Diabetes symptoms broadly fall into two categories: one involves "three excesses and one deficiency" caused by high blood sugar and excessive urinary glucose. The "three excesses" are increased appetite, thirst, and urination, while the "one deficiency" refers to weight loss and decreased physical strength. The other category comprises symptoms resulting from complications.
Diabetic complications are acute or chronic systemic disorders arising from diabetes or diabetic states. They constitute integral components of the disease's progression, potentially affecting single organs or multiple organs and systems. These complications correlate with the duration of diabetes and the quality of its management.Generally, individuals with a short duration of diabetes or well-controlled disease may not develop complications, remaining at the stage of uncomplicated diabetes even if the disease is mild.
However, those with a long duration of diabetes, especially those with long-term poor control, are prone to multiple complications. Diabetes complications affect nearly every organ in the body, leading some to call it "the root of a hundred diseases."Diabetic complications are primarily caused by prolonged hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, hypercoagulability and hyperviscosity of blood, endocrine disorders, hyperinsulinemia, atherosclerosis, and microvascular lesions. Given the significant risks of diabetic complications, what dietary approaches are effective?
Common diabetic complications include: diabetic ketoacidosis, nonketotic hyperosmolar coma, diabetic lactic acidosis, diabetic heart disease, diabetic cerebrovascular disease, diabetic gangrene, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic retinopathy, and various infections associated with diabetes.
I. Acute Complications of Diabetes
Acute complications of diabetes are more accurately understood as acute metabolic disturbances. These arise from short-term insulin deficiency, severe infection, or improper use of hypoglycemic agents, leading to acute metabolic imbalances characterized by dangerously high or low blood sugar. Examples include diabetic ketoacidosis, nonketotic hyperosmolar coma, diabetic lactic acidosis, and hypoglycemic coma.
II. Chronic Complications of Diabetes
1. Diabetic Nephropathy: Also known as diabetic glomerulosclerosis, this is a common and difficult-to-treat microvascular complication of diabetes and one of the leading causes of death in diabetic patients.
2. Infections: Hyperglycemia in diabetic patients promotes bacterial growth and reproduction within the body. Simultaneously, elevated blood sugar levels suppress the phagocytic ability of white blood cells, reducing the patient's resistance to infections. Common infections include urinary tract infections, respiratory tract infections,