Diabetes - Symptoms, Risk factors and Treatment

Diabetes is a condition in which your blood glucose levels remain higher than normal because your pancreas is unable to secrete a hormone called insulin, or your receptors have become insensitive to it. Insulin is a hormone that helps in the absorption of sugar from the blood to the tissues. A high level of sugar circulating in the blood is damaging for your organs. Therefore, the management of diabetes is quite an essential task to do. The more you keep your blood sugar levels monitored and under control, the more you will remain safe from its complications. If you do not do that, many life-threatening, and vision-threatening diseases can attack you. 

Living With Diabetes

Patients suffering from diabetes must take good care of themselves. If you are one of them, ensure that you eat healthily, cut down sugar intake, monitor your blood sugar levels frequently, take medicines on time, and visit your endocrinologist frequently. 

Your blood needs to get rid of excess sugar to keep you healthy and fit. While in diabetes, if you do not take medicines on time, your blood sugar will remain raised and can be dangerous for your blood vessels, eyes, kidney, and foot. It can also increase the risk of heart attacks, stroke, and impairment of sexual desires, especially in men. Therefore, people suffering from diabetes need to get some tests done frequently to ensure they are doing good and for early detection of any health condition.

HbA1c

If you are diabetic, or at risk of it, you need to get an HbA1c test done at least twice a year. It will tell you about your blood sugar levels for the previous two to three months. Through it, your healthcare provider will get an insight into how well are you controlling your blood sugar in the last two to three months. On the results of the test, they can further decide your treatment. Try to keep your HbA1c levels around 7%. 

Blood Pressure 

The normal range of blood pressure is 120/80mm of Hg. Diabetes leaves you at risk of getting high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, which can lead to stroke and heart attack. Therefore, to prevent hypertension and for its early detection, you must get your blood pressure checked often. Since hypertension has no such signs and symptoms, it is necessary to keep an eye on it.

Blood Cholesterol Levels

High blood sugar makes you prone to heart diseases. Therefore, you must get your blood cholesterol levels checked for at least two years. If your blood cholesterol levels remain altered more than normal, get them checked more frequently. High cholesterol in your blood can deposit in your arteries and can clog them up. That can eventually lead to a stroke or heart attack.

Foot Exam

Diabetes causes tingling, numbness, and loss of sensation in your feet. Therefore, you must go to a primary healthcare provider to get a foot examination done. The doctor would check the reflexes of your feet and will get an insight into how much you can feel the sensation on your feet. Moreover, they will examine your feet for calluses, sores, infections, and ulcers. Altered blood supply and loss of sensation in your feet can make you prone to foot infections, which can lead to access, hence amputation. Since no one would want to get their foot amputation done, get your foot exam done frequently, and control your blood sugar levels.

Eye exams

You must visit an ophthalmologist frequently if you are diabetic. They would check your eyes for possible diabetic retinopathy- a condition that damage your eyes due to high blood sugar. Moreover, diabetes can also cause glaucoma and cataract. Your ophthalmologist would also check your eyes for these conditions.

Kidney Functions Test 

By the time, diabetes affects your kidneys. Your kidneys are there to filter excrete waste material out from your body. When excess sugar is present in your blood, your kidneys work to excrete them out, which eventually causes damage to them. Therefore it is important to keep your blood sugar levels in control with regular kidney functions test.

Dental Exams 

Get regular dental exams done if you are diabetic because it can cause infections and inflammation of your gums, which can also lead to a tooth abscess. To avoid complications, get a dental evaluation done every six months. Also, practice self-care tips like proper brushing twice a day, flossing, and mouthwash.

Complications of Diabetes 

Skin diseases

People with diabetes may get repeated skin infections and it takes quite a long to hear than the other normal person. Usually, it is the first sign with which people report. They may get repeated viral, fungal, and bacterial infections of the skin.

Cardiovascular diseases

Uncontrolled diabetes can make you prone to hypertension, stroke, and heart attack. Also, it may damage the blood vessels and nerves, hence causing neuropathies. The person may feel numbness in the legs, due to which their sensation is altered. They may not feel the sensation, which makes them prone to injuries as they can not sense the danger. Moreover, high blood sugar levels make it quite difficult for the wound to heal. All this becomes a vicious cycle, that can cause a life-threatening condition or lead to amputation due to infection. People having diabetes are ten times more at risk of getting their toe or leg amputated as compared to those who are not. However, keeping your blood sugar levels under control can help you in keeping yourself healthy and active.

Visual disturbances 

Since diabetes affects your nerves, it can also affect the functioning of the optic nerve that plays a major role in our visual perception. Diabetes can put you at risk of getting cataracts, glaucoma, or diabetic retinopathy, hence leading to blindness. However, you can prevent that by getting regular eye exams, that help in the early detection of the condition. 

Kidney disease

Our kidney is responsible for excreting the waste materials out of our body. However, it is not made to excrete sugar out in the form of urine. But when it finds a high concentration of sugar in the blood, it starts secreting it to get rid of it. Due to this, its delicate filtration capabilities get damaged, hence leading to kidney disease. Therefore, you must keep in mind that if you do not keep your blood sugar levels under control, it may eventually lead to kidney failure, which is a life-threatening condition.  However, regular monitoring of serum creatinine can help in the early detection of kidney disease. And you can prevent it by keeping your blood sugar levels under control. 

Gums diseases and tooth infection

High circulating blood sugar levels leave at the risk of catching infections. Also, they may cause infections of the gum and tooth. Therefore, you must visit the dentist often and get a regular examination done. Also, you must make a routine of brushing your teeth twice a day along with regular mouth washing and flossing.