Hypoglycemia | Late complications | Chronic complications | Prevention of complications
Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia is a drop in blood sugar to low levels (below 2.8 mmol / L). If the sugar level reaches a critical point, then the patient may lose consciousness. This condition is possible with both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
This is a condition that requires an immediate response!
Hypoglycemia can be caused by:
- incorrectly calculated dose of insulin or sugar tablets;
- the use of alcoholic beverages;
- excess physical activity.
This is a very dangerous condition for a diabetic, which can be recognized by the following symptoms:
- dizziness begins;
- there is a feeling of hunger;
- there is sudden weakness;
- hands tremble;
- the skin turns pale;
- an attack of cold sweat appears.
If hypoglycemia is found at night, nightmares can be seen in a dream. A person sleeps restlessly: he begins to scream, shudder, and talk inarticulate words.
Did you have that? Have you experienced nocturnal hypoglycemia? It is a very unpleasant condition.
Therefore, it is imperative to wake up the patient if he does not wake up himself and give him something sweet to drink. If assistance is not provided in a timely manner, there is a risk that the person will fall into a coma.
Diabetics need to know the causes and symptoms of hypoglycemia in order to take a portion of easily digestible carbohydrates on time.
In the next article, we’ll take a look at which foods are highly digestible.
Late complications
The late effects of diabetes develop slowly over several years of the course of the disease. Their danger is that they gradually worsen our condition. They develop in type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes, as well as in children. Read here what diabetes is and how to identify it in its early stages.
Late manifestations of diabetes include:
- Retinopathy. This is a lesion of the retina of the eye, which entails its detachment. Gradually leads to complete loss of vision.
- Angiopathy. This is a violation of blood vessels, they become brittle. There is a tendency to thrombosis and atherosclerosis.
- Polyneuropathy. This is a loss of sensitivity to pain and heat in the upper and lower extremities. It is accompanied by numbness, burning of the hands and feet, which causes many injuries.
- Diabetic foot. This is a complication in which ulcers, abscesses, and necrotic areas appear on the patient’s feet and legs. We will talk about diabetic foot in a separate article.
Chronic complications
Diabetes mellitus gradually destroys our entire body and leads to the appearance of chronic complications. Suffering from diabetes:
- Vessels. They become brittle which significantly increases the risk of developing vascular diseases, such as heart attack, stroke.
- Kidneys. They gradually lose the ability to perform their functions, and chronic renal failure develops.
- Skin. Due to a decrease in blood supply, the risk of developing trophic ulcers increases, especially on the legs.
- Nervous system. Undergoes significant changes. People with diabetes often suffer from severe chronic pain.
How to prevent the development of complications
Such terribly dangerous complications can await us if we do not get diabetes under control in time. After all, the main reason for development is a high blood sugar level, which lasts for a long time. There is not a single organ that is not affected by diabetes.
Provided that diabetes is well compensated, proper nutrition and regular self-monitoring, to a certain extent, there are guarantees that complications will not develop at all or appear at later stages. You can read about the stages of diabetes here.
Therefore, the main conditions in the prevention of the development and progression of the disease are:
- compliance with normal blood sugar levels;
- careful self-control;
- timely examination of specialists.
So, an ophthalmologist should be visited 1-2 times a year. “What for?” — you ask. After all, there are no complaints about the eyes. You have no vision problems. Fine! But, at this time, the chance to identify the complication in time will have already been missed.
Examination by a neurologist should be carried out at least once a year, and with the appearance of complications — more often. After all, we diabetics suffer from the whole nervous system.
Therefore, the main treatment for complications is to maintain normal blood sugar levels! Our entire “life” depends on this.
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