Pancreas and diseases

A disease of the pancreas may be involved. Diabetes tends to run in families. Some authorities on this disease believe diabetes is present at or shortly after birth, although it does not necessarily show up for many years. They suspect that a person destined to develop diabetes undergoes continuous abnormal and hidden body changes until, finally, the symptoms become apparent. Diabetes occurs most frequently in over- weight people; the islets, trying to make enough insulin for the large amounts of sugar and starch that fat people consume, may be unequal to the task and so falter on the job. An additional discussion of diabetes will be found elsewhere in this book.

This much can be said here: Until about 1923, when insulin was introduced, the only thing that could be done for diabetics was to use diet. Today, with insulin, diabetics can live virtually normal, active lives. More recently, too, other agents, taken by mouth, have been employed for some diabetics. The Thyroid Gland The thyroid, in front of the throat below the Adam's apple and just above the breastbone, is roughly U-shaped, each end of the V flaring out to a lobe about the size of a big toe. The gland is extremely important for all-round health of the body. It regulates the rate at which the body utilizes oxygen; it also controls the rate at which various organs function and the speed with which the body utilizes food.

 In effect, the thyroid, through its secretions, acts as a kind of thermo- stat. Every cell in the body is like a tiny power plant, burning food and setting energy free, some of the energy coming off as heat. Thyroid hormone can be said to determine how hot the fires get in the cells. The term "metabolism" refers to the fires-the speed of activity in the cells. An overactive thyroid is a thermostat set too high. Food is burned up almost as fast as it is eaten, and even some body tissue may be burned up.

Loss of weight with excessive appetite is a symptom. Too much thyroid secretion produces a general speed-up so that the patient becomes overactive and nervous; the heart may palpitate, and there may be sleeping difficulty. In some cases, the eyes bulge and have a staring look. Today, of course, several methods of treatment are available for hyperthyroidism. 

Part of the gland may be removed surgically. In some cases, medications that block thyroid activity may be used. In others, radioactive iodine may be employed; it is picked up by the thyroid, and the radioactive particles destroy some of the gland to reduce the secretions. With too little thyroid activity, hypothyroidism, food is not burned fast enough; much of it is changed to fats causing weight gain. A sluggish thyroid also makes the patient drowsy, slow moving, easily fatigued.