Team Management
Describes a diabetes treatment approach in which medical care is
provided by a physician, diabetes nurse educator, dietitian, and behavioral
scientist working together with the patient.
Thiazolidinediones
One of several different classes of pills that lower the level of glucose in
the blood. Used in Type 2
diabetes. There are several thiazolidinedione pills available. This
class of medications is also called "glitazones."
See also: Oral
hypoglycemic agents.
Thrush
An infection of the mouth. In people with diabetes, this infection may
be caused by high levels of glucose (sugar) in mouth fluids, which helps the
growth of fungus that causes the infection. Patches of whitish-colored skin
in the mouth are signs of this disease.
Thyroid
An endocrine
gland located in the neck, that makes two hormones (T4
or thyroxine and T3 or triiodothyronine, which are frequently simply called
"thyroid hormone") that regulate the body's metabolic rate. Overactivity of
the thyroid gland is called hyperthyroidism; underactivity is called
hypothyroidism.
Both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism may have an autoimmune
basis, and both are somewhat more common in people with Type 1 diabetes.
Tight Control
See Intensive
Management
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Tolazamide
A pill taken to lower the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Only
some people with noninsulin-dependent diabetes take these pills.
See also: Oral
hypoglycemic agents.
Tolbutamide
A pill taken to lower the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Only
some people with noninsulin-dependent diabetes take these pills.
See also: Oral
hypoglycemic agents.
Toxemia of Pregnancy
A condition in pregnant women in which poisons such as the body's own
waste products build up and may cause harm to both the mother and baby. The
first signs of toxemia are swelling near the eyes and ankles (edema),
headache, high blood pressure, and weight gain that the mother might confuse
with the normal weight gain of being pregnant. The mother may have both
glucose (sugar) and acetone in her urine. The mother should tell the doctor
about these signs at once.
Toxic
Harmful; having to do with poison.
Transplantation of Pancreas
See Pancreas
Transplant.
Transcutaneous Electronic Nerve Stimulation (TENS)
A treatment for painful neuropathy.
Trauma
A wound, hurt, or injury to the body. Trauma can also be mental such as
when a person feels great stress.
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Triglyceride
A type of blood fat. The body
needs insulin to remove this type of fat from the blood. When diabetes is
under control and a person's weight is what it should be, the level of
triglycerides in the blood is usually about what it should be.
Troglitazone
A drug formerly used as a treatment for Type 2
(noninsulin-dependent) diabetes; belongs to a class of drugs called
thiazolidinediones. Withdrawn from the market in March, 2000 because
of rare liver problems.
See also: Oral
hypoglycemic agents.
Twenty-Four Hour Urine
The total amount of a person's urine for a 24-hour period.
Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus
Type 1 diabetes has been subdivided into:
Immune-mediated diabetes (Type 1A). This
form of diabetes results from a cellular-mediated autoimmune
destruction of the beta
cells of the pancreas. Markers of the immune destruction of the beta
cell include islet cell
autoantibodies and other antibodies. One and usually more of these
autoantibodies are present in 85 - 90% of individuals when fasting
hyperglycemia is initially detected. Also, the disease has strong HLA
associations.
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Idiopathic
diabetes (Type 1B). Some forms of Type 1 diabetes have no known
etiologies. Some of these patients have permanent insulin deficiency and
are prone to ketoacidosis
but have no evidence of autoimmunity.
Although only a minority of patients with Type 1 diabetes fall into this
category, of those who do, most are of African, Hispanic, or Asian origin.
Individuals with this form of diabetes suffer from episodic ketoacidosis
and exhibit varying degrees of insulin deficiency between episodes. This
form of diabetes is strongly inherited, lacks immunological evidence for
beta cell autoimmunity, and is not HLA associated.
An absolute requirement for insulin replacement therapy in affected
patients may come and go.
Type 1 diabetes used to be known as insulin-dependent diabetes
mellitus, juvenile diabetes, juvenile-onset diabetes, and
ketosis-prone diabetes.
Contrast with Type 2 Diabetes
Mellitus.
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
The most common form of diabetes mellitus; over 90 percent of people who
have diabetes have Type 2 diabetes. The onset is usually in middle age and
in most cases is thought to be due to some form of insensitivity to the
action of insulin rather than to insulin deficiency. Many of the people who
have this type of diabetes are overweight. Initial treatment is by weight
reduction and excercise with the later addition of an increasing range of
blood glucose lowering drugs. Ultimately it may be neccessary to give
insulin. Increasingly, geneticists are defining specific subgroups such as
Maturity Onset
Diabetes in the Young; but to date, this has not led to any change in
treatment plans.
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Type 2 diabetes used to be called noninsulin-dependent diabetes
mellitus, adult-onset diabetes, maturity-onset diabetes,
ketosis-resistant diabetes, and stable diabetes.
Contrast with Type 1 Diabetes
Mellitus.
