Diabetes
Diabetes can cause many complications. Acute complications
(hypoglycemia, ketoacidosis or nonketotic hyperosmolar coma) may occur if
the disease is not adequately controlled. Serious long-term complications
include cardiovascular disease (doubled risk), chronic renal failure, retinal
damage (which can lead to blindness), nerve damage (of several kinds), and
microvascular damage, which may cause impotence and poor healing. Poor healing
of wounds, particularly of the feet, can lead to gangrene, which may require
amputation. Adequate treatment of diabetes, as well as increased emphasis
on blood pressure control and lifestyle factors (such as not smoking and keeping
a healthy body weight), may improve the risk profile of most aforementioned
complications. In the developed world, diabetes is the most significant cause
of adult blindness in the non-elderly, the leading cause of non-traumatic
amputation in adults, and diabetic nephropathy is the main illness requiring
renal dialysis in the United States.
The diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, and many cases of
type 2, is usually prompted by recent-onset symptoms of excessive urination
(polyuria) and excessive thirst (polydipsia), often accompanied by weight
loss. These symptoms typically worsen over days to weeks; about a quarter
of people with new type 1 diabetes have developed some degree of diabetic
ketoacidosis by the time the diabetes is recognized. The diagnosis of other
types of diabetes is usually made in other ways. These include ordinary health
screening; detection of hyperglycemia during other medical investigations;
and secondary symptoms such as vision changes or unexplainable fatigue. Diabetes
is often detected when a person suffers a problem that is frequently caused
by diabetes, such as a heart attack, stroke, neuropathy, poor wound healing
or a foot ulcer, certain eye problems, certain fungal infections, or delivering
a baby with macrosomia or hypoglycemia.
source : wikipedia