Walden NURS 6521 Diabetes and Drug Treatments Diabetes

Walden NURS 6521 Diabetes and Drug Treatments Diabetes

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Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic condition that is usually associated with blood sugar levels that are abnormally high. There are different types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is caused by the inability of the pancreas to produce enough insulin or failure to produce the insulin.  In most cases, it develops during adolescence or childhood, but it can also develop in adults. Type 2 diabetes is a condition that affects how glucose in the body is metabolized. For this type of diabetes, the body tends to resist the insulin effects or fail to produce enough insulin to maintain normal glucose levels. Type 2 diabetes has no cure but various diabetes medications or insulin therapy, as well as the change of lifestyle, can help manage the symptoms of the condition (Chatterjee, Khunti, & Davies, 2017).  Gestational diabetes develops when blood sugar levels become high during pregnancy. It happens in the second half of pregnancy.  This type of diabetes usually goes away after a person gives birth. Gestational diabetes increases the risk of a person getting type 2 diabetes later in life and can also affect the baby’s health (McIntyre et al., 2019). Juvenile diabetes affects mostly young people. This type of diabetes is considered the same as type 1 diabetes, mainly because approximately 90% of people below 25 years are affected by type 1 diabetes (Bimstein, Zangen, Abedrahim, & Katz, 2019).

Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

The condition can be managed through medication, and lifestyle change, such as healthy eating and physical activity. One type of drug that is used to treat type 2 diabetes is metformin. This drug works by lowering the production of glucose in the liver and improving the body’s sensitivity to insulin. This helps the body to be in a better position of using insulin more effectively. FDA approved this medication in 1994 as an antidiabetic medication that should be used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (American Diabetes Association. 2018). The medication comes as an extended-release as well as an immediate release. The medication should be administered orally from 500 to 2550 mg per day. Patients are usually advised to take the medication with a meal to help reduce GI upset. Some of the gastrointestinal effects include nausea and vomiting as well as diarrhea. In addition to that, the medication should be taken at the same time daily (Rena, Hardie, & Pearson, 2017). Some of the dietary considerations for patients who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes include complex carbohydrates such as whole wheat, brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, vegetables, lentils, and beans. Examples of the foods that should be avoided include pasta, sugar, flour, white bread, and pastries (Sami, Ansari, Butt, & Ab Hamid, 2017).

Impact of Type 2 Diabetes

The short-term impact of type 2 diabetes includes hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic syndrome and hypoglycemia. The long-term impact includes diabetic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy, kidney disease, and microvascular problems. Drugs used in treating Type 2 diabetes-like Thiazolidinedione increase an individuals’ risk of heart problems; DPP-4 inhibitors result in joint pain and ay cause pancreatic inflammation (Afanasiev et al., 2018).

In Conclusion, diabetes has several types, such as Type 1 Diabetes, juvenile diabetes, which is insulin-dependent. Gestational diabetes is usually temporary and occurs during pregnancy. All kinds of diabetes can be managed through medication, a healthy diet, and physical exercise.

References

Afanasiev, S. A., Garganeeva, A. A., Kuzheleva, E. A., Andriyanova, A. V., Kondratieva, D. S., & Popov, S. V. (2018). The impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus on long-term prognosis in patients of different ages with myocardial infarction. Journal of diabetes research, 2018.