Register Today!
  1. Aug 10, '07 by miriam143
    we are going to have a case presentation tomorrow, can anybody help me? i am assigned to work on pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus type 1. can someone provide me a link where there is sufficient info. about its pathophysiology? is it necessary to have a "flow chart like" diagram? coz i heard it was supposed to be like that. and what should be the content of pathophysiology? thanks in advance!
    Last edit by miriam143 on Aug 10, '07

  2. 3 Comments so far...

  3. Aug 10, '07 by Daytonite
    There is lots of information about diabetes on the website of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Here is a link to their alphabetic index of topics:Here are other links as well:I am puzzled by your asking "is it necessary to have a "flow chart like" diagram? coz i heard it was supposed to be like that. and what should be the content of pathophysiology?" Didn't your instructor give you and your classmates some kind of instructions on how to proceed with this case presentation? The pathophysiology should be a presentation of what has gone wrong with the normal anatomy and physiology that leads to the disease and its signs and symptoms. Each sign and symptom of a disease can be logically traced back to where the normal anatomy and physiology went wrong. I'm seriously worried that you don't have enough time to prepare this adequately for tomorrow. This is a complicated disease. You will probably find more information in a book of physiology. I wish you the best.

    You can link into and see sample student nurse case presentations at these web pages. Can't say if any of them include diabetes.You need to remove your e-mail address from your post. It is against the allnurses TOS to post it publicly.
  4. Aug 10, '07 by miriam143
    that was very helpful sir! thanks a lot!! (edited my email add)
    but can you give me a guide, where should i start? should i start with the normal values and then state what happens to them that leads to diabetes?
  5. Aug 10, '07 by Daytonite
    I would start by describing a little about the normal physiology of the pancreas and what insulin does for a person in the processing of sugar. Give the normal glucose levels that the body strives to maintain. Then, go into what is behind Type I diabetes (cause, incidence) and how it affects the person's ability to manufacture their own insulin and control blood sugar. What are the consequences for them as their pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin? Blood sugar rises. Give the progressive signs and symptoms that appear as the blood sugar goes up and up and up all the way to diabetic ketoacidosis. Then, how are each of theses various symptoms treated? When the condition is found early, the symptoms are treated much easier. When diabetes is found during an episode of ketoacidosis the patient is in serious condition. A lot of treatments will need to be done for this condition to keep the patient alive and bring their body back into homeostasis.

    In Type I diabetes an elevated blood sugar occurs because there is not enough insulin being made to allow glucose to enter the cells of the body so it can be processed for energy. So, the body goes to the next source it has available for energy--fat and protein. For this reason, diabetics can go into ketoacidosis, a condition that results from the metabolism of fat even though they might have blood sugars of 600. Because the kidney threshold is 250, this build up of glucose in the blood spills over into the urine and the patient will have glucosuria. Glucosuria is an abnormal finding in the urine. The kidneys start dumping out as much of this sugar as it can resulting in the patient becoming dehydrated and, therefore, thirsty (polydipsia). All these signs and symptoms occur as a result of the pancreas being unable to produce enough insulin. If this process is not stopped it continues to get worse and worse resulting in a severe acidosis and coma that will end up killing the patient. Please read the information on the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases website. It is one of the best resources for information about diabetes that is available online. If you need another resource to read, go to Medline Plus (http://www.medlineplus.gov/) and put the word "diabetes" in the search box at the top and click "search". You will get a page of all kinds of links to websites on diabetes to help you out.

    Diabetes is becoming one of the most commonly occurring diseases in the industrialized world and is affecting the treatment of healthcare. You need to develop a very good understanding of not only Type I, but Type II diabetes as well. Type II is much more prevalent and it's pathophysiology is different.