system—and this opens the door to
atherosclerosis and hypertension.
The kidneys, which have to filter
excess sugar out of the bloodstream, must
operate under excessive pressure because
of that hypertension. Eventually they
can't keep up. Renal failure is practically a
foregone conclusion for untreated DM2.
The accumulation of fatty plaques is not
limited to the big arteries near the heart,
as we see in more typical cardiovascular
disease. People with diabetes can accumulate
atherosclerotic plaques virtually everywhere,
including the arteries of the legs—leading to
painful or numbing peripheral neuropathy.
Poor circulation is damaging to the
skin as well, especially in the feet. People
may notice that sores in general are slower
to heal. Diabetic ulcers are the result of
chronic ischemia and nerve damage that
interferes with pain signals. Even minor
foot injuries like blisters or ingrown toenails
can become threatening in a person with
diabetes: infections here are difficult to
fight off. This is why diabetes leads to some
73,000 foot or leg amputations each year.
Thickening of the capillaries that
supply the eye, along with sugar in the lens,
contributes to progressive vision loss and
possible blindness.
Many other complications can also arise
because of diabetes, but the ones mentioned
here—especially kidney and cardiovascular
disease—are usually the most threatening.
TREATMENT
One of the truly frustrating things about
DM2 is that it is a treatable, preventable
disease. The problem is that to treat it
or prevent it requires exercise, which
makes insulin receptors more receptive,
and it requires that people eat in a way
that bucks our cultural trends, and
this is fabulously difficult to do.
We are bombarded daily with media
about food and eating. Every women's
magazine in a grocery store check-out
stand has a miracle diet headline on the
cover—usually right next to a picture
of a cake or a fancy dessert recipe. It's
42 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k s e p t e m b e r / o c t o b e r 2 0 1 7
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