All About Type 2 Diabetes

There is a lot that goes into managing diabetes. Diet, exercise and medication all work together to keep a person’s blood sugar under control. But another big part of managing diabetes is understanding the risks involved. Many people don’t understand the serious health complications that can arise from type 2 Diabetes and they aren’t going to the doctors.

These serious complications include heart disease and stroke. People living with type 2 Diabetes are at a far greater risk of dying from heart disease. It is the leading cause of death.

Many folks with type 2 Diabetes have high blood pressure. If they have not been diagnosed, they may not be taking the proper prescription medication that will help to keep their pressure under control. High blood pressure makes it more difficult for people to fight off what could be dangerous infections.

People with type 2 Diabetes are at a much greater risk of kidney disease and nerve damage. This nerve damage accounts for many leg and foot amputations. If a person has not been treated for type 2 diabetes, they are at serious risk for glaucoma and cataracts. They may also have retinopathy, which can lead to blindness.

If you are overweight and lead a sedentary lifestyle, it is imperative that you are seen by a doctor so they can diagnose if you have type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, you should embark on a healthier lifestyle and reduce these risks even if you test negative for the condition.

Complications From Diabetes

With all the medical advances in the treatment of diabetes mellitus and with people becoming more knowledgeable about their risk of getting the disease, it seems as if we are conquering the battle that is diabetes mellitus. Those who have the disease know how to manage their diabetes by eating healthy, exercising more often and taking their diabetes medication to live longer and healthier lives.

This is good news; however, doctors need to continually underscore how serious diabetes mellitus can be; that it is a very dangerous disease and one that can result in deadly complications.

Diabetes mellitus can severely affect your risk of heart disease including coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis, which is the narrowing of the arteries.

Nerve damage can result from too much sugar damaging the walls of the capillaries. Tingling, burning or numbing sensations, which begin in the toes or fingers and gradually expands upwards can be the result of inadequate managing of one’s blood sugar. This could cause you to lose a sense of feeling in the limbs. If any foot damage is left untreated such as a cut or sore, this can lead to dangerous complications such as an amputation.

If the nerve damage is done to the gastrointestinal tract, a patient could experience diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. If the nerve damages happen in the liver the result could be kidney failure requiring dialysis or a liver transplant.

Diabetes can lead to blindness or other vision conditions such as glaucoma or cataracts. The damage to the blood vessels is called diabetic retinopathy.

Although these conditions develop over the years, it doesn’t make them any less significant. It is so very important not to get caught up in thinking “it won’t happen to me” and begin to curtail the management of your diabetes.  Stay on top of your care!

Diabetes – Effects on eyes. (diabetic retinopathy)

Eyes are profoundly affected in diabetes. Different manifestations of diabetic eyes are in the form of cataracts involving lens, retinopathy involving retina and glaucoma involving intraocular pressure and optic nerve.

Diabetic Cataracts :

Cataracts are white opacities in the lens of the eyes. Formation of AGEs (Advanced Glycation End products) in the eye lens causes premature formation of cataracts. This depends on the duration of the diabetes status. Manifested by halos around lights, blurred vision, vision problems at night, sensitivity to light and glare. The treatment to this is by surgery.

Diabetic Retinopathy :

This is the most common cause of blindness. As a part of microvascular disease process, retinal vessels are affected by thickening of the basement membrane and the number of pericytes around blood vessels which support them, are decreased making the blood vessel wall weak. This weak wall can’t withstand the blood pressure and leading to microaneurysms at one stage of retinopathy. It is divided in to two stages.

Background retinopathy – Presents with retinal edema, exudates, microaneurysms and hemorrhages in retina. Cotton-wool spots due to ischemia of retina. In 1 – 2 months, these cotton-wool spots resolve leaving retinal depression.

Dot and blot hemorrhages are intra-retinal and are due to increased vascular permeability. Splinter hemorrhages are in nerve fiber layer of retina. Macular edema is due to vascular permeability and more common in this phase of retinopathy than proliferative phase.

Proliferative retinopathy – Presents with proliferation of retinal blood vessels and blood vessels in iris and optic nerve. These blood vessel generation is said to be due to release of growth factors. The blood vessels in optic nerve and retina rupture easily giving rise to vitreous hemorrhages. When these hemorrhages become fibrotic, they pull the retina causing retinal detachment.

When to see an opththalmologist?

Every patient need to be their eyes checked as soon as diabetes was diagnosed. And every year checkups and follow-ups are necessary.

Ophthalmologist dilates the pupil and see the inside of the eyes. Diabetics need regular eye checkups. Sometimes other investigations like fluorescein angiography (where certain dye is injected in to blood and the retinal vessels are checked through an opthalmoscope) and optical coherence tomography (that gives high resolution images of retina) are conducted.

Treatment is by good glucose control, hypertention and cholesterol treatment and photocoagulation. Photocoagulation treats the retinal vessels to stop leakage of fluid and blood.  Sometimes vitreous is removed called vitrectomy. This is done to stop retinal detachment and improve the sight.

Glaucoma :

Usually it is of open-angle type. It is of slow nature and presents after significant visual loss occurs. So a high index of suspicion is necessary to diagnose this condition. Here the patient often assumes that he requires new reading glasses. And loss of peripheral vision leading to tunnel vision. Eye pain, blurred vision, halos around light and redness of eyes are some of the manifestations of glaucoma. Topical eye drops and surgery are considered.

[tags]diabetic retinopathy, diabetes, diabetic cataracts, diabetic[/tags]