Acute complications, chronic complications, infectious diseases, etc. may occur as a consequence of untreated diabetes, which can be life-threatening in severe cases.
Diabetes mellitus is mainly marked by high blood sugar, and the biggest damage is a variety of complications. Acute complications of diabetes include diabetic ketoacidosis, coma, or hyperosmolar non-ketotic coma. It requires urgent rescue, and if the diagnosis and treatment is timely, the prognosis is often still good, if the treatment is not timely, it can be life-threatening.
Chronic complications include macrovascular lesions and microvascular lesions. Macrovascular lesions, such as myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, etc., can be life-threatening when the condition is critical. Microangiopathy can cause retinopathy, vision loss, and even blindness. The most serious diabetic nephropathy can cause renal failure, and frequent dialysis can jeopardize the patient’s life and quality of life.
Diabetic patients can also develop neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy belongs to the most common type of diabetic neuropathy, diabetic patients will appear with symptoms related to peripheral nerve dysfunction, clinical manifestations of symmetric pain and sensory abnormalities, lower extremity symptoms are more common than the upper extremity.
Diabetic patients can also develop infectious diseases, such as diabetic foot, which in severe cases results in amputation, and sepsis and septicemia, which may be life-threatening, can occur when the infection is difficult to control.
Diabetes is a systemic disease that affects health, and once the condition is serious, it is very harmful and needs to be treated early and actively.