The Importance of Addressing Diabetes
People rarely think of their health until it is lost or threatened.
If you have diabetes or are a pre-diabetic you have a health management issue. Many people fail to deal with their condition early enough because this is a quiet disease rarely causing problems in the beginning stage. However, with long-standing uncontrolled high blood glucose levels, the damage is done leading to vision complications, heart attacks, strokes, and foot ulcers that often lead to leg amputation.
Some patients may not understand that many complications of diabetes stem from one primary issue: the havoc that high blood sugar, also called hyperglycemia, causes for the body’s blood vessels. Blood brings oxygen to every living cell in the body through the vascular system, and when blood vessels aren’t working properly the body will suffer.
Diabetes is a risk factor for vascular disease, which causes damage to the arteries of the retina, kidneys, heart, brain, and to the arteries of the legs and feet. Those with diabetes should have routine preventative care: primary care visits, aggressive glucose control, evaluation for complications of vascular disease, and the appointments with various specialists such as ophthalmologists, nephrologists, vascular surgeons and podiatric specialists.
