Neuropathy Diabetes: It's More Than High Blood Sugar!

Etta J. Vinik, MA (Ed)
Associate Director of Education

Diabetes is commonly diagnosed on the basis of high levels of sugar in the blood. However, diabetes is not only about high blood sugar.

It is a very complex disease, which may also include obesity, abnormal blood fat levels, resistance to the action of insulin, sticky blood platelets, inflammation of the tissue cells and high blood pressure leading ultimately to strokes and heart attacks. In fact, some or all of these other disorders usually precede high blood sugar levels and coexist for many years, long before the diabetes dragon rears its ugly head. Once we established the link between this cluster of disorders as the enemy - and diabetes, heart disease and strokes-we named the enemy the “Dysmetabolic syndrome.”

Forty-seven million Americans already have this condition and every second person over the age of sixty will have it. It is the fastest growing condition in America, including an “epidemic” of children with diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

Most people associate diabetes with complications such as blindness, kidney disease and amputations. However, statistics show that between 68% and 75% of people with diabetes are unaware that diabetes is also related to heart attacks and stroke. Only a small proportion of people interviewed could name important methods for reducing their risk for heart attacks and stroke, such as prescription medicines for lowering cholesterol and reducing blood pressure, and taking a daily small dose of aspirin to prevent blood clots – not to mention lifestyle changes like diet, exercise and smoking cessation!

Lifestyle changes can dramatically improve all the components of diabetes - a complex disease mistakenly regarded as only a problem of high blood sugar!

At the Strelitz Diabetes Institutes, clinical care is directed towards reducing patients’ risk for heart disease and strokes, as well as lowering blood sugar to control their diabetes. The SDI research team has shown that there is loss of small blood vessel function in people who have diagnosed diabetes, those who have the dysmetabolic syndrome, as well as their offspring. It appears that the loss of small blood vessel function may be responsible for damage to nerves, eyes and kidneys. Researchers are working on ways to improve this abnormality.

Just imagine a world without small vessel disease! Bye-bye to blindness, amputations and dialysis.