Diabetes mellitus, or diabetes, is a health disorder that is brought about by abnormal blood sugar levels, due to the body not producing enough insulin hormones, or because the body fails to respond to insulin. Once blood sugar enters the bloodstream, the pancreas begins to manufacture insulin, which plays a major role in moving sugar from the blood stream into the cells, where they are converted into energy. The body utilizes the energy to function normally. However ,if the body fails to adequately manufacture or respond to insulin, sugar accumulates in the blood instead, and in the process, the cells look for other sources of energy.
Diabetes Leads To A Frightening Array of Complications
Diabetes is a frightening disease that leads to a host of equally frightening complications. The complications range from the development of some lipid disorders, which are due to an excessive deposit of fat into the blood and also lead to other ailments such as vascular diseases and high blood pressure. The chronic late complications of the disease include heart problems and high blood pressure, which leads to heart failure and heart attack. Some of the associated complications include kidney problems that eventually lead to kidney failure and nerve damage, which leads to consequences such as diarrhea, nausea, constipation and vomiting.
Chest Pain, Stroke And Even Erectile Dysfunction
Diabetes can also lead to the development of disorders such as angina pectoris or chest pain, kidney failure, poor vision and even blindness, loss of sensation in the hands and feet, amputation, stroke and erectile dysfunction. These complications are more likely to happen in individuals who regularly smoke or already have high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, which usually go along with diabetes. The good thing is that many diabetes complications can actually be prevented by taking concrete steps towards controlling blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as by stopping smoking.
Diabetes Can Also Impair Vision
Diabetes can also lead to serious eye disorders, and among these include diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy causes damage to the retina, or the eye’s innermost layer, which is caused by inadequate or prolonged blood glucose levels. In diabetic retinopathy, the small blood vessels in the eye become narrow and leak, therefore the veins become enlarged and twist, causing the retina to swell. The reduced supply of oxygen to the retina leads to the formation of new blood vessels, which in reality are not stable, and thus bleed.
Diabetes Leads To The Onset Of Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is another major complication of diabetes. Atherosclerosis leads to the hardening of the arteries that lead to the legs. This often result to numbness, pain, muscle pain as well as reduced sensitivity of the foot, leading to injuries. When this happens, the treatment method given aim to reduce the symptoms and renew blood flow to the arteries. Medicines are also used to ease swelling, although in other cases surgery may be needed.
Diabetes Leads To Damaged Nerve Cells
Diabetic neuropathy is one common diabetes complication. It is brought forth by damage in nerve cells. When this happens, the peripheral nerves are the first to become damaged, and this is manifested by painful tingling. The nerves which regulate body functions also become affected, and leads to low blood pressure levels, sexual impotence and heart complications, The symptoms of diabetic neuropathy include lack of sensation in some parts of the body, dizziness, numbness and constipation.
Diabetes is an ailment that is characterized either as Type 1 or Type 2, with each having different causes. Type 2 diabetes is common among older people. Obese or overweight individuals who have a family history of diabetes also face a greater risk of getting type 2 diabetes, which accounts for ninety percent of the entire population of diabetes sufferers worldwide. Type 2 diabetes generally doesn’t appear until the person reaches the mid-forties, and in many cases, the problem is not brought about by the lack of insulin, but is brought about by a defect in the cell wall’s insulin receptors. Because of the defect in the insulin receptors, the body cannot, or will not respond to the insulin that’s manufactured by the pancreas.
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