Diabetes is not scary, but these 6 complications are extremely harmful and you need to pay attention to them!

If there is a disease that can cause damage to multiple organs and tissues in the body, induce more than 100 complications, and in extremely serious cases, the patient may even die from the complications, this disease is diabetes.

Diabetes is a lifelong metabolic disease caused by multiple causes and characterized by chronic high blood sugar. Although high blood sugar is often the main feature, its scary part is not the abnormally high blood sugar itself, but the damage to multiple target organs and tissues induced by high blood sugar. It is the root cause of blindness and amputation!

Today I will introduce to you the following 6 types of diabetes complications that may pose a serious threat to patients’ health and may even be life-threatening!

1Diabetic nephropathy

This is one of the most important complications for patients with diabetes. The incidence rate is increasing year by year. It has become the second leading cause of end-stage renal disease, second only to various glomerulonephritis. It is common in patients with a course of disease of more than 10 years and causes great harm. It is an important cause of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease (renal failure).

2Diabetic foot

Lower limb ulcers, infections and/or deep tissue damage due to combined neuropathy and varying degrees of vascular disease are the main causes of non-traumatic amputation in diabetes. In mild cases, the skin may become dry and cold; in severe cases, ulcers and gangrene may occur.

3. Diabetic cardiovascular disease

Microvascular disease, myocardial disease, cardiac autonomic neuropathy and coronary heart disease are the leading causes of death in diabetic patients. Coronary heart disease is the main macrovascular complication of diabetes. Studies have shown that the risk of death from coronary heart disease in diabetic patients is 3 to 5 times higher than that of non-diabetic patients.

4Diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common microvascular complications of diabetes and the main cause of blindness among people of working age. In the early stages, there may be no conscious symptoms in the eyes. As the disease progresses, there may be varying degrees of vision loss, black shadows flying in front of the eyes (commonly known as floaters), or visual distortion, or even blindness.

5Diabetic peripheral neuropathy

It refers to the peripheral nerve dysfunction that occurs in diabetic patients, including spinal nerve, cranial nerve and autonomic neuropathy, after excluding other conditions. Among them, distal symmetric diabetic polyneuropathy (DSPN) is the most representative. The prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes is 8.4% to 61.8%. In type 1 diabetes with a course of more than 20 years, the prevalence of distal symmetric diabetic polyneuropathy is as high as 20%. The clinical manifestations of diabetic peripheral neuropathy are diverse, and patients may experience sensory abnormalities, such as numbness, tingling, coldness, burning sensation, etc. In addition, pain manifestations are also common in clinical practice.

6 Diabetic cerebrovascular disease

This complication is caused by lesions of intracranial large vessels and microvessels due to diabetes. According to statistics, 20% to 40% of patients with type 2 diabetes will develop cerebrovascular disease, mainly manifested as cerebral arteriosclerosis, ischemic cerebrovascular disease, cerebral hemorrhage, brain atrophy, etc. It is one of the main causes of death in diabetic patients.

After suffering from diabetes, the first thing to do is to prevent complications. Diabetic patients should go to the hospital for relevant examinations regularly, which is not only conducive to blood sugar control, but also can actively prevent the occurrence of complications and strive for early detection and early treatment. Screening mainly includes blood biochemical examination, glycosylated hemoglobin, urine routine, urine microalbumin, electrocardiogram, fundus examination, neuropathy screening, vascular B-ultrasound, etc.

References:

[1] Ma Jing, Liu Huanning, Qin Xinyuan, et al. Effect of self-protection awareness on complications in elderly patients with diabetic foot[J]. Hebei Medicine, 2023, 45(18): 2851-2854.

[2] Li Dongjuan. Blood glucose control and microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes and their influencing factors[J]. Chinese Journal of Health Engineering, 2023, 22(03): 361-363.