Common Health Issues

Insulin and Blood Sugar Control

• By Rich Health Editorial Team
• December 11, 2023

Many years ago, a scientist named Paul Langerhans studied small clusters of cells that formed what he called ‘islands,’ scattered throughout the pancreas, the flat organ situated below and behind the stomach.

 

Insulin Production

The main part of the pancreas produces juices that play a major part in the digestion of proteins and fats, while the islets, or islands, of Langerhans, control the body’s use of sugar through their secretion of two hormones, insulin and glucagon.

Together, these two hormones regulate the level of glucose (blood sugar) in the blood. Insulin enables the body to use, or burn, sugar and starch after they have been converted into glucose by the digestive juices.

 

The body uses this glucose (blood sugar) to provide heat and energy and to help in the utilization of other foods. Any sugar the normal body does not immediately need is stored in the liver as glycogen (stored carbohydrate) or converted into fat. Glucagon has the opposite action of insulin: it raises the blood sugar level and lowers the amount of glycogen in the liver.

 

 

Causes of Diabetes

When the islets of Langerhans fail to produce enough insulin to utilize the glucose (blood sugar) in the body, the blood sugar level rises and glucose appears in the urine. This glandular disorder is known as diabetes mellitus, or simply, diabetes.

 

Symptoms of Diabetes

Everybody should be alert for the following symptoms of diabetes:

1. Excessive hunger, thirst, and urination; in children, bed-wetting may be a sign
2. Loss of weight, especially when normal food consumption is maintained or increased
3. Weakness, listlessness and fatigue
4. Decreased resistance to infection, often manifested in frequent boils or carbuncles, or (especially in elderly people) in gangrenous conditions, particularly in the feet
5. Itching of the genital. In females especially, the itching may be associated with a fungus infection of the genital region

 

 

Insulin and Blood Sugar Control

Before insulin was introduced, the only treatment for diabetics was severe limitation of sugars and starches in diet. Dietary control is still in wide use today, and for mild, borderline diabetes in adults—usually those cases beginning after age 40—it can be the major element for controlling diabetes. But a restricted diet alone is wholly inadequate in advanced cases.

 

Today even the most serious types of diabetes can be controlled with insulin. The doctor will instruct the patient and family members in insulin injection techniques and will teach them how to make a simple test for sugar in the urine.

 

But even with insulin injections, the diabetic must learn to regulate his diet. Deviation from the prescribed regimen can produce dangerous conditions such as insulin reaction and diabetic coma

 

What to Do for Insulin Reaction (Hypoglycemia)

If too much insulin is taken or too little food eaten to use that insulin, the blood sugar become dangerously low, and the urine contains no sugar instead of the small amount normally present. The skin turns pale, cold and moist.

 

Breathing is shallow. Dizziness, palpitations and tremors may also occur. Severe reactions resemble symptoms of drunkenness, or the diabetic may become unconscious. A mild insulin reaction can be countered by eating a candy bar or two cubes of sugar or by drinking orange juice with two cubes of sugar dissolved in it.

 

Tubes of concentrated glucose can also be squeezed between the lips of a patient who is conscious but not alert.

 

Diabetics should carry candy bars, sugar cubes or glucose tubes at all times. Severe reactions should be treated by a doctor, but for emergencies, diabetics and their families should always keep a supply of the hormone glucagon on hand.

 

The doctor will instruct the patient and members of his family in its administration, which is by injection

 

What to Do for Diabetic Coma (Hyperglycemia)

This is the reverse of insulin reaction. Unable to use carbohydrates because of insulin lack, the body of a diabetic patient builds up excess ketone bodies, such as acetones. Diabetic coma (or diabetic acidosis) is usually caused by overeating, failure to take insulin, vomiting and diarrhea from any cause and infections.

 

The onset of diabetic acidosis is gradual, and the actual coma is fairly rare; but when it occurs, it is serious. The skin becomes flushed and dry, and the breath has a fruity odor from acetone. Breathing is deep and labored. Large amounts of sugar are present in the urine.

 

Call the doctor at once when you suspect diabetic coma. Keep the patient quiet and warm until help arrives. If symptoms seem severe and the doctor cannot be reached promptly, get the diabetic to a hospital, informing the doctor’s answering service of your decision.

 

Accurate information on the patient’s insulin program and deviation from it or from her diet will help an emergency room doctor begin countermeasures.

 

A diabetic should always carry an identification card. Symptoms of hyperglycemia can be mistaken for drunkenness or some other problem. Such a card has often saved a diabetic’s life.

 

Care of the Feet for Diabetics

A great deal of emphasis is placed on foot care for the diabetic because there is danger of gangrene—a condition in which tissues actually die—if the feet are neglected. This is because diabetes often results in poor circulation especially in the feet and legs.

Diabetics, particularly those over 45, should be meticulous about carrying out the following foot-care measures:

1. Wash the feet daily with soap and water, then dry thoroughly
2. With an upward motion, massage feet and legs to knee daily lanolin
3. Raise yourself on your toes 20 times, twice a day
4. Have your toenails cut carefully by someone other than yourself, preferably a podiatrist, who must be told that you are diabetic. A podiatrist should deal with any ingrown toenails. An ingrown toenail, is a toenail that has the tendency on the sides to curve into the flesh instead of to grow straight out
5. Wear shoes that are comfortable and wide enough not to rub against the feet
6. Stockings or socks should be washed daily and should be free of imperfections that may irritate the skin