Take Diabetes Serious

Having high blood sugar as a result of either type of diabetes is associated with a number of long-term medical complications. High blood sugar can damage small blood vessels, leading to blindness, kidney damage, and earlier development of hardening of the arteries (called atherosclerosis) that contributes to heart attacks and stroke. Type 1 diabetes can damage nerves throughout the body, possibly leading to amputation of injured limbs. We’ll discuss more about the complications of diabetes in chapter 9. The good news is that research studies have shown that the development of these complications may be delayed or prevented if you can maintain control of blood sugar levels over time.

What to do?
Okay, you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes (either Type 1 or 2). The next step is to start taking good care of yourself and to learn how to manage all aspects of your diabetes. You’ll learn how to manage the food you eat, the exercise you get, and, in some cases, the medicines you take. This will help your body stabilize blood sugar, and you’ll end up feeling better and avoiding the long-term complications of diabetes.

What should you know?
Your body gets sugar from the food you eat and carries this sugar in your blood to all the cells in your body, where insulin made by your pancreas helps it enter the cells. If the body doesn’t make enough insulin or if the insulin doesn’t work correctly, sugar can’t get into the cells and builds up in the blood to dangerously high levels; the cells become starved for energy, and a person can go into a life-threatening coma. In Type 1 diabetes, the body can’t produce insulin and must get insulin from daily injections or an insulin pump. In Type 2 diabetes, the body loses the ability to use insulin efficiently, so that more and more insulin is needed to move sugar into the cells. This causes the pancreas to create more insulin. Doctors call this insulin resistance. Symptoms for Types 1 and 2 are similar (but Type 2 develops more slowly) and include constant excessive thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger, fatigue, unexplained weight loss, and blurry vision. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system attacks the pancreas and destroys the cells that make insulin. It can’t be prevented. The chance of developing Type 2 diabetes is influenced by race, gender, heredity, puberty, and lifestyle not enough exercise and too much unhealthy food.

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