How Diabetes Can Jeopardize Your Overall Health

You can live a long, healthy life with diabetes. In fact, people with diabetes are living longer and with fewer complications than they did 20 years ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Why? Because they’re taking their health into their own hands, making lifestyle changes to improve their diabetes and well-being instead of relying on medications.

At Weston Medical Health & Wellness, our medical director, Dr. Andrea Bretal, focuses on helping you make lifestyle changes that lead to better health, whether you’re struggling with obesity or diabetes.

Here, we want to talk to you about how diabetes can jeopardize your overall health and what you can do about it.

About your diabetes

If you have diabetes, it means you have too much sugar — aka glucose — in your blood. This glucose comes from food and serves as the preferred source of energy for all the cells in your body.

When you have diabetes and too much glucose in your blood, you have a problem with insulin. Insulin is a hormone made in your pancreas that helps usher the glucose from your blood into your cells.

With diabetes, you either don’t make any insulin (Type 1 diabetes) or very little insulin, or your cells no longer respond to the insulin (Type 2 diabetes).

The excess glucose in your blood damages your blood vessels and organs. This damage is how diabetes jeopardizes your health.

Diabetes health complications

Having diabetes puts you at risk of developing other health issues because of how the elevated glucose damages your body.

Common diabetes-related health complications include:

Eye diseases like cataracts, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy
Heart disease
Poor circulation
Kidney disease
Gum disease
Nerve problems that cause pain or numbness in the feet
Infections
Poor healing of wounds

Diabetes plus another chronic illness further complicates your health. For example, diabetes plus high blood pressure puts you at even greater risk of developing eye problems or kidney disease.

Taking charge of your diabetes

Yes, diabetes can jeopardize your health, but you can take steps to minimize the damage and related problems. The key to taking charge of your diabetes and your health is making lifestyle changes that keep blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible. This includes eating a balanced and varied diet and getting regular exercise.

Getting to and maintaining a healthy weight also significantly improves your blood glucose levels, your diabetes, and your health. If you’re struggling to reach your weight goals, we can help.

You also need to monitor your blood glucose levels, hemoglobin A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. We can keep tabs on these numbers through our primary care services.

Diabetes can affect your overall health and put you at higher risk of developing other diseases, but it doesn’t have to. Let us help you take control of your diabetes and your health. Call our office in Weston, Florida, or click the online booking button to request an appointment with our diabetes expert.