Insulin Control and Black Beans

Insulin Control and Black Beans

They are a good source of carbohydrates for people with diabetes. Black beans are digested slowly and, indirectly, controls insulin production by producing a gradual rise in blood sugar levels. The body needs less insulin to control the blood sugar levels from the digestion of black beans than after eating other high carbohydrate foods like bread or potato that may cause a surge in insulin production above the actual levels needed.

People with Type I Diabetes using diets with beans in conjunction with whole grains, vegetables and rich in fruits were able to cut their insulin use significantly. Those with Type II Diabetes reduced their insulin injections to very low levels. The diets are in line with the guidelines of The American Diabetes Association. As always, consult with your Diabetologists and their dietitians before altering a diet.

Black beans, in particular, contain high levels of soluble fiber. It slows down the entry of glucose into the bloodstream over the time of digestion. This allows the pancreas to slowly increase insulin production to keep pace with the slower uptake of glucose from the intestines. Because of this change in glucose uptake black beans are excellent for people with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia.

Black beans are a source of antioxidants. The antioxidants reduce the effects of free radicals which cause many chronic health problems. Combined with the fiber of the beans and antioxidants they contain, black beans can help regulate insulin levels and lower risks for heart disease

Raw black beans contain chemicals that work against their nutritional value. These chemicals inactivate enzymes needed to digest proteins and carbohydrates. They also contain factors that inactivate Vitamin A and Hemagglutinins, substances that make red blood cells clump together - important in forming blood clots to protect blood loss from cuts, for example. To destroy the chemicals that work against the black beans wonderful advantages - cook them.

Good News!

Served with grains, black beans provide a food that is complete for essential amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The proteins in grains are deficient in the essential amino acids lysine and isoleucine but contain sufficient amino acids of tryptophan, methionine and cystine. The proteins in beans are just the opposite. Put together they provide the nutrients one needs. If this sounds familiar you are a vegetarian! They combine different foods that provide the same quantity and quality of essential amino acids as a daily serving of meat provides for non-vegetarians.

With an iron-rich food (meat) or with a vitamin C-rich food like tomatoes, they both enhance your body's ability to use the iron in beans. The meat makes you stomach more acid when the proteins break down (amino acids) and acidity favors iron absorption. The Vitamin C may convert the ferric ion (+++) in beans into the ferrous ion (++) which is more easily absorbed by the body. Keep in mind that iron is a very important component of hemoglobin in your red blood cells that make it possible to carry oxygen to all your cells for energy manufacture.

Diabetic Neuropathies - What Are They?

Neuropathies

Diabetic neuropathies are nerve disorders caused by diabetes. People with diabetes can develop nerve damage throughout their body. Some people with nerve damage have no symptoms. Others may have symptoms such as pain, tingling, or numbness (loss of feeling) in the hands, arms, feet and legs.

Nerve problems can occur in every organ system, including the digestive tract, heart and sex organs.

The latest research indicates that about 60 to 70 percent of people with diabetes have some form of neuropathy. People with diabetes can develop nerve problems at any time, but risk rises with age and longer duration of diabetes.

The highest rate of neuropathy are among people who have had diabetes for at least 25 years. Diabetic neuropathies appear more common in people who have problems controlling their blood glucose, also called blood sugar, as well as those with high levels of blood fat, blood pressure and those who are overweight.

Statistics - When is Diabetic News Believable?

Statistics - Data Supported or Opinion

Calling all folks who like to play bingo. Calling all folks who like to gamble now and then. Calling all people who believe everything they read in the news sources about new diabetes research as the gospel truth. If you do, you have just been scammed!

Jim, get serious. These folks want to believe. They have diabetes, don't like it and hang on every bit of positive news they can find. Okay, lets look at "odds" that play into research and believable results.

Take a quarter and flip it five times in a row. Its either going to be heads or tails each time. Everybody has done this at least once in their lives. You know, tonight you do the dishes. Heads I do them, tails you do them!

But, suppose you were going to Las Vegas for the weekend to enjoy a little "R&R." If you flipped that quarter five times and came up with five heads in a row, and you didn't know better, in Las Vegas you bet "heads" every-time in a game....you would lose your shirt. The "Odds" in coin flipping is 50/50. The secret in odds, that you know, is the more trials(times you flipped the coin)the closer the results would be to 50/50.

In research, if you read an article where the experiment consisted of ten trials, the result has no validity. Its like getting five heads in coin flipping. Whatever that researcher says is nothing but an "opinion" and statistically has no validity.

In statistics, the number of trials is very important to support the results an investigator publishes. In order to state a 90% certainty for an experiment a very large number of trials must be run. Rarely does an investigator, seeking approval from the reading public, run a significant number of trials to validate what he is saying.

News leaked to the Press or TV, to gain exposure for a scientist, is not believable news unless backed up by statistics that are credible. Later, if other investigators back up the results of the research, you now have believable news.

A fine point to remember! The news you read about diabetes, in the future, may be statistically correct when more data becomes available. Until that data becomes available and is supported by other researchers the results are just an unsubstantiated opinion.

Major publications, like The New England Journal of Medicine, have strict parameters before an article is accepted for publication. The source of the news is important too.

When is news believable news? Now you have a simplistic rule of thumb what research to put into a "circular file" and what research to become excited about.

If You Can Deduct Medical Expenses - Here are Possibilities for Diabetics

Flexible Spending Plan - Section 125 Cafeteria Plan

Please Check with your Accountant or CPA for a complete list of deductible expenses for Diabetics. This list of deductions are meant to alert you to possibilities of medical expense deductions if you file a 1040 and itemize your medical deductions.

Accepted Over-The-Counter Items

Diabetic Lancets

Diabetic Supplies

Diabetic Test Strips

Glucose Meters

Deductible Expenses In curred for Services by Medical Professionals

Chiropractors Fees

The Cost of Diagnostic Services

Eye examinations related to Diabetes

Laboratory Fees

Optometrists Fees

Osteopaths Fees

Physicians Fees

The Cost of Sexual Inadequacy treatment conducted by Psychiatrists at

a Hospital related to diabetes.

Specialists Fees like a Diabetologist

Surgeons Fees

Deductible expenses Incurred for Services by Persons Other than Medical Professionals

The Cost of a Guide to Assist a Blind Person walking to School

Fees for participation in a Weight Loss Program prescribed by a Doctor for the treatment of Obesity in a Diabetic.

Deductible Capital Expenses

The Cost of Artificial Limbs for a Diabetic Amputee

The Cost of an Autoette (a small three wheeled vehicle) or wheelchair used primarily to alleviate illness.

The Excess Cost of Braille Books and Magazines bought for a visually impaired person over the cost of Regular Printed Editions.

The Cost of Educational Devices for a Child going blind form Diabetes.

The Cost of Eye Glasses

The Cost of a Leader Dog and Training for a Blind Person

The Cost of a Dog trained to detect a persons Blood Sugar Level

Deductible Expenses Incurred for Medicine, Special Foods

The Cost of Prescription Drugs

The Cost of Insulin

The Cost of Vitamins prescribed by a Doctor for treating Disease

The Cost of Special Low or No Sugar Food (Check on Latest IRS Rulings)

Deductible Expenses Incurred for Care by Hospitals and Other Institutions

Amounts paid for In-Patient Hospital Care

Deductible Educational Expenses

The Cost of Attending a Special School that Teaches Braille or Lip Reading.

Deductible Transportation Expenses

Car expenses incurred to obtain Medical Care

The Rental Cost of a Car that is Essential to obtaining Medical Care and is used primarily for that purpose.

See your CPA or Accountant for other Transportation Expenses allowed

Deductible Meal and Lodging Expenses

Meals and Lodging at a Hospital in connection with In-Patient Hospital Care.

See your CPA or Accountant for other Transportation Expenses

Sugar - Why is it Important

Sugar in Metabolism

Lets look at the answer first. It makes possible the manufacture of ATP in each and every living cell and, for diabetics, the use of the glucose for cellular metabolism.

From my point of view, the whole purpose of our body systems is to make a perfect environment for a biological enzyme. (catalyst, in inorganic chemistry)

All of the chemical reactions in our living bodies occur at 98.6 degrees F. Remember in HS Chemistry how we used to heat up test tubes of reactants, in the presence of a catalyst, to very high temperatures until something significant happened? Well, not too many were interested in Science back then but the result is - yes!

A biological enzyme has a component (part) that is very sensitive to the following partial list of things that cancel its ability to make a chemical reaction take place unless regulated perfectly by your body systems. This regulation is called homeostasis.

Temperature

pH

Concentration of electrolytes

Presence of oxygen

Food - sugars, fats and proteins

Ridding the body of waste.

Lets see, from this basic short list, what we our body systems do to make a perfect environment for an enzyme to function.

Temperature:

If the temperature varies a few degrees upward or downward from 98.6 degrees F or 37 degrees C the shape of the biological enzyme changes. The word to describe this change is denaturization. Basically, the enzyme can no longer catalyze the chemical reaction it was targeted to because its specific shape was altered.

A biological enzyme is specific for a certain step in a chemical reaction. If it is changed, in any way, it can no longer carry out its function. 

If you want to see denaturization happen, to a protein, a component of enzymes in a living system, go fry an egg. Before you fry the egg you break it open and the contents appear in a frying pan. The clear liquid surrounding the yellow yolk is a protein called albumin. Notice its physical properties observable to the human eye. The albumin, before heating, is a liquid and it is clear. When you heat the egg in the frying pan the physical appearance of the albumin changes. It is now white (it no longer appears transparent) and it changed from a liquid to a solid. It was denatured by the heat.

Why does life flourish on our wonderful planet? Water resists changes in temperature. It takes a formidable amount of heat energy gain or loss to change the temperature of water in our body. Isn't that great to have a drink of water. It is the perfect solvent of everything that is us! A biological enzyme lasts for a long time in our bodies. 

Sometimes we become infected with "bugs" , known as bacteria and/or viruses. They have a very fragile existence and small changes in temperature affect them sooner than our cells. Thats why we have a fever when we get sick. The body is making the bacteria's existence hard, if not impossible. If the body temperature does not do the job our body become vulnerable. Thats when you must see a doctor as quickly as possible.

Simple sugar, like glucose, is the number one ingredient each and every cell in your body uses to make ATP. The ATP makes its possible for you to live properly. Thats why insulin is necessary to make it possible for all your cells to take up glucose for cellular metabolism.

See how important simple sugar is for you and insulins proper regulation is to making glucose uptake available for your cells!

Diabetes Insipidus and ADH deficiency

Diabetes Insipidus and ADH Deficiency

One of the problems with you and me is the fact that we are lay people. I have some training but not at the level of a Diabetologist.

One of the symptoms of diabetes, already discussed on this blog, is the out-put of hugh amounts of urine and intense thirst. This condition is called (diabetes = overflow; insipidus = tasteless) distinguishes it from diabetis mellitus (mel = honey), in which insulin deficiency causes large amounts of blood glucose to be lost in the urine. In the past, urine was tasted to determine which type of diabetes the patient was suffering from.

The possible causes of diabetes insipidus can be caused by a blow to the head that damages the hypothalmus or the posterior pituitary. In either case, anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) release is deficient. Though inconvenient, the condition is not serious when the thirst center is operating properly and the person drinks enough water to prevent dehydration.

 Another reason people who are unconcious or comatose with head injuries are carefully monitored for excessive dehydration that can be life threatening.

This is a good time to defer to a Diabelologist, on your next visit, to answer some of your more involved questions on similar symptoms that may not be due to diabetes mellitus.

Diabetic Camps - Nationwide Experience and Education

Diabetic Camping Experiences

Many years ago Camp Midicha ,in Michigan, and Camp Needle Point in Wisconsin provided wonderful experiences in outdoor camping and fun from a variety of activities that many children took for granted.

Supervised by a full staff of physicians, nurses and counselors trained in the care of diiabetic children between the ages of six and sixteen, these camps were an instant hit.

The camp counselors were, back then, split between those with diabetes and those without diabetes. Insulin use was closely monitored because the increased exercise made their pre-camp dosage of insulin too high for camp activities. Adjustments were made and camp fun continued unabated.

At the same time as their children were attending camp the parents attended a learning session in Minnesota, at the International Diabetes Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

There, many topics were covered that enabled both the parents and children to have a deeper and significant understanding of the nature, treatment and future of diabetes in their lives together.

Here is a link on the Diabetic Camps nationwide that provide camping experiences for diabetics.

Help From Biotechnology for Diabetes Mellitus

Biotechnology Help for Diabetes Mellitus

Current research has indicated that up to four injections per day of insulin is protocol. Even better, an insulin pump to reduce vascular and renal complications of Type I diabetics.

Now, if you add a glucose sensor and a miniature computer to an insulin pump you have just manufactured an artificial pancreas that would dispense insulin as needed.

Mist inhalers and insulin patches are other methods of administering insulin.

Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplants are increasing in their ability to help Type I diabetics. The limiting factor in islet transplantations is the need for long-term immunosuppression.

The side effects from immunosupressant drugs may cause complications. Thus, pancreatic islet transplantations are only used for patients that cannot control their diabetes any other way.

For those of you that have Type II diabetes the worry about ketoacidosis is far less but the other complications that afflict Type I diabetics still exist for you. Heredity or a familial predisposition is very strong for Type II diabetics. An estimated 25 to 30 percent of Americans carry a gene that predisposes them to Type II diabetes, with non-white populations at a far greater risk.

Most Type II diabetics produce insulin but the insulin receptors on body cells are unable to respond to it, a phenomenon called insulin resistance. Mutations in any one of several genes could lead to insulin resistance. One example is a gene called PC-1. That gene, a membrane protein gene, causes that membrane protein to react strongly to insulin receptor that prevents the receptor from being activated.

Lifestyle can play a role. Diabetics are almost all overweight and sedentary. Adipose cells of obese folks overproduce a number of hormone-like chemicals including tumor necrosis factor alpha and adiponectin which may alter the cascade sequence triggered by insulin binding that makes it possible for your body cells to absorb glucose for metabolism.

The good news is that many Type II diabetics can control their diabetes by exercise, weight loss and a healthy diet. Some diabetics benefit from oral medications like Orinase. There is a number of drugs that are referred to as insulin resistance reducers such as Avandia.

Polyuria, Polydipsia and Polyphagia - Three Signs of Diabetes

Polyuria, Polydipsia and Polyphagia

We know that excess glucose in the blood that doesn't go away without some help is diabetes. This is how the three signs above are created in diabetes.

The excess glucose in the urine filtrate acts as an osmotic diuretic. Wow! big words again for us to master. 

First, a simple definition of osmosis that will never get you into trouble, well seldom, never is an impossible situation.

Osmosis is the movement of water through a selective permeable membrane (think cell membrane if you have a tiny mind like me!)from an area of low solute concentration (anything dissolved in water (the solvent) into a area of high solute concentration.

In this illustration, due to the large amount of excess glucose in the filtrate, (what the kidney filters from the blood under pressure) the glucose is the "solute molecule" and causes the concentration of solutes in the kidney filtrate to be higher than the solute concentration in the blood. Net result, instead of water being returned to the blood it is flushed out of the body in the urine! Thats called diuresis.

A diuretic, in this case, is something that inhibits water reabsorption by the blood from the kidney tubules that results in a hugh urine output that is called Polyuria.

The polyuria results in decreased blood volume and dehydration. Thats why a diabetic person experiences excessive thirst. Lets look at how that "thirst" occurs technically.

Along with water loss, which is a solvent, serious electrolytelosses also occur as the body rids itself of excess ketones.

The ketone bodies are negatively charged particles called ions. Keep in mind a balance is maintained between positive and negative ions in the body. But, in mass movements involving negative charged ketone bodies, they attract and carry positve charged ions like sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+)out of the body fluids as well. 

This creates an electrolyte imbalance in you, if you are a diabetic out of control. Because of this imbalance you get abdominal pains and may vomit, and the stress reaction  ("flight, fright and frolic") about diabetes mellitus just accelerates even more.

Vomiting expels even more water from the body and carries with it more important electrolytes. This rapid water loss, or dehydration, stimulates the hypothalmic thirst centers causing polydipsia or excerssive thirst.

If the general body cells cannot take up glucose for metabolism to take place you develop excessive hunger pangs and increase your food consumption accordingly. This is called polyphagia. You sense, correctly, that you are starving to death. Although you have plenty of glucose available, it cannot be used, and the body begins to use the fat and protein stores for metabolism.

If you are a Type I Diabetic you can develop long term vascular and neural problems. The lipidemia and high blood cholesterol levels, characteristic of the disease, can lead to severe vascular complications like atherosclerosis, strokes, heart attacks, renal shutdown, gangrene and blindness.

Neural changes include loss of sensation, impaired bladder function and impotence.

Hope this helps with your understanding of the course that diabetes follows in a Type I diabetic.

Homeostatic Imbalance - Diabetes mellitus - A Trip of Complications

Homeostatic Imbalance - Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus results from either hyposecretion or hypoactivity of insulin. After a meal, when insulin is either absent or deficient, blood glucose levels remain high because glucose is unable to enter most tissue cells.

Ordinarily, when blood glucose levels rise, hyperglycemic hormones are not released, but when hyperglycemia becomes excessive, you start to feel nauseated. 

The nausea causes your body to enter the "flight-fright-frolic" response. This is a series of changes brought about by the Autonomic Nervous System and prolonged by certain members of your Endocrine System. 

The results are inappropriate because they normally occur in the hypoglycemic (fasting state) to make glucose available. The nausea triggers glycogenolysis (breakdown of glycogen), lipolysis (breakdown of fat) and gluconeogenesis.

These cause the already high glucose levels to soar even higher and excess glucose begins to leave the body in the urine (glycosuria).

When simple sugars, such as glucose, cannot be used as cellular fuel, more fats are mobilized and broken down for fuel. The fats produce a high fatty acid level in the blood, a condition called lipidemia or lipemia. The presence of acids in the blood increases a persons free H+ ion count which results in a lower than normal pH. This is referred to as acidosis. 

When a H+ ion is free, by itself, it contributes to acidity. The purpose of buffering is to combine the free H+ and take it out of body fluids. When that happens the pH of the blood increases (Becomes Basic).

In severe cases of diabetes mellitus, blood levels of fatty acids and their metabolites (acetoacetic acid, acetone and others) rise dramatically. The metabolites, collectively called ketones or ketone bodies are organic acids. They work to push down your pH even more. Your acidosis becomes more severe. Since this is due to ketones the acidosis is renamed ketoacidosis. Excess ketones spill over into the urine from the kidneys. This is called ketonuria.

Severe ketoacidosis is life threatening. One of the very good reasons to see your friendly Diabetologist if you suspect you are starting to lose control of your condition.

The severe ketoacidosis causes the nervous system to initiate rapid deep breathing (hyperpnea) to blow off carbon dioxide from the blood with the net result of temporarily increasing your pH (buffers the blood).

If ketoacidosis continues unchecked it will disrupt heart activity and oxygen transport, severely depress the nervous system which leads to coma and death.

Detection, education and control are the keys to managing diabetes.

Signaling Mechanisms for Insulin

Signaling Mechanisms for Insulin

Insulin appears to work without second messengers generated when a hormone binds to a receptor on the plasma membrane of its tissue cells, referred to as target cells.

A hormone stimulus typically produces one or more of the following changes:

1. Alters plasma membrane permeability or membrane potential , or both, by opening or closing ion channels.

2. Stimulates synthesis of proteins or regulatory molecules such as enzymes within the cell.

3. Activates or deactivates enzymes.

4. Induces secretory activity.

5. Stimulates mitosis.

The insulin receptor is a tyrosine kinase enzyme that is activated by autophosphorylation (addition of the phosphate complex ion to several of its own tyrosines ) when insulin binds. This activated insulin receptor provides docking sites for intracellular relay proteins that, in turn, initiate a series of protein phosphorylations that trigger specific cell responses.

The phosphorylated proteins begin the cascade that leads to increased glucose uptake by the cells in the body.

After glucose enters a target cell, insulin binding triggers enzymatic activities that:

1. Catalyzes the oxidation of glucose for ATP production.

2. Join glucose molecules together to form glycogen.

3. Convert glucose to fat (particularly in adipose tissue.)

Signals, whether neural, hormonal or both are important to homeostasis and your health.

Nervous System and Endocrine System Connection

Central Nervous System and Endocrine System Connection

Whenever we get the "Devil" scared out of us...so to speak, our body instantaneously, it seems, prepares us to runaway, fight, or prepare for another reaction...right away. 

The system which is part of our Nervous System that does this is the Sympathetic Branch of our Autonomic Nervous System.

After we have had a moment to assess our emergency situation our Endocrine System prolongs the same preparedness that our Nervous System provided immediately.

This "dual" control helps keep us alive and well! Who wants Lucifer after us!

Our body is controlled by a whole series of "on-off" switches called negative feedback controls. Basically, if one control mechanism speeds us up there is another control that slows us down. Much like the autonomic nervous systems two branches.

The other branch of the Autonomic Nervous System that slows us down is the Parasympathetic Branch. Remember, the Sympathetic Branch is the one that prepares you for the "Flight, Fright, and Frolic" response. It doesn't know which one of those three it is preparing the body for...that is up to your mental reasoning to assess the situation and select accordingly.

For instance, if the danger passes the Parasympathetic Branch begins to return your body to its "relaxed state." If you want to make a comparison to the glucose in your body think of what glucose provides to each cell that makes up your muscles. Muscles that you may need to run away from danger.

Your body immediately begins to dump glucose into the bloodstream from the liver to provide each cell with glucose to maufacture ATP, a very important high energy chemical used to help muscles contract properly.

When the danger is past, insulin helps return any excess glucose (above the amount you normally use for everyday functions) back to the bodys storage centers for later use.

This whole process is part of something far larger called Homeostasis. Your body has a normal concentration for glucose in the bloodstream. During the course of a day this value flucuates slightly above and below the normal value. The attempts to regulate the normal values for everything associated with life is Homeostasis!

The Unknown Factor with Hormone Medication

Hormone Medication - It is Global

We hear, especially in Sports, steroid this-steroid that and how it does this and that. They forget one important word - Global. 

Endocrine glands secrete into the bloodstream. What the gland produces affects every cell in the body that is nourished by the circulatory system. 

This is very different from an exocrine gland that secretes its product into a duct, not the bloodstream.

 In many situations the uninformed that take steroids for anabolic purposes (building up muscle tissue)have no clue what might be happening in their brain tissue, for example. What happens when you stop taking a hormone suddenly? Does your body and personality change? Maybe. Maybe not. Ask as many questions as you can about the global affects of hormone treatment.

A very good example of that is the hugh database of information on the birth control pill. The statistics from a large number of women, on the pill, are reliable. Word of mouth isn't reliable, it is just an opinion. That is why pharmaceutical companies go to great lengths to put, in writing, all the possible warnings of what their drug may do in your body. It is protects the drug company from some legal actions.

Insulin is a hormone. Please see a Diabetologist about how insulin may result in other changes in you. It is "global" too.

Beta Cells can overstretch like a Slinky Toy!

Hyper-stimulation of Beta Cells in the Pancreas

We talked about how important Insulin is in Glucose control. If you contiually stimulate your Beta Cells in the Pancreas they will enlarge and lose their ability to produce Insulin. 

This is likened to stretching a Slinky Toy too much so it doesn't return to normal to perform its function...entertaining you!

By eating the "wrong" foods (consult your Diabetologist for the "right" foods) the Beta Cells enlarge (thats called hypertrophy) and lose the ability to produce insulin when you need it. (Beginning of Diabetes)

Your job is to watch what you eat, monitor your blood sugar as instructed, exercise and live your life! The Alpha Cells produce the hormone Glucagon. It causes glucose manufcturing to start when you blood glucose concentration drops below normal levels temporarily. That condition is called Hypoglycemia, a  word that means your blood sugar is too low. If you are taking insulin and you take too much, it can cause a temporary condition of hypoglycemia.

The Pancreas - Its Role in Blood Sugar Control

The Pancreas - Its Role in Blood Sugar Control

The pancreas is both an exocrine and endocrine organ. It produces products that enter a tubule and/or a blood capillary respectively. 

Lets look at the endocrine function and how it balances your blood sugar (glucose) that is a break-down product of your digestion of carbohydrates, a complex molecule.

Too much or too little glucose causes problems. Your body systems function to create a perfect enviroment for each cell in your body. That balance is called homeostasis. Your body is continually making slight changes to keep this balance perfect. Lets look at a simple situation of how this takes place.

After a meal your blood sugar increases above its normal levels. This triggers the pancreas to increase its output of insulin, a hormone, to bring the sugar level down to normal levels.

If you haven't eaten for a period of time, the pancreas produces a hormone called glucagon that starts a procedure to increase the amount of glucose in your blood stream that involves your liver, another very important organ.

The main goal of these seemingly antagonistic actions is to maintain homeostasis, a normal level of blood glucose.

If your pancreas output of insulin declines, from a variety of causes, from its normal output, you have diabetes if the output cannot return the level of glucose to normal levels.

You need to seek a physician that specializes in diabetes.

This is a very introductory explanation of a negative feedback system that helps regulate blood sugar levels.

Please see an appropriate Diabetologist for a more detailed explanation if so desired.