Nikki Sommer, a nurse with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5 FM for Medical Matters this morning.
Diabetes affects a lot of people nationwide.
Sommer said, “Diabetes is when you have too much sugar in your blood and uncontrolled can lead to very serious health issues. There’s two types of diabetes. So type one diabetes is thought to be caused by an autoimmune reaction in the body, the body attacks itself by mistake, and then your body will stop making insulin. If you have type one diabetes, you will need to take insulin every day. That’s an injection every day to survive. There is really no way to prevent type one diabetes. They use the term juvenile diabetes because it was usually diagnosed in children and young adults, but actually, it can be diagnosed at any age, and usually these symptoms, they often develop very quickly.”
What is type two diabetes?
Sommer said, “Type two diabetes, your body doesn’t use the insulin well, and it can’t keep your blood sugar at normal levels. This usually develops over time, over many years, and this one is a usually diagnosed as adults, but more and more children, teens and young adults are being diagnosed with type two diabetes. You may not notice any symptoms, because it takes time, the symptoms, they usually appear over time.”
If symptoms do happen, what are they?
Sommer said, “Usually, you have an increase of thirst, or you feel like you’re urinating often, you’re losing weight without trying. A lot of times, people will think that when they’re urinating often, they have a urinary tract infection, they may go to the doctor, and then you may have what’s called the presence of ketones in your urine, which is a byproduct of the breakdown of the muscle and fat and that happens when there’s not enough available insulin. That’s usually more in type one diabetes. Feeling tired and weak, having blurry vision, and if you get a lot of infections, like a lot of gum skin or vaginal infections, like a lot of women will present with yeast infection, they come in, they get treated, it comes right back again, usually a sign that you might have diabetes.”
The pancreas is responsible for releasing insulin into the bloodstream to regulate sugar. What are the complications of having diabetes?
Sommer said, “Heart and blood vessel disease, coronary artery disease, chest pain, stroke, narrowing of the arteries. Your blood vessels are stiffer, nerve damage, also known as neuropathy. Too much sugar can injure the tiny, little blood vessels that nourish the nerves, especially in the legs. It causes a tingling and a numbness and a burning and a pain that starts in the toes and fingertips and then it moves upwards. A lot of diabetics will lose feeling in their feet and their fingertips, and they won’t know that they cut themselves, especially in the toes. Diabetics need to have good foot care, because they don’t know they cut their foot, and they’ll walk around and it becomes infected. So very, very concerning. Kidney damage due to the damage of the tiny blood vessels that filter the waste from the blood. Retinopathy, so damage to the tiny blood vessels of the eye, it can lead to blindness. My husband’s aunt, actually, that’s how she found out she had type two diabetes. She could no longer see. She had advanced diabetes.”
About 38 million adults have diabetes and one in five of them don’t even know they have it.
Sommer said, “It is the eighth leading cause of death. Type Two Diabetes accounts for about 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. Type One is just about 5% to 10%.”
Surgery can be a complication for diabetic patients, too.
Sommer said, “If your health isn’t in order, your surgery outcome is not going to be what you want it to be. That’s the bottom line. So uncontrolled diabetes can deter healing, both in elective and non elective surgeries. It can delay wound healing. It impairs the body’s ability to heal the wounds, again, like we talked about, due to decreased blood flow and oxygen delivery to the tissues, as well as impairing your immune function. This leads to longer healing times, which increases the risk of complications like wound breakdown of the surgical wound and even infection.”
Fasting blood sugar should be 99 or lower.
Sommer said, “Levels from 100 to 126, could indicate pre diabetes, and greater than 126 could usually indicate that you do have diabetes. There is the hemoglobin A1C that everybody gets tested for now pretty much, and that test tells you if your blood sugar has been in control over the last three months. So ideally it’s a percentage. You want the number under 5.7% to be considered a non diabetic, 5.7 to 6.4 you’re considered a pre diabetic. So there needs to be some lifestyle changes that go on to try and prevent the progression into diabetes and 6.4% or higher, you are considered a diabetic. The American Diabetes Association recommends a target blood glucose range of 80 to 180 in the perioperative period, meaning right before surgery. That means they consider those numbers are safe for you to have surgery and then 140 to 180 for critically ill patients, those are patients in the hospital.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keywestsurgicalgroup.com/