If you have type 2 diabetes, you need to take care of your health and have regular checkups with your doctor. This is because having type 2 diabetes increases your risk of other health complications, often silently, without symptoms, as diseases take root in the body that you don't even realize.
In this article, you will learn about the various health complications caused by diabetes, as well as what you can do about it.
Some of the health complications of diabetes include:
- Heart problems and brain stroke
- Decreased sense of touch and pain (sign of nerve damage)
- Foot problems, such as sores, wounds and infections
- Vision loss and blindness
- Miscarriage (loss or death of fetus) and stillbirth
- Kidney problems
- Sexual problems (absence of erection, i.e. inability to harden or maintain an erection)
If you keep your blood sugar levels under control and follow your doctor's advice regularly, the risk of such complications can be greatly reduced.
Blood sugar test (HbA1C test) every 3 months.
This test measures the average amount of sugar in your blood. This way you can determine how close your sugar level is to the normal range.
This test should be done every 3 months if you are newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Later, if your diabetes is under control, this test can be done even after 6 months.
Checkup once a year
Heart, cholesterol and kidney tests
Diabetes increases your risk of heart disease, kidney disease and stroke, so the sooner high blood pressure and high cholesterol are caught and treated, the better. These diseases silently nest in your body. Symptoms of these diseases usually do not appear before they become serious, so these problems are not detected until they are tested.
Get your blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels (the amount of fat in the blood) checked at least once a year.
If you are already taking medication for high blood pressure or cholesterol, continue taking that medication.
Apart from these, diabetes makes the negative effects of smoking on the heart worse, so diabetic patients should especially avoid smoking.
Watch our video to learn how to quit smoking:
Loss of sensation or sensation in the hands and feet
Tell your doctor if you notice any unusual changes in your hands or feet.
Diabetes can damage your nerves, called 'diabetic neuropathy'. It usually affects the legs, especially the soles of the feet. However, this damage can also affect other parts of the body, resulting in the following problems in the affected area:
- Paralysis or numbness
- the pain
- Tingling
- sexual problems
- Constipation or diarrhea
Early treatment can greatly prevent this damage.
foot care
Check your feet every day, especially your feet. Take care of your feet regularly, noting any abnormalities.
Diabetes can cause paralysis to any part of the foot by reducing the blood supply to your feet. If there is an injury or wound on the leg, it needs to be healed very quickly. Sometimes these wounds or sores do not heal properly, and if any part of the leg is injured or paralyzed, it is not easily understood. This can lead to problems like foot ulcers or infections.
So you have to be aware of whether you are getting proper sensation in your two feet, i.e. whether you are able to feel touch, pain, cold-hot etc. Along with this, you should regularly check if any part of the leg is paralyzed. It is also important to take care of any kind of wounds, ulcers or infections on the feet.
In order to avoid these problems it is important to follow some minor points such as:
- Keeping feet, especially feet, clean and dry – this will reduce your risk of infection
- Avoid going out barefoot to avoid cuts or scratches
- Well-fitting, i.e. wearing shoes that are the right size – not too tight or too tight, and not too loose.
Contact your doctor immediately if you notice any unusual changes in your feet, such as:
- thorny
- Sores or wounds
- broken leg
- Blisters
- Pain or tingling in the legs
- Numbness of feet and toes, i.e. loss of feeling there
Get your feet checked by a doctor every year.
A foot wound, sore, or infection that is not treated quickly can lead to gangrene, requiring surgical amputation of that part of the foot or the entire foot.
eye exam
Diabetes can damage the blood vessels in the eye, leading to vision problems (diabetic retinopathy), and even blindness. So every year eye examination should be done to see if the eye blood vessels are normal.
All diabetics 12 years of age and older should have an eye exam once a year.
Regular eye exams can catch your eye problems before they affect vision. Diabetic retinopathy can be caught earlier with a short 30-minute screening by looking at the back of the eye, making treatment more effective. Vision problems can be prevented if eye blood vessel problems are treated promptly.
See a doctor immediately if you notice any unusual changes in your vision, including the following 3 problems:
- Blurred vision, especially at night,
- floaters,
- Increased sensitivity to light.
Pregnancy and diabetes
Consult your doctor if you are planning to have a child You can safely conceive and give birth with type 2 diabetes But for that, you must have a special doctor's check-up regularly during pregnancy.
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