Our bodies rely on a vast, complex chain of chemicals and processes to work normally, and too much or too little of any of them can be harmful over time. Blood glucose (or blood sugar) is a good example: it results from the foods and drinks we ingest, which, in normal proportions, help keep our cells energized, with excess removed by a hormone called insulin.
However, when that balance is lost, you run the risk of conditions like hyperglycemia and eventually Type 2 diabetes. This common illness can be controlled if managed properly, but if it goes untreated or poorly treated, it can lead to several life-threatening complications.
Let’s find out more about how this condition develops, what serious problems can happen, and learn how to prevent them. Melanchton Mangoba, MD, and his experienced medical staff help Riverside, California, residents deal with many chronic conditions, including diabetes and its many complications.
When you eat or drink (primarily carbohydrates), the blood glucose you get from it moves through the bloodstream and travels to the cells that need it, and in healthy bodies, insulin is created by the pancreas in enough amounts to remove the glucose you don’t need.
Hyperglycemia (the scientific term for high blood sugar) results from too much glucose and leads to either your body being unable to produce enough insulin to work effectively or you developing a resistance to the hormone. If you deal with hyperglycemia for long enough, it becomes diabetes, and the damage can reach just about anywhere in the body.
Estimates indicate that as many as 22.8% of adults (around 8.7 million people) have undiagnosed diabetes, and without treatment, or if without good treatment of the illness, the risk of serious complications becomes more severe and includes problems like:
Diabetes can create many problems in the bloodstream, leading to illnesses such as stroke, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and peripheral artery disease (PAD).
Diabetes can hurt your body’s filtration system by causing chronic kidney disease and eventually leading to your kidneys ceasing to work at all.
Harm to your nerves comes in the form of diabetic neuropathy, causing numbness and tingling in your extremities, limbs, and moves upwards as it worsens. It also causes vomiting, diarrhea, sexual dysfunction, constipation, and dizziness.
When the damage reaches your eyes, diabetic retinopathy causes the formation of weakened, abnormal blood vessels in one or both of your retinas that rupture and leak. This leads to glaucoma, cataracts, and, without proper care, blindness.
When diabetes reaches your feet, the blood vessels and nerve damage create numbness, tingling, loss of sensation, and ulcers. If ulcers become bad enough, they can lead to gangrene and eventually amputation.
Lack of blood glucose control eventually affects cognition, causing the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
The good news is that these complications don’t develop overnight; they can take years to form and cause damage to your body. This means once your diabetes is confirmed, we can work to control the disease and prevent these problems from ever occurring.
This means proper insulin control, maintaining a healthy weight, modifying your diet, regular exercise, and following the medication regimen prescribed to you as closely as possible.
Diabetes can do extensive damage over time, but with routine care and preventive measures, we can make sure this disease stays under control. To find out how we can help with your problems with diabetes, call 951-357-6032 or use online booking to make an appointment with Dr. Mangoba and his team today.
