Contents:
- Medical Video: Diabetes: Risk for Heart Attack and Stroke
- Relationship between diabetes and stroke
- What is a stroke?
- Prevent strokes due to diabetes
Medical Video: Diabetes: Risk for Heart Attack and Stroke
Having diabetes means having to start paying attention to all the health related details as possible. Starting from changing food choices, balancing with exercise, to consuming drugs if needed. How come? Diabetes, which can be called the mother of various diseases, can indeed bring various complications to the health of the body if we neglect.
Diabetics have problems with how insulin works that are not optimal so that it fails to put glucose into the cells of the body to be broken down into energy. There are two types of diabetes, namely type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. People who have type 1 diabetes do not have the ability to produce insulin in their bodies. Meanwhile, people with type 2 diabetes can actually produce insulin, only the insulin produced cannot carry out their duties effectively.
The absence and lack of insulin in the metabolic process is what then causes blood flow to be filled by glucose. Glucose cannot enter to be broken down in the body, so it keeps flowing freely in the blood vessels. This situation can then cause various complications if left unchecked. Starting from kidney disease, eye complications, heart disease to cardiovascular disease, one of them is a stroke due to diabetes.
Relationship between diabetes and stroke
Diabetes and stroke have a fairly close relationship, especially if you don't control your diabetes. Diabetics are susceptible to complications from cardiovascular disease (including heart and stroke). Compared to normal people, those with diabetes have a 1.5 times greater risk of stroke. In diabetics, insulin, which should play a role in entering glucose into the body's cells, does not work well. As a result, glucose, which should be broken down into energy in the body's cells, continues to gather in blood vessels even when the levels are too high.
Excess blood sugar in the blood vessels can cause atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a condition of the formation of cholesterol blockages in blood vessels, which results in the blood vessels themselves becoming stiff. So, it is very natural for people with uncontrolled diabetes to have blockages in blood vessels, including blood vessels in the brain.
Diabetes can also make your body slow in responding to a stroke. In normal people, when your brain lacks oxygen intake, other arteries will take over to continue oxygen to keep going to the brain. However, a different story happens to them, diabetics. People with diabetes usually have more rigid blood vessels, or may be blocked by cholesterol plaques. This is known as atherosclerosis and makes it more difficult to carry oxygen to the brain. When atherosclerosis blocks blood circulation, that's when strokes due to diabetes occur.
When you successfully run a blood sugar control that is good enough, the chance of getting a stroke from diabetes will certainly be less than those who cannot control it. This is caused by when your blood sugar is maintained at normal levels, the possibility of atherosclerosis will decrease. Not only paying attention to the sugar levels circulating in the blood, paying attention to cholesterol levels and blood pressure will also help diabetics to prevent the risk of stroke due to diabetes.
What is a stroke?
Stroke is a disease that arises when the blood supply to the brain is impaired. The disorder arises due to blood flow that is unable to reach the brain because it is blocked by blockage. As a result, the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the brain is also disrupted. When the condition occurs for three to four minutes, brain cells will begin to die and can cause permanent damage such as speech problems, paralysis, and vision problems.
There are two types of strokes, namely:
Ischemic stroke. This type of stroke is the most common stroke. About 87 percent of strokes that occur are ischemic strokes. Ischemic stroke results from a blockage of blood flow to the brain.
Hemorrhagic stroke more unusual than ischemic stroke. This stroke results from a rupture of a blood vessel in the brain which ultimately interferes with brain function. This stroke can increase the risk of death being higher than ischemic stroke.
Prevent strokes due to diabetes
The only way for diabetics to prevent various kinds of complications, including strokes due to diabetes, is to control blood sugar levels in the body. Control of blood sugar, whether through a healthy lifestyle or drug therapy will help the body work according to its own functions.
Some other things that also need to be considered as an effort to prevent the emergence of stroke for diabetics is to stop smoking. Smoking and diabetes are known to further worsen the condition of the body and increase the chances of a heart attack due to the content of cigarettes that can clog the bloodstream. In addition, routine blood checking can also be one way to prevent disease before it gets worse.
The key to diabetes is discipline. Discipline in managing blood sugar levels through drug therapy, changes in diet, and balanced exercise are still the best ways to keep blood sugar levels within safe limits.
