes has a rapid onset and is introduced at an age under 30 years old. The...

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...elves to obtaining that disease.

Drawbacks

The drawbacks towards diabetes are commonly decrease in health and life quality, as well as amputation of a limb from diabetic nerve damage. The drawbacks of glucose meters, however, are less common. A test strip may not be completely inserted into the meter, which would cause false tests. The batteries on the meter could run out, leaving the person needing to test themselves to rush in order to reveal their condition. If a patient is dehydrated, there could be false test results. There is also the chance of there not being enough blood on the strip to determine the glucose so the patient would need to prick their finger again on a different strip (FDA). This could get very tiresome for a diabetic person and could result in them getting so fed up with it that they give up on treating their condition properly.

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