Reymundo Larrasquitu

Dr. Washington
SPCH 1311
9/18/16
The Curse of Diabetes
Good evening class, I hope everybody has had a wonderful day. Well the main
definition of diabetes is followed as a disease in the body that is unable to use or
store glucose. Which leads to glucose backing up in the bloodstream causing a
persons blood sugar to rise too high. I wanted to inform you all of this curse
because it is something that is personal to me and my family. My speech is mainly
explaining how diabetes has affected the world today through interesting facts,
accurate statistics, and from second hand experience.
There are two major types of diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the body
completely stops producing any insulin, a hormone that allows the body to use the
glucose found in foods for energy. This form of diabetes usually develops in children
or young adults, but can occur at any age. Type 2 diabetes results when the body
doesnt produce enough insulin and/or is unable to insulin properly. This usually
occurs in people who are over 40, overweight, and have a family history of diabetes,
which is increasing in younger people. Symptoms of diabetes are being very
dehydrated, frequent urination, weight loss, increased hunger, blurry vision,
irritability, numbness in hands or feet, wounds that dont heal, and extreme
unexplained fatigue. In some cases, there are no symptoms which happens at times
with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes in general can affect many part of the body an is
associated with serious complications, such as heart disease, stroke, blindness,
kidney failure, and lower-limb amputation.
According to the Diabetes Research institute, 29.1 million people, which is
9.3% of the U.S. population, have diabetes including 8.1 million who have not yet
been diagnosed, involving all ages. And about 208,000 people younger than 20
have been diagnosed with diabetes (type 1 or type 2). This represents .25% of all
people in this age group. The incidence of having type 1 diabetes is significantly
higher in people under the age 20. Statistics say from 2008-2009 study of 23,525
youths with diabetes, 78% were newly-diagnosed with type 1 diabetes compared to
the 22% who were newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Finally to the personal part of how Ive personally seen diabetes affect my
family and friends. One victim is my grandfather who has been diagnosed with type
2 diabetes for as long as I could remember. He has the symptoms with extreme
fatigue, increased hunger and numbness in feet. He has managed with the curse
and my family have all come to support him and whoever else in our family that
havent yet been diagnosed with the disease. And a friend that I knew from middle
school who had type 1 since he was a toddler has had a rough life. Because of the
disease his weight loss and extreme fatigue showed greatly. He has fainted twice

because of missing his daily insulin shots and had life or death situations because of
his curse.
In conclusion, I believe that Diabetes is not just a disease but a curse that
has affected the world drastically and hopefully will have a cure for the next
generations generation to come. Because it needs to been resolved or we might
never fix the other diseases involved with it.
Reymundo Larrasquitu
Dr. Washington
SPCH 1311
9/18/16

Bibliography
"Diabetes Fact Sheet." Diabetesresearch.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

"Diabetes - Issues for Children and Teenagers." Department of Health & Human Services.
Department of Health & Human Services, 30 June 2014. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

"General Diabetes Facts and Information." Diabetes Facts & Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept.
2016.

ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

Reymundo Larrasquitu