Diabetes is one of the most expensive health conditions you can develop. Millions of Americans — about 9% of the population — have it. Some have it, but don’t know it — which increases their chances of developing fatal complications.
This disease can kill you. It takes the lives of thousands of people every year. The reasons behind these fatalities, however, might surprise you.
How is Type 2 diabetes different than Type 1?
Type 1 diabetes is far less common than Type 2. While Type 1 is technically an autoimmune response, Type 2 develops due to insulin resistance, something that often happens when the body can’t produce enough insulin to draw excess sugar out of someone’s blood.
Untreated, both types can have serious, even fatal complications. However, because so many people live with Type 2, it’s much more common to die from complications related to that type specifically.
How many people die from diabetes complications?
Diabetes is one of the most common causes of death in the United States. Approximately 80,000 people died from related complications in 2015.
It isn’t the disease itself that kills its victims, but instead the deadly side effects that arise if it isn’t treated properly. Your organs don’t perform well when high blood sugar becomes your body’s regular condition. Here’s why people can’t live like this forever — and what you can do to improve your own outcome.
Diabetes destroys your kidneys
Your kidneys are one of the primary ways your body rids itself of potentially harmful toxins. If they don’t function properly, the resulting kidney disease could lead to kidney failure, which can be fatal. Diabetes is the leading cause of all kidney diseases nationwide.
How does diabetes cause your kidneys to fail? High blood pressure damages the blood vessels in your kidneys, impairing their function — sometimes permanently.
It could affect your blood pressure
About 80% of people living with diabetes also have high blood pressure. It’s hard to tell which might trigger or worsen the other, because so many of these conditions are related. Any form of stress on your body can put you at risk for serious harm — and even death.
High blood pressure alone can cause a long list of additional complications, including nerve damage in your eyes, osteoporosis, dementia, and more.
Some people have seizures
Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to something called HHNS, which causes blood sugar levels to spike to dangerous heights. If a person with this condition becomes severely dehydrated, the consequences could become deadly.
Seizures aren’t uncommon in this stage of HHNS. Your body needs adequate fluids to function, but it’s difficult to stay hydrated when your blood sugar levels are out of control.
It also damages your blood vessels and heart
It’s no surprise that both diabetes and heart disease are leading causes of death among American adults. High blood sugar damages your heart, even if that might not seem possible.
Adults with diabetes are up to four times more likely to die of heart disease than those without it. The American Heart Association even considers diabetes one of the seven heart disease risk factors you can actually control.
You could have a stroke
Long-term damage to your heart and blood vessels significantly increases your risk of having a stroke. The same way a heart attack results from blockages in your arteries, interrupted blood supply to your brain can deprive it of oxygen — which often leads to brain damage and death.
You might regularly engage in a number of bad habits that increase your stroke risk without even knowing it. Something as seemingly harmless as sitting for too many hours every day can increase your chances of dying unexpectedly.
Medication alone usually isn’t enough
If you want to live a long, healthy life — even with a diabetes diagnosis — a regular dose of insulin might not be enough.
Not everyone can say goodbye to high blood sugar for good. However, losing weight through better nutrition and regular exercise decreases your risk of dying from one or many of the above potentially fatal complications. Small, gradual changes matter. They might even save your life.
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