Diabetes
<p><b>How diabetes damages your heart</b></p>
<p>Take care of your health<br />Diabetes can drastically increase the risk of several cardiovascular problems, like coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, stroke and narrowing of arteries. Diabetes can also speed up the damage done by smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.</p>
<p><br />For people with Type 2 diabetes, heart disease is the most common cause of death.</p>
<p><br /><b>What causes this?</b><br />Your body tissues typically use sugar as an energy source. It’s stored in the liver as a form of glycogen (a stored form of glucose). If you have diabetes, sugar can stay in your bloodstream and leak out of the liver into your blood, and this can cause damage to your blood vessels and the nerves that control them.</p>
<p><br />The elevated blood sugar levels and chronic inflammation caused by diabetes, can injure the walls of the arteries, making them more prone to developing atherosclerosis- a build-up of cholesterol in the blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrition to the heart.</p>
<p><br />The risk of heart disease increases the longer you have diabetes.</p>
<p><br /><b>Risk factors</b><br />If you have both diabetes and high blood pressure, you’re at least twice as likely to develop heart disease. High blood pressure can strain your heart and damage your blood vessels, leading to complications like heart attack, stroke, kidney problems and vision issues.</p>
<p><br /><b>High cholesterol</b><br />Too much LDL (bad) cholesterol and not enough HDL (good) cholesterol may cause a build-up of fatty plaque in your blood vessels. This can create blockages and lead to having a heart attack or stroke.</p>
<p><br /><b>Obesity</b><br />Obesity has a strong influence on blood pressure blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Losing weight can help reduce the risk of heart disease.</p>
<p><br /><b>Smoking</b><br />If you have diabetes and you’re a smoker, your risk of developing heart disease is much higher than that of non-smokers.</p>
<p><br />Both cigarette smoke and diabetes create a build-up of plaque in the arteries, which causes them to narrow and can result in heart attack or stroke.</p>
<p><br /><b>Being inactive</b><br />Lack of physical activity is a major risk factor for insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. Exercising and losing weight can prevent or delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes, reduce blood pressure, and help lower your risk for heart attack and stroke.</p>
<p><br />• Keep your blood sugar as normal as possible.<br />• Control your blood pressure, with medication if necessary. The target for people with diabetes is under 130/80.<br />• Get your cholesterol numbers under control.<br />• Lose weight if you are obese.<br />• Exercise regularly.<br />• Eat a heart-healthy diet recommended by your doctor.<br />• Quit smoking.<br />• Find ways to effectively combat daily stress.</p>
<p><br />Talk to your doctor before taking over-the-counter medications to treat heart disease. Some may interact with your diabetes medication, or they may contain sugar and other carbohydrates that can affect your blood sugar level.<br /><br /></p>
