Diabetes, like anything that affects the body’s functioning, can come with complications. These can be divided usefully into acute (short term) and chronic (long term) complications. Diabetes needs regular monitoring by the patients and the doctors and nurses who care for them because of these complication risks.

Short Term Complications

These are caused mainly by imbalance of the sugar level. If sugar is too high this leads to hyperglycemia which if left untreated can lead to a coma or even death, although death is very rare especially in people with diabetes who are not dependant on insulin.  Hyperglycemia is very serious and usually can be seen if a diabetic’s blood sugar level is more than 20, or they feel unwell. It is also associated with ketones in the urine.

Causes of hyperglycemia are very commonly through undiagnosed diabetes. Diabetes is often first noticed through an illness directly caused by high sugar levels. Hyperglycemia can also be caused through insufficient medication in either tablet or insulin form, and also through illness; infections and illnesses such as colds can cause the body to release more of its own sugar. A bad diet can also cause hyperglycemia, by taking in too much food containing sugar, as well as a change in exercise habits.

If sugar is too low this is hypoglycemia , which is also dangerous and needs to be treated and recognized. Causes include insufficient intake of food, such as missing a meal or not eating enough, which will cause sugar levels to be too low. Too much insulin is also a problem. Exercise can also affect low sugar levels; if a lot of exercise is done than glucose goes to the muscles to give them energy, so if a diabetic is going to do extra exercise they must consume extra calories or reduce their insulin.

Long Term Complications

One long term complication is to do with the eye because diabetes can affect the circulation to the back of the eye. The most serious form causes the production of fragile new blood vessels which can easily burst causing a haemorrhage which can blind the eye.

Another complication is related to the kidneys. Diabetes is a major cause of kidney failure. The damage is in small blood vessels. An early sign of damage taking place is the existence of a protein - albumin - in the urine. Strict control of blood pressure in diabetics can prevent this going on to destroy the kidneys.

Circulation problems can also occur. Diabetes can attack smaller blood vessels, which can leads to ulcers that are difficult to heal, so diabetics needs to look after their feet. Diabetes can also lead to nerve damage in the sensory nerves, where loss of sensation can be experienced in the feet, which can allow foreign bodies to damage the feet without the person knowing causing wounds. Diabetes can also affect the autonomic nerves, which control blood pressure. If they are damaged by diabetes then the blood pressure may fall.

Diabetes can also cause heart disease, because there is a larger change of angina and heart attacks, which makes it important to control blood pressure as a diabetic as well as cholesterol.