Controlling diabetes involves managing one’s diet and level of physical activity. This is not something most people enjoy doing. It is easy to cheat on diet and equally easy to skip the exercise. However, if people who have diabetes aren’t proactive, they can invite many undesirable consequences.

In comparison with the non-diabetic population, diabetics are more likely to develop kidney diseases, become blind, have a heart attack or have a stroke.

Six out of every ten diabetics are vulnerable to nerve damage often referred to as diabetic neuropathy. While there are many types of nerve damage such as damage to nerves that control walking, damage to autonomic nerves and damage to sensory nerves, diabetes usually damages sensory nerves.

This nerve damage most often occurs in the legs and feet although sometimes it is felt in the arms. When it happens, the person feels a tingling sensation, pain or numbness or perhaps all three. With less feeling in the limbs, it is easy to injure a foot without being aware of it. Sometimes the nerve damage in the foot causes an ulcer and the foot has to be amputated.

Nephropathy or kidney damage is another complication arising from diabetes. Your kidneys contain blood vessels that filter waste from your blood and excrete it in your urine. By the time any symptoms arise, the disease is usually in an advanced stage. Symptoms are: swelling of ankles, feet, and hands; dry, itchy skin; high blood pressure; fatigue; nausea and vomiting; poor appetite, shortness of breath and fatigue. Since these are also symptoms of other diseases, screening is necessary to identify the presence of kidney disease. Lack of treatment can lead to kidney failure and diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure in the United States.

Diabetes can also cause eye injury or retinopathy.

The blood vessels in the retina are easily damaged by high blood sugar levels. Retinopathy is quite common in patients who have had diabetes for more than twenty years. It is important to have regular eye examinations to identify problems before they become serious. There are various treatments that can improve vision especially in the early stages. However, in some cases this may not happen. Amongst American adults, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness.

Diabetics are at a much higher risk for developing heart problems than the rest of the population. They are particularly vulnerable to asymptomatic heart attacks or heart attacks that occur suddenly without warning. Diabetics can reduce their chances of heart problems by keeping a healthy weight, following a proper diet, and exercising regularly.

Diabetes also interferes with the function of your immune system. It lowers the ability of your immune cells to fight off invaders which increase your risk of developing various infections.

In the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, long-term studies have been conducted to explore the relationship between blood sugar levels and the danger of complications. These studies all concluded that those people who did the best job of managing their blood sugar levels had the least problems with complications. So the key factor is the patient. Those diabetics who take the most active role in tightly controlling their blood sugar levels are most likely to either avoid or reduce the severity of complications.

By: Brenda Williams