Over time, high blood sugar can cause these blood vessels to get narrow and clogged. As your kidneys get less blood, less waste and fluid is taken out of your body. Kidney disease that is caused by diabetes is called “diabetic kidney disease.” It is the number one cause of kidney failure in the United States.
The most common long-term diabetes-related health problems are: damage to the large blood vessels of the heart, brain and legs (macrovascular complications) damage to the small blood vessels, causing problems in the eyes, kidneys, feet and nerves (microvascular complications).
With diabetes, your body doesn't make enough insulin or can't use it as well as it should. When there isn't enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.
Diabetes is a serious disease that can affect your eyes, heart, nerves, feet and kidneys. Understanding how diabetes affects your body is important. It can help you follow your treatment plan and stay as healthy as possible.
High blood glucose from diabetes can damage your blood vessels and the nerves that control your heart and blood vessels. Over time, this damage can lead to heart disease. People with diabetes tend to develop heart disease at a younger age than people without diabetes.
Skin. A skin issue is often the first sign that you have diabetes, and most issues are caused by damaged blood vessels.
We believe that it is an auto-immune disorder where the body mistakenly destroys insulin producing cells in the pancreas. Typically, the pancreas secretes insulin into the bloodstream. The insulin circulates, letting sugar enter your cells.
Each kidney is made up of millions of tiny filters called nephrons. Over time, high blood sugar from diabetes can damage blood vessels in the kidneys as well as nephrons so they don't work as well as they should. Many people with diabetes also develop high blood pressure, which can damage kidneys too.
Diabetes raises your risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. In this condition, fat builds up in your liver even if you drink little or no alcohol. At least half of people living with type 2 diabetes have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
Diabetes occurs in four stages: Insulin resistance, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes with vascular complications.
Stage 1 is defined as the presence of β-cell autoimmunity as evidenced by the presence of two or more islet autoantibodies with normoglycemia and is presymptomatic, stage 2 as the presence of β-cell autoimmunity with dysglycemia and is presymptomatic, and stage 3 as onset of symptomatic disease.
Some of the hormone-producing cells in the pancreas, the beta cells, produce insulin when they are stimulated by sugar.
Common symptoms of diabetes: Urinating often. Feeling very thirsty. Feeling very hungry—even though you are eating.
People With Diabetes Can Live Longer by Meeting Their Treatment Goals. Life expectancy can be increased by 3 years or in some cases as much as 10 years. At age 50, life expectancy- the number of years a person is expected to live- is 6 years shorter for people with type 2 diabetes than for people without it.
Given the importance of the pancreas as an organ, you might think living without one is impossible – like trying to live without a heart. But you can in fact live without a pancreas.
Insulinoma is the opposite of diabetes, where the body experiences elevated blood sugar levels. Another rare cause of hyperinsulinemia is nesidioblastosis. Nesidioblastosis occurs when the pancreas produces too many cells that make insulin. The condition also leads to low blood sugar.
There's no cure yet, but our scientists are working on a ground-breaking weight management study, to help people put their type 2 diabetes into remission. Remission is when blood glucose (or blood sugar) levels are in a normal range again. This doesn't mean diabetes has gone for good.
If you have a mother, father, sister, or brother with diabetes, you are more likely to get diabetes yourself. You are also more likely to have prediabetes. Talk to your doctor about your family health history of diabetes.
Even if your diabetes has been well controlled for years, the condition can still worsen over time, meaning, you may have to adjust your treatment plan more than once.
Normal Results
If you had a fasting blood glucose test, a level between 70 and 100 mg/dL (3.9 and 5.6 mmol/L) is considered normal. If you had a random blood glucose test, a normal result depends on when you last ate. Most of the time, the blood glucose level will be 125 mg/dL (6.9 mmol/L) or lower.
There is no cure for type 2 diabetes. But it may be possible to reverse the condition to a point where you do not need medication to manage it and your body does not suffer ill effects from having blood sugar levels that are too high.