NURS 6501 ENDOCRINE DISORDERS MODULE 4 This discussion question is about a 14-year-old girl that has been brought to the pediatrician’s office with complains of weight

NURS 6501 ENDOCRINE DISORDERS MODULE 4

This discussion question is about a 14-year-old girl that has been brought to the pediatrician’s office with complains of weight loss despite eating more, frequent urination, fatigue, and unquenchable thirst that has interfered with her school activities. The patient has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a disorder characterized by the lack of insulin needed for the regulation of the normal blood glucose levels(Acharya et al., 2021). The patients present with symptoms that include polyuria, polydipsia, and polyphagia.

Polydipsia is an increase in thirst. Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus often complain of an insatiable thirst. Patients with this disorder develop polydipsia because of the elevated blood glucose levels. The elevation results in the stimulation of the kidneys to excrete the excess glucose via the urine leading to glycosuria. On the other hand, the loss of fluids via the kidneys stimulates the brain to raise thirst level for the patient to take fluids to replace the loss (Del Chierico et al., 2022). Diabetes also causes osmotic diuresis, which is associated with dehydration and the increased need for body fluids.

Polyuria is the passage of urine more than normal. It is mostly more than 1-2 liters daily. As noted above an elevated blood glucose level results in the brain stimulating the kidneys to pass more urine, as a way of losing the excess glucose in it. The kidneys are stimulated to filter out more water, which increases the frequency, urgency, and volume of urine being passed. Polyphagia refers to excessive hunger. Patients with diabetes mellitus type I experience hunger because of glucose resistance. The glucose in the blood stream cannot enter the cells for metabolism due to the lack of insulin (Acharya et al., 2021). As a result, the cells continue being starved despite the high level of glucose, hence polyphagia.

  References

Acharya, S., Shukla, S., & Vaswani, R. (2021). Pathophysiology of Complication in Diabetes Mellitus. Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International, 89–95. https://doi.org/10.9734/jpri/2021/v33i60A34459

Del Chierico, F., Rapini, N., Deodati, A., Matteoli, M. C., Cianfarani, S., &Putignani, L. (2022). Pathophysiology of Type 1 Diabetes and Gut Microbiota Role. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(23), Article 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232314650