Type 2 Diabetes: A Dangerous, Chronic, Debilitating Disease

[N'Zinga Shani]

OneWorld Progressive Institute, Inc Presents: A Health Literacy Blog about:

Diabetes Type 2: A Dangerous, Chronic, Debilitating Disease

 http://oneworldpi.org/blog/  

Type 2 Diabetes Is Not Just a Little Sugar. If not managed effectively it can lead to a number of severe health problems that can greatly affect the quality of one’s life and can lead to premature death.

Diabetes can lead to Vascular Dementia.  Recent studies have shown that types 2 diabetes can lead to mini strokes that can also lead to vascular dementia.  Sometimes diabetes goes undiagnosed for many years; by the time an accurate diagnosis has been made much damage has been done to vital organs.  Read much more about that at the WEBMD link placed here for your convenience.

http://www.webmd.com/stroke/vascular-dementia#1

Type 2 Diabetes is a serious disease that affects many major organs in the body including your heart, blood vessels, nerves, eyes and kidneys. Controlling blood sugar levels can help prevent these complications, or at least reduce the severity of the complications presented.  Active control is important; diabetes is to be taken seriously; it is much more than "a little sugar."

Although long-term complications of diabetes develop gradually, they can eventually be disabling or even life-threatening. Some of the potential complications of diabetes include:

• Heart and blood vessel disease. Diabetes dramatically increases the risk of various cardiovascular problems, including coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, stroke, narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis) and high blood pressure.

• Nerve damage (neuropathy). Excess sugar can injure the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish your nerves, especially in the legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning or pain that usually begins at the tips of the toes or fingers and gradually spreads upward.

• Poorly controlled blood sugar can eventually cause us to lose all sense of feeling in the affected limbs. Damage to the nerves that control digestion can cause problems with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation.  Diabetics can also go into a diabetic coma.  Learn more about diabetic coma here: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetic-coma/basics/... 
  

For men, erectile dysfunction may be an issue. Because Type 2 Diabetes is being diagnosed in young people, this can be a serious problem for young men. Diabetes is no longer a disease of that affects only the elderly. 

There are teenagers with Type 2 Diabetes mostly due to obesity. This statement should not be confused with Type 1 Diabetes which affects young children and can run in families. In Type 1 Diabetes, the body makes very little or no Insulin because the cells in the Pancreas required to make Insulin have been destroyed.  Type 1 Diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes.

Kidney damage (nephropathy). The kidneys contain millions of tiny blood vessel clusters that filter waste from your blood. Diabetes can damage this delicate filtering system. Severe damage can lead to kidney failure or irreversible end-stage kidney disease, which often eventually requires dialysis or a kidney transplant.

•  Eye damage. Diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the retina (diabetic retinopathy), potentially leading to blindness. Diabetes also increases the risk of other serious vision conditions, such as cataracts and glaucoma.

•  Foot damage. Nerve damage in the feet or poor blood flow to the feet increases the risk of various foot complications. Left untreated, cuts and blisters can become serious infections, which may heal poorly. Severe damage might require toe, foot or leg amputation.

•  Hearing impairment. Hearing problems are more common in people with diabetes.

• Skin conditions. Diabetes may leave you more susceptible to skin problems, including bacterial and fungal infections.

• Alzheimer's disease. Type 2 diabetes may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease. The poorer your blood sugar control, the greater the risk appears to be. The exact connection between these two conditions still remains unclear.

Read more about various aspects of diabetes type 2 at this link: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-2-diabetes/basic...

 Learn why controlling diabetes is so critically important by visiting the links below:

Controlling diabetes is nothing that should be undertaken by an amateur. Your diabetes treatment should always be supervised by a licensed physician, a nurse, or someone who has been trained as a diabetes educator. The plan is typically to keep your glucose from extremes of highs and lows. In order to do this many lifestyle changes are necessary.

Controlling what we eat (our diet) is the first plan of attack; we cannot be nonchalant about it.

One very important part of controlling diabetes is eating a proper diet. While it is true that diet, exercise, and medications are always central, proper diet is possibly the most important key. Diabetics must begin the healthy habits now that probably would have helped them avoid becoming diabetics in the first place.

Exercise is always an important part of controlling diabetes.

http://healthcareupdates.com/2014/04/28/controlling-diabetes-is-critically-important-to-you/

American Diabetes Association has a wealth of information about all aspects of diabetes.

American Diabetes Association Announces 2015 Facts and figures about Diabetes

www.diabetes.org › ... › 2014 - Dec 18, 2014 - The American Diabetes Association's federal priorities for 2015 include: Federal Funding ... Prevention: Primary prevention of type 2 diabetes.  

Statistics About Diabetes

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/statistics/ 

Diabetes by Race/Ethnicity -

The rates of diagnosed diabetes by race/ethnic background are:

• 7.6% of non-Hispanic whites
• 9.0% of Asian Americans
• 12.8% of Hispanics
• 13.2% of non-Hispanic blacks
• 15.9% of American Indians/Alaskan Natives

• - Learn more at these links; you can listen in English and Spanish : 

  Listen

  En Español

• Diabetes and Health - Inches and Pounds Matter - A OneWorld Diabetes Education forum:  https://youtu.be/9YXTb22yPB8

• OneWorld     OneWorld Progressive Institute, Inc., is a small group of committed volunteers who produce community information and education television programs on health literacy, education and civic engagement.  We also find good information and post informative blogs about issues we believe shine light and are beneficial to many in our communities.  Learn more about us at our web site: www.oneworldpi.org/  and visit our web health section at: http://www.oneworldpi.org/health/index.html  Please share our information with others.  Watch our informative television programs on your public access channels: Frontier (formerly AT&T), Channel 99, drop down; Charter Communications Chan. 21, and Comcast (Xfinity) Channels 10, 15, 18 & 26. http://goo.gl/k17xvx

[N'Zinga Shani]

Uncontrolled Diabetes has many serious complications that can affect quality of life as well as longevity.  Prevention is more effective than cure. We encourage you to read the complete OneWorld blog post about Type 2 Diabetes.  If you suspect that you are diabetic, and if diabetes runs in your family, please invest the few minutes it will take to read this complete blog.  Type1 Diabetes is different and most often starts in childhood.  Besides insulin, a pancreas transplant is the only way to correct Type 1 Diabetes.  Getting informed is a #1 priority on both types of diabetes.  Your life and the lives of your loved ones are certainly worth a few minutes.