Diabetes | Herbals Corner

If a patient presents with frequency of passing urine, constant thirst, weight loss, tiredness, and found to have sugar in the urine, then the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus is very clear. What a doctor needs to do to confirm the diagnosis is to perform a blood sugar examination.

Many diabetics are discovered when they go for routine medical check up which consists of urine testing. Others are discovered when they consult a doctor for fungal infection of the vulva, recurrent boils, visual disturbances, unexplained weight loss, or even symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis.

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Pancreas is the most organ involved in diabetes mellitus. Insulin secreted by the pancreas was found to prolong the life of diabetics.

A longish and flat organ situated in the center of the abdomen is the pancreas and is lodged within the curve of the duodenum just behind the stomach. It weighs about 75gm and is about five to six inches long. The pancreas has various functions with one being the secretion of digestive enzymes. Another one is the secretion of two hormones from islands of cells called Islets of Langerhan. The islets consist of two types of very specialized cells – the beta cells which secrete insulin and the alpha cells which secrete glucagon. Secretion of insulin is automatic in response to the glucose level in the blood in the normal person.

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