CHAPTER XX
DIABETES MELLITUS
Definition.—Diabetes is a disease which is characterized by an inability on the part of the body to utilize the carbohydrates, in consequence of which there is abnormal excretion of glucose in the urine.
Sugar in the Urine.—The appearance of sugar in the urine may not necessarily signify diabetes, it may be merely a temporary glycosuria due to certain pathological conditions, such as infectious diseases, diseases or trauma which affect the pancreas, and which disappear upon the recovery from the disease. But any appearance of sugar in the urine should be looked upon with suspicion, since the future welfare of the patient depends largely upon an early diagnosis in any form of diabetes.
True Diabetes.—Allen claims that true diabetes may always be distinguished from nervous glycosuria by the application of the laws governing these conditions (Allen’s Paradoxical Law[137]), which is “whereas in normal individuals the more sugar given the more is utilized, the reverse is true in diabetes.”
Manufacture of Sugar from Other Foods.—If the carbohydrate foods alone caused all the trouble in diabetes, the disease might be more easily controlled. This, we found, however, not to be true, since in certain conditions the body utilizes the protein foods for the manufacture of glucose also. Consequently in diabetes if the absolute sugar output of the body is to be controlled, the intake of nitrogenous foods must be likewise adjusted.
Functions of Carbohydrates.—In the chapter describing the functions of the carbohydrates in the human body it was demonstrated that their energy-producing properties did not cover the extent of their usefulness. It has been proved that this food constituent normally acts as neutralizing agent for the toxic acids produced within the organism as a result of the breaking down of the fats. Hence, when this function of the carbohydrates becomes impaired, these acids, Oxybutyric acid, Diacetic acid and Acetone, fail to be neutralized and are consequently absorbed into the blood stream, giving rise to a form of intoxication known as acidosis. When acidosis becomes extreme, the diabetic patient is apt at any time to succumb to the dreaded diabetic coma.
Keeping Urine Sugar Free.—Thus it is seen that the treatment of diabetes mellitus consists not alone of freeing the urine from sugar and keeping it free, but of controlling the acidosis which may at any time develop.
Diabetic Cures.—Numberless so-called diabetic cures have been brought forward and more or less tested for years, but whether they have really accomplished cures has not been satisfactorily proved. Not until Dr. Allen instituted what is known as the Allen’s Starvation Treatment has the disease been so universally treated, at least by one method or modification of one method. Dr. Joslin, who has used this treatment most successfully, does not claim to have accomplished a cure, but states that he is watching the results of the treatment in his patients with interest.