Macrovascular Disease in Diabetes
Diabetes is a condition in which the cells are unable to use the glucose in the bloodstream and is called a metabolic disorder. Macrovascular complications, which can bring death, can result after prolonged suffering from diabetes. The actual reason for certain people to get such complications more easily than others is still unknown. Certain risk factors are known to contribute to the problem.
Identification
Diabetic macrovasular complications are diseases which cause big blood vessels to become narrower and lessen their blood flow. With poor circulation to the area, damage of the area is caused.
Risk Factors
The possibility of getting macrovascular complications is greater when cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and levels of blood sugar and insulin are all excessively high. People who smoke regularly or have blood clotting problems are also more susceptible to this condition.
Complications
When there is blood vessel damage, macrovascular complications such as stroke, peripheral arterial disease and heart attack can occur. Type 2 diabetics are more susceptible to these complications than type 1 diabetics. Atherosclerosis, in which the blood vessels become narrower, is due to fat cells sticking together and clinging to the artery walls. A heart attack occurs when there is damage to those blood vessels leading to the heart while a stroke happens when there is damage to blood vessels going to the brain. When blood vessels in the legs are damaged, peripheral arterial disease occurs.
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Symptoms
When heart disease is the macrovascular complication, the symptoms are swollen legs, breathlessness, constant fatigue, not fully capable of performing physical activities and chest pain with palpitations. Poor circulation as a result of damage to the legs’ blood vessels is an indication of peripheral arterial disease. The symptoms are coldness in the legs due to poor circulation, leg ulcers which are difficult to heal, the legs’ hair loss and the feeling of pain below the knees when walking. Stroke victims show all or only one of these symptoms: numbness or a tingling feeling, inability to move either the body’s left side or the body’s right side, inability to walk, double vision and impaired speech.
Treatment and Prevention
Treatment of diabetes macrovascular complications has to be specifically carried out for every individual case as they are serious. Avoiding the occurrence of complications is a necessary part of the treatment for all diabetics. For such prevention, there is a need to control blood glucose levels carefully so as to have them in as normal a range as possible. Aspirin may be prescribed as an anticoagulant to avoid blockage to the blood vessels. Treatment with aspirin can have a stroke or heart attack prevented. Lowering high blood pressure will lessen damage to blood vessel walls, and lower the possibility of stroke and heart disease occurring.