Chronic or long-term complications of diabetes develop gradually. The longer one lives with diabetes the higher the risk of complications. Diabetes complications may be disabling or life-threatening.

Some of the complications of diabetes include cardiovascular disease. Diabetes dramatically increases the risk of various cardiovascular problems such as coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, and stroke and narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis).

Nerve damage (read neuropathy)…excess sugar can injure the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish your nerves in the legs. This causes tingling, numbness, burning or pain that usually begins at the tips of the toes or fingers and gradually spreads upward.

If diabetes left untreated, you could lose all sense of feeling in the affected limbs. Damage to the nerves related to digestion can cause problems with nausea, diarrhea or constipation. For men, it may lead to erectile dysfunction.

Ends