Diabetes and ADD/ADHD part 1 of 5 (physiology)

Diabetes mellitus, commonly called “sugar diabetes” is a fairly common disease of modern civilization. It is prevalent in industrialized society such as our and less common is less developed countries.

Here’s an overview of what to expect in the next five weeks. We start off with an understanding of normal physiology. The normal physiology overtime with uncontrolled blood sugar becomes pathology of diabetes. It is the pathology of the disease that’s relevant to the ADD/ADHD person.

The triad of the ADD/ADHD symptoms includes the ease of distractibility, impulsivity, and restlessness/hyperactivity that contribute to the difficulty in proper management of the ADD/ADHD diabetics.

After the clinical discovery of diabetes, the person would need to make life-changing habits to modulate the clinical course of diabetes. This includes non-pharmacological and pharmacological intervention. In addition, modification of diet will be necessary to maintain a reasonable blood glucose level. Furthermore, herbal non-pharmacological supplements are recommended as the initial trial.

If resistant, then pharmacological intervention is suggested. This could be hypoglycemic agents or insulin.

Lastly, the final posting will be body symbology of diabetes. What is the symbolic meaning of having diabetes? How can one change one’s (subconscious and conscious) behavior to improve the disease?

I will address those issues in subsequent postings.

So, let’s begin part one, normal physiology. The beta cells of the pancrease produce insulin. The alpha cell of the pancreas has an antagonistic function to the beta cells, that is, it produces glucagons, which acts just the opposite of beta cells. Glucagon breaks down glycogen stored in the liver cells when the body needs glucose as fuel.

The pancreatic beta cells produce insulin in response to elevated blood glucose level. This occurs usually after a meal. The insulin is necessary for active transport within the membrane of the cells to transport glucose from the outside into the inside of the cells where it is the energy source.

Once inside the cell, the glucose molecule goes into the Krebs cycle to generate ATP (Adenosine Tri-Phosphate) within the mitochondria of the cell. This is where the majority of cellular energy is produce.

Within the Krebs cycle are important biochemical reactions whereby vitamins such as folic acid, B-12, vitamin C, etc are necessary for the biochemical process to move forward. Without these vitamins, the breakdown of glucose into energy is hindered. Therefore, it is quite important to have enough of the appropriate vitamins to make the biochemical process go smoothly.

there's more to come...