Week 3 topics 1 and 2

Diabetes

Type I diabetes

The type I diabetes is often referred to as the juvenile or the insulin-dependent diabetes. According to Rheem G., (2013) Type 1 diabetes is basically an auto-immune disease where the cells responsible for producing insulin in the pancreas are attacked by the immune system and the person has no control over this. Type 1 diabetes renders the patient dependent on lifelong injection of insulin into the body to help manage the blood glucose levels. It occurs predominantly among children and young adults, yet the Type 2 diabetes is predominant among the ages of 40 years and above. The victims of Type 1 diabetes are usually of normal weight or thin. Here, the body produces no insulin or too little to be of significant function for the body and the onset is usually observed to be sudden.

There are three cardinal signs of this type of diabetes which can develop quite fast in the victims of this diabetes, these are; Polyuria, polydipsia and polyphagia. Polyuria is the need to urinate frequently and when one does so it is in large volumes. This is due to the fact that the type I diabetes patents will feel thirsty and take a lot of water hence the need to urinate all the time and in large volumes, it is said that the amount urine is often above 2 liters per day. Polydipsia refers to increased thirst in the type I diabetes patients accompanied by high fluid intake. The high levels of sugar in the blood makes the patient feel thirsty hence tends to take in a lot of water. Polyphagia is the constant urge that the type I diabetes patient will have to keep eating and this appetite is accompanied by frequent hunger. The only significant management of type I diabetes mellitus is the use of insulin injections since this is what lacks in the body to enable the utilization of the glucose in the blood (Diabetes Digital Media, 2014).

These three above are the major signs though there are other signs that are associated with diabetes mellitus such as numbness in feet, pain in the feet and general fatigue as well as blurred vision. The patient may also experience recurrent and at times severe infections. The patient may also experience loss of consciousness or severe nausea and vomiting. Among the female patients there may occur vaginal yeast infection (Mayo Clinic, 2014). It is indicated that genetic factors play a big role in the cause of diabetes and t some extent there are environmental factors such as viruses that may trigger the disease.

The body balance

After riding in a roller coaster, it is often normal to feel dizzy and the balance of the body may be significantly affected for some time.

Some people will experience dizziness accompanied by the motion sickness after the ride, nausea caused by the rapid motion of the ride in the roller coaster and all these are connected to the sense of balance and equilibrium in the nervous system. The sense of balance is achieved by an intricate interaction and relation of the following parts of the nervous system which can be affected as one rides in a roller coaster;

The inner ear which is often referred to as labyrinth, this is a part that is responsible for the monitoring of the direction of motion like rolling, side-to-side movement, turning, up-and-down as well as forward-backward movements. When one rides in a roller coaster, the directions are rapidly changed and hence the labyrinth fails to translate what direction the body is taking resulting in mixed signals and hence the loss of balance of the body for some time. The eyes are also a significant part in the balance of the body since it monitors the positioning of the body in space, for instance right side up, or upside down as well as telling the brain the direction of the motion. This is significantly affected when the person rides in a roller coaster since the body position and the direction of the movement of the body keep changing hence the eyes keep sending rapidly changing body posture to the brain causing confusion to the brain hence the lack of balance to the body since the brain keep changing the information on the adjustments the body should make to remain stable. There are also the pressure receptors in the joints of the spine as well as lower extremities of an individual. These pressure points are responsible for sending signals to the brain of what part of the body is down hence touching the ground. This too is significantly altered in the rollercoaster ride since the part of the body that is up keep changing hence these pressure points keep recording random signals and sending to the brain hence the loss of balance. The central nervous system which is responsible for processing the entire pile up of information from the above mentioned part of the body gets an overload from the rapidly changing and conflicting information when one is on the roller coaster hence the body may be subjected to mixed instructions on adjustments to the body hence causing dizziness and loss of balance. The loss of balance can also be occasioned by the decrease in the blood flow to the brain as well as the inner ear, and since the inner ear is very sensitive to the decrease in blood flow, there is bound to be loss of balance especially when one rides in a roller coaster hence altering the normal blood flow in the body (American Academy of Otolaryngology, 2014). The loss of balance however is momentary and within thirty seconds of the individual settling it clears off.