Endocrine Flashcards
(16 cards)
Pancreas
- Gland in the abdomen that helps with digestion and regulating blood sugar.
- Located in the upper abdomen, behind the stomach and is about the size of a hand.
- Produces digestive juices that help the body break down food and absorb nutrients
- Produces hormones that regulate blood sugar levels, including insulin and glucagon. Insulin helps the body use sugar for energy, while glucagon raises blood sugar levels
Diabetes
- Condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high.
- Buildup of Glucose in the body due to a lack of insulin to bring it down.
Types of diabetes
Type 1 - Autoimmune
- Lifelong condition where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin. This causes the pancreas to produce little or no insulin, which leads to a buildup of glucose in the blood.
- Can develop at any age - usually in children, teens or young adults.
- Insulin is the main treatment
Type 2
- Where the body doesn’t produce enough insulin, or the body’s cells do not react to insulin properly.
- Most common type - mostly affects people over 25 with a family history.
- Treatment - eating well and moving more - some people may still need to take diabetes medication (metformin) or insulin.
- Can go undiagnosed, left untreated can cause diabetes complications.
- Some can put it into remission by losing a significant amount of weight.
Treatments for diabetes
Type 1 - insulin
Type 2 - diet changes, medication
Hyperglycaemic symptoms
- Feeling very thirsty.
- Peeing a lot (Polyuria)
- Feeling weak or tired.
- Blurred vision
- Losing weight
Glucose testing levels
Normal 4-8
What does pancreas do to raise glucose
Glucagon - A hormone produced and released by the pancreas - Raises blood sugar levels by stimulating the liver to convert glycogen into glucose.
What does pancreas do to lower glucose levels
Insulin - Lowers blood sugar levels by helping the body move glucose from the bloodstream into cells using blood sugar for energy. Insulin is released by the pancreas and moves glucose from the blood into cells.
Ketones
- Acids produced by the body when it breaks down fat for energy, instead of using glucose from carbohydrates.
- If you don’t get enough energy from glucose, your body breaks down fats for energy instead.
- When your body doesn’t have enough insulin to use blood sugar for energy it starts to breakdown fats to use for energy.
- Your body will switch to ketosis if you’re not getting enough carbohydrates. During ketosis, your body breaks down fats for energy, releasing ketones.
When to test ketones and what is normal
- Test ketones when glucose levels above 11.
- more inclined to test in diabetic pts
Under 0.6 = normal
0.6-1.5 slightly high
1.6-3 risk of dka
Diabetic ketoacidosis
- When your body doesn’t have enough insulin to allow blood sugar into your cells for use as energy. Forces cells to provide energy for metabolism from other sources such as fatty acids. Ketones are produced as a by-product of fatty acid metabolism in the liver. Ketones are acidic chemicals whose accumulation leads to the development of metabolic acidosis.
Symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis
Symptoms
- Thirsty
- Need to urinate more often.
- Stomach pain
- Feeling sick or being sick.
- Diarrhoea
- Breathing more deeply than usual.
- Breath that smells fruity.
- Feeling tired, sleepy or confused.
- Blurred vision
Hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state (HHS)
- Can be life-threatening
- Complication of type 2 diabetes.
- Severe hyperglycaemia
- Defined by presence of high blood glucose (>30mmol/L) usually without the presence of ketones, with a resultant state of hypermosmolality.
- Glucose levels too high for a long period leading to dehydration and confusion.
Symptoms of HHS
- Increased thirst and urination (at the beginning).
- Feeling weak.
- Nausea
- Weight loss
- Dry mouth, dry tongue.
- Fever
- Seizures
- Confusion
Hypoglycaemic symptoms
- Feeling hungry.
- Feeling dizzy.
- Feeling anxious or irritable.
- Sweating
- Shaking
- Tingling lips
- Heart palpitations
- Feeling tired or weak.
- Changes in your vision such as blurred vision.
- Feeling confused
- Seizure or fit
- Become unconscious
Treatment for hypoglycaemia
- Conscious enough give food or sugary drink to bring up blood sugar levels or if BM isn’t too low oral glucose
- Significantly reduced GCS - IV glucose
- Glucagon - last resort
