Diabetes is a global epidemic disease, and with the rapid development of economic life, its prevalence has increased dramatically, and it has become the third biggest killer threatening human health. We say that high blood sugar itself is not terrible, what is really terrible is the various complications caused by diabetes. If not properly controlled, patients are almost immune from head to toe, from the inside to the outside, from the body to the spirit, and its impact on patients is multifaceted, serious and lifelong, accompanied by long-term high medical expenses, but in the end, patients can not escape the end of disability and early death. Diabetes is the “root of all diseases” and it deserves its name. In the early stages of diabetes, patients may not have any symptoms except for high blood sugar, but if they do not care about it and relax treatment, continuous high blood sugar may unknowingly erode the large and small blood vessels and nerves throughout your body, causing various acute and chronic complications in your body, which may lead to disability and death. Acute complications: diabetic ketoacidosis and non-ketotic hyperosmolar coma are the most common, the former is most common in type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes in a state of stress (such as acute infection, acute stroke, mental stimulation, trauma, surgery, overeating), the latter is most common in elderly patients. Acute complications are often aggressive and have a high mortality rate if not treated in a timely manner. With the improvement of modern medical care, especially the widespread use of insulin, the incidence of acute complications and the death rate are significantly lower than before. 2. Chronic complications: Compared with acute complications, the incidence of chronic complications is increasing nowadays and has become the primary factor of disability and death in diabetic patients. (1) Cardiac lesions. Diabetes can cause coronary artery sclerosis, narrowing and blockage, leading to coronary heart disease (angina pectoris, myocardial infarction), diabetic cardiomyopathy, and even sudden death. Diabetes-induced heart disease often has atypical symptoms despite the severity of the disease, and painless myocardial infarction is more common. The most common symptoms of diabetic cardiomyopathy are heart enlargement and arrhythmias, and in later stages, heart failure. The risk of myocardial infarction is 3 to 4 times higher in diabetic patients than in non-diabetic patients. (2) Cerebrovascular lesions. It is mainly cerebral thrombosis, while cerebral hemorrhage is relatively rare. In mild cases, hemianesthesia or immobility may occur, while in severe cases, paralysis, confusion, deep coma and life-threatening. The risk of stroke in diabetic patients is 2 to 4 times higher than in non-diabetic patients. (3) Kidney damage. It is one of the most common microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus. In the early stage, the patient’s symptoms are often not obvious, and the only manifestation is the increase of urinary microalbumin excretion rate, which is easily ignored. Later, as the glomerular filtration rate decreases, the metabolic wastes in the body cannot be excreted, the blood creatinine and urea nitrogen begin to rise, and clinical symptoms appear. Some data show that the rate of microalbuminuria can reach 10%-30% and 40% after 10 and 20 years of disease, respectively, and 5%-10% of patients progress to uremia after 20 years, and the risk of uremia in diabetic patients is 17 times higher than that in non-diabetic patients. (4) Retinopathy and cataracts. Retinopathy is the most common and can be asymptomatic in the early stages, but as it progresses, it leads to recurrent hemorrhages in the fundus, significant vision loss, and in severe cases, blindness. The risk of blindness from diabetes is 25 times higher than that of non-diabetic patients. Our data reports that 50% of diabetic patients with 10 years of disease develop retinopathy, 80% of those with more than 15 years of disease develop retinopathy, and 2% of patients will go completely blind. (5) Impotence. It is mainly due to neurological and peripheral vascular lesions caused by hyperglycemia. Peripheral neuropathy affects the sensitivity of the patient’s penis to touch, decreasing the erectile response and leading to ejaculatory dysfunction; when the autonomic nerves are affected, the control and regulation of the blood vessels of the erectile tissue is lost; peripheral arterial vascular lesions obstruct the blood supply to the penis, leading to erectile dysfunction. (6) Nerve damage. The prevalence of neuropathy neuropathy can reach 30%~40%, 60%~70% and 90% after 5 years, 10 years and 20 years of diabetes respectively. With sensory nerve damage, patients may experience numbness and pain in the extremities, loss of sensation, painless myocardial infarction; with autonomic nerve damage, symptoms such as increased resting heart rate, upright hypotension, abnormal sweating, gastroparesis, bladder urinary retention, impotence, constipation, diarrhea, etc. may occur. (7) Diabetic foot. Due to long-term hyperglycemia causing lower limb vasculopathy and nerve damage, and on the basis of this combined with infection, resulting in lower limb ulceration and gangrene, the condition is serious enough to require amputation. According to statistics, the number of amputations due to diabetic foot gangrene is 20 times higher than that of non-diabetic patients. According to statistics from the United States, 40% of adult amputees are due to diabetic foot gangrene, which is extremely dangerous. (8) Various infections. Due to poor resistance, diabetic patients are prone to respiratory and urinary tract infections, tuberculosis, skin mucosal infections and periodontitis. (9) Damage to maternity and fetus. If blood sugar is not well controlled, pregnant women with diabetes are prone to miscarriage, fetal developmental malformation, stillbirth, neonatal hypoglycemia and other pregnancy complications, and the mortality rate of both mother and fetus is higher. Emptying Your Pocketbook Diabetes places a heavy economic burden on governments and people in all countries. In the United States, for example, the amount spent on treating diabetes was $24 billion in 1987, $98 billion in 1998, and rose to $132 billion in 2002. The annual per capita medical spending of diabetics is $10,071, while the per capita spending of non-diabetics is $2,699. In China, a 2002 survey of 17 provincial capitals showed that the cost of diabetes treatment was 18.82 billion RMB, accounting for about 4% of health care costs; the average annual cost per person with ordinary diabetes was $3,726, and the average annual cost per person with complications was as high as $13,897. Shortening Your Life The World Health Organization recently released a report stating that the number of people with diabetes is growing at an alarming rate, with about 3.2 million people worldwide currently dying each year from complications caused by diabetes. The report states that diabetes kills at least 1 in 10 adults aged 35 to 64 in most developing countries, and that diabetes has become one of the leading causes of premature death for residents of most countries. According to statistics, diabetes can shorten the average life expectancy of patients by 10 years. Reducing your quality of life Diabetes cannot be cured yet, and once it occurs, it will stay with you for life; diabetes focuses on detailed management, especially in terms of strict dietary requirements, for which patients will lose a lot of pleasure and freedom of movement; the chronic complications of diabetes are highly disabling, and in severe cases, they can adversely affect the life and work of patients; the double pressure from health and economy puts a huge emotional burden on patients According to statistics, the incidence of psychological disorders (such as depression) among diabetic patients can be as high as 30% to 50%. All the above-mentioned conditions make the quality of life of patients greatly reduced.