Hi, First Post... (Quick Question.)

Hey, my name is Lee.

In September I will be taking applied science at college and I am really excited about it but before I go I want to be well informed on some of the things they are covering.

Some of the sort of things they cover are:

The heart
Hormones - How it works
Renal System
Cells
Blood types
Recessive genes
Diabetes

These are just a few things we are going to cover, I have already gone to Google and began my research into two of the above (Heart and Diabetes) but I was wondering if any of you may know more specific science websites which explain, teach etc... These sorts of things. I appreciate your responses and I look forwarding to further contributing to this forum :D once I understand more of course.

I would recommend an actual library rather than google, however, you can finds some very interesting texts in Google Books. There you can find The Renal System at a Glance, which is a limited preview (meaning you can probably read most of the book with exception of a few pages).

Once at Google Books, start doing keyword searches of topics you're interested in.

Oh, and welcome to The Science Forum, Lee!

Hi Lee - I echo skinwalkers welcome to you. I wish you much success, and a life of continued learning. Based on your OP, however, I'm inclined to suggest you search each word at wikipedia. Did you have a specific question? For example, I have over 20 years of first hand anecdotal evidence of diabetes which is reinforced through research I've done motivated by personal interest. I might be able to offer something meaningful there, but I wouldn't even know where to begin based on how broad your message was.

With that said... What have you read after hitting those topics with the google bat which remains unclear to you?

Thanks for the replies :)...

Inow: I have only really scratched the surface on Diabetes because my mum just got type 2 so I am trying to learn the basics so I can explain to her what she has, the problems she faces, the types of foods she can eat etc... I am fairly new to it so I wasn't looking for advanced stuff, more along the lines of the basics.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bartlett

Inow: I have only really scratched the surface on Diabetes because my mum just got type 2 so I am trying to learn the basics so I can explain to her what she has, the problems she faces, the types of foods she can eat etc... I am fairly new to it so I wasn't looking for advanced stuff, more along the lines of the basics.

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Thanks, Bartlett. That definitely helps. I am going to explain the basic issues in simplified terms to help convey the primary themes. I apologize to any experts out there if I misspeak when offering this "rough cut" reply.


So, as I imagine you know, Type 2 diabetes is also called adult-onset diabetes, or behavioral diabetes because it is commonly seen in adults, but it has more to do with how the person eats and exercises, and little to do with their age. The other kind, Type 1 diabetes, is called juvenile diabetes since it is more often seen first in younger kids and has little if anything to do with behavior, and is more commonly seen in younger people.

From a high level, diabetes is when the human body struggles to process the sugars in food. We have released from an organ called the pancreas a substance called insulin, and this insulin helps to break down the sugars and carbohydrates from food into a form of energy which our bodies can use. In diabetics, however, there is not enough insulin, or the insulin isn't working as effectively as it should, and the food doesn't break down properly. In Type 1 diabetes, the body generally doesn't make any insulin at all, and in Type 2 diabetes it is usually that the body does not make enough insulin and/or the insulin the body DOES make is not getting the job done (the person has become insensitive to it, and it takes more to accomplish the same task, but more is not being made).

Now, when the food does not break down properly... when there is no insulin or not enough insulin in the digestion process... toxins are created. The ones which come primarily to mind are called ketones, and too many ketones in the body can lead to a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. That's not too important to know for the purpose of this explanation, as the central idea on which I'm trying to focus is that when insulin doesn't work the way it should then food does not break down the way it should and the body then gets loaded with toxins.

Those toxins need to be removed from the body, so the kidneys process it out. That's just one of the things our kidneys do... remove garbage from our body fluids, push the waste into the bladder for storage... then we urinate to empty the bladder. This is why when somebody gets high blood sugar they get really thirsty and urinate a lot. The high blood sugar causes toxins to increase, the kidneys then an attempt to remove the toxins, and while doing so they also remove a lot of fluid from the body. Here's the thing, though... clearing toxins from the body puts strain on the kidneys... they get tired when they work too hard... and if the kidneys are strained too often, they can fail... they can ultimately shut down and stop working altogether if they are strained too often... and when the kidneys fail altogether that means that other toxins in the body (toxins completely unrelated to the diabetes) ALSO cannot be removed and will build up, and that cascades into other health issues.

This is why doctors put so much emphasis on control and having nice tight blood sugar levels. The less things fluctuate up and down, the less strain is being put on the body to deal with the negative effects. In addition to the kidney issues I mentioned above, there can also be some negative effects on our blood distribution and nervous system function, problems which if left uncontrolled can sometimes lead to blindness (diabetic retinopathy) and sometimes lack of feeling in the legs and extremities (diabetic neuropathy), but these are only really a problem for people who do not control their blood sugar levels very well for longer periods of time.

Now, there are many great treatments available to assist Type 2 diabetics in maintaining control, and regardless if whether or not medications are taken exercise is one of the best things for helping stay healthy and keeping the negative effects of fluctuating blood sugar levels at bay. A proper diet helps too, but the important thing is keeping those blood sugar levels relatively balanced.

This can be difficult for people with Type 2 diabetes, as often those people developed diabetes due to being somewhat overweight and not exercising enough... So they don't exercise and eat poorly, which led their body to be unable to keep up with the demand... They didn't make enough insulin to break down the food in their body (or, the insulin they made didn't work as effectively as it could, and could not keep up with the food breakdown needs for that reason). Exercise, though, helps the body to need less insulin, and is just really good for us. That's not a silver bullet, but it certainly offers a great way to get closer to the target of good health.

Again, your mom can eat anything she wants really, so long as she does so in a way which keeps her blood sugar levels steady, but that's rather difficult to do if you're eating a lot of junk food, or dessert, and you don't exercise.

Anyway, there's probably a lot of information above which you already knew, but maybe I was able to string it together into a simpler to grasp narrative to aid in your broader understanding. I also apologize if I was unclear with anything, as I am still somewhat tired this morning and have yet to fully wake up. Don't hesitate to ask for clarification on anything. I'm not an expert, but I'm definitely an interested party, and one of the nice things about discussion forums like this is we can work together to find answers to our collective questions.

Cheers, and best of luck to you and your mum. :)

Inow: That was put in really nice simple terms :D Thanks, it has also told me about other things to begin researching to evolve my very basic knowledge on it. Thanks for taking the time to write such a post, really appreciate it :).

Bartlett,
thank you for your thank you to inow. Members always appreciate it when their efforts are recognised. One of the best ways of thanking him would be to maintain a presence here. Ask some more questions. Start a thread or two on new topics. Get engaged. You and the forum would benefit thereby.
Anyway, welcome to the forum.
Ophiolite

Ophiolite: I plan to :) I plan to be spending a lot of time here for a long time :D I just feel I need to gain some more knowledge before I start jumping into conversations. Right now I just read the forums, sucking in all the little tidbits of information and jotting down in my note pad stuff I might find useful. As I gain more knowledge, I will begin to participate and create more posts.