What are the complications of chronic diabetes?

These diabetic complications are associated with vascular diseases and are usually classified as small vascular diseases involving the eyes, kidneys and nerves, while large vascular diseases include the heart and blood vessels Diabetes speeds up the hardening of the arteries and causes coronary artery disease, stroke and limb pain due to a lack of blood supply The main eye complications related to diabetes are called diabetic retinopathy This retinopathy occurs in people who have diabetes for at least five years Small blood vessels in the back of the eye can cause protein and blood to leak into the retina These vascular diseases can also lead to small aneurysms and fragile cardiovascular formation Spontaneous bleeding from the cardiovascular system can cause retinal scarring and detachment, which can weaken vision To treat diabetic retinopathy, we need to use laser to destroy and prevent the recurrence of these small aneurysms and fragile blood vessels About half of diabetics will develop into retinopathy to some extent in 10 years, and 80% of them will develop into this disease in 15 years In addition, poor control of blood sugar and blood pressure will further worsen the disease in diabetic patients Cataract and glaucoma are also common complications of diabetes It should be noted that since the lens in the eye allows water to pass through, if the concentration of blood sugar is very high, the lens in the eye will contract and swell accordingly with the liquid As a result, vision ghosting is common in diabetic patients with poor blood glucose control Unless blood sugar is properly controlled, patients usually need to wear a new pair of glasses Kidney damage the kidney damage caused by diabetes is called diabetic nephropathy The onset and course of this complication are highly variable Small vessels in renal lesions initially cause protein to leak into the urine After that, the kidneys lose their ability to clean and filter the blood Toxins accumulated in the blood need to be removed by dialysis Dialysis involves the use of devices that act on kidney function to help filter and clean blood If patients do not want to have long-term dialysis, they need to consider kidney transplantation It can slow down the development of nephropathy by controlling hypertension and aggressive blood glucose treatment An ACE inhibitor or an AR blocker for the treatment of hypertension is also beneficial for kidney disease in diabetic patients The nerve injury originated from diabetes is called diabetic neuropathy, which is also caused by small vessel disease In essence, the blood flowing to the nerve is limited, and the nerve will be damaged or die without blood circulation Symptoms of diabetic nerve injury include numbness, burning, and pain in the feet and legs When neurological diseases cause complete loss of sensation in the feet, patients are not even aware of foot injuries and do not properly protect them Due to poor blood circulation, diabetic foot injury may be difficult to heal Sometimes, minor foot injuries can lead to serious infections, ulcers, and even gangrene Diabetic neuropathy also affects the nerves that are important for penile erection, but causes erectile dysfunction Erectile dysfunction can also be caused by poor blood circulation of the penis caused by diabetic vascular disease In addition, diabetic neuropathy can also affect gastrointestinal nerves, leading to nausea, weight loss, diarrhea and other symptoms of gastroparesis Diabetic neuropathic pain may respond to the following traditional treatment: diabetic neuropathic pain can also be improved through better diabetes control At present, there are new drugs to treat neuralgia on the market For example, pregabalin and duloxetine are the latest drugs that can be used to treat diabetic neuropathy.