What are you loss if your Diabetes is Uncontrolled ?

Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of diseases that affect how your body uses blood sugar (glucose). Glucose is vital to your health because it’s an important source of energy for the cells that make up your muscles and tissues. It’s also your brain’s main source of fuel.

Type 1 DM results from the pancreas’s failure to produce enough insulin. Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that performs the crucial task of delivering glucose to the different cells. This form was previously referred to as “insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus” (IDDM) or “juvenile diabetes”.

Type 2 DM begins with insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to respond to insulin properly. As the disease progresses a lack of insulin may also develop. This form was previously referred to as “non insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus” (NIDDM) or “adult-onset diabetes”. The primary cause is excessive body weight and not enough exercise.

Here is how uncontrolled diabetes can damage your heart, eyes, kidneys, nerves, teeth and more.

1. Heart

People with diabetes are likely to have a heart attack or heart failure at a younger age, according to study. High blood sugar levels in the heart for a prolonged period can irritate and damage the insides of the arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood to heart.

This triggers an accumulation of cholesterol and fat deposits in the arteries, eventually narrowing them and obstructing blood flow. Diabetes-associated symptoms could also cause heart disease.

2. Kidney

Kidneys contain tiny filters that capture waste material from the blood and discharge it from the body through urine.

The blood that comes for filtration also contains important substances like proteins and red blood cells. Since the kidneys’ filters are so minuscule in size, they do not filter these useful substances and they remain in the blood and benefit the body.

However, diabetes damages the filters over time, causing a complete failure of the filtration process. This, in turn, allows the proteins in the blood to escape to the urine.

Albumin is one such protein that passes through to the urine. A dangerous excess of the same is called microalbuminuria.

Microalbuminuria could indicate an early stage of kidney failure. Diabetic nephropathy (diabetes-induced kidney disease) is the most prevalent cause of end stage kidney disease, according to a 2001 study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. This is when your kidneys fail completely and are no longer able to support you.

It could take years for kidney damage to occur in diabetic patients. High blood pressure, another symptom of diabetes, contributes significantly to the progression of kidney failure.

3. Nurves

Nerves transmit messages from the brain to the different organs in our bodies, allowing us to move, see, hear, breathe and feel.

According to a 2005 study published in American Family Physician. Almost half the people with diabetes are likely to suffer nerve damage. Because nerves run throughout the body, nerve damage can have a variety of symptoms depending on the area of the body that has been affected. This may include your legs, hands, gastrointestinal tract as well as your reproductive organs.

4. Eyes

Diabetes is the leading cause of new vision loss in the U.S. in adults 20 to 74 years old. It can lead to eye problems, some of which can cause blindness if not treated:

Glaucoma
Cataracts
Diabetic retinopathy

Studies show that regular eye exams and timely treatment of these kinds of problems could prevent up to 90% of diabetes-related blindness.

5. Brain

The white matter is the area of the brain responsible for information processing and memory. A loss of white matter can severely undermine a person’s cognitive functions and cause mental decline.

In a 2007 study published in Diabetologia, patients who had Type 1 diabetes underwent a neuropsychological check-up and their brain tissues were taken for examination.

They showed reduced white matter in the brain and performed poorly on design/drawing tests, as well as processed information more slowly.

Type 2 diabetes also affects the person’s mental abilities severely and may hamper their ability to perform cognitive functions. It may cause cerebrovascular disease and vascular cognitive impairment over time.

Cerebrovascular disease obstructs blood flow to the brain. Persistent high blood pressure damages and narrows the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain over time, causing this disease.

When high blood pressure narrows the vessels, it could also cause a mini-stroke or a major stroke. High blood pressure can also rupture the blood vessels, causing a brain hemorrhage.

Vascular cognitive impairment is an Alzheimer’s-like condition that greatly undermines memory, problem solving, and information processing and retention abilities.

6. Teeth

Having diabetes puts you at higher risk for gum disease. Diabetes reduces the person’s ability to fight infections, exposing them to a horde of mouth disorders.

People with diabetes are at a high risk of the following: