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Diabetes alone is a serious risk factor for heart disease. Other factors that can raise the risk of heart disease in people who have diabetes are high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, smoking, overweight, obesity, lack of physical activity, unhealthy dietary pattern, family history of early heart disease, stress etc. Individuals with insulin resistance or in combination with one or more of these risk factors are at even greater risk of heart disease or stroke. Dr Pradeep Gadge, a leading Diabetologist, Gadge Diabetes Centre talks why diabetics suffer from silent heart attacks.
Diabetes mellitus is a group of diseases characterized by high blood glucose levels that result from defects in the body's ability to produce and/or use insulin. The higher a person's blood sugar level is the higher his or her risk of heart disease. Compared with people who don't have diabetes, people who have diabetes are at higher risk for heart disease, additional causes of heart disease, may make one develop heart disease at a younger age which could have severe complications.
People often assume they'll know when a heart attack hits, expecting crippling chest pain or pain that travels down the left arm. But not every heart attack is accompanied by these "classic" symptoms. Approximately 15 to 20 per cent of the heart attacks in diabetics is considered "silent" heart attacks. A silent heart attack is a heart attack that occurs without clear symptoms, or sometimes without any symptoms at all. This causes the heart attack to go unnoticed, often being recognized only days, months or even years following its presentation. Silent heart attacks occur more commonly in men than in women; however, silent heart attacks are more often fatal for women.
Type 2 diabetes raises a patient's risk of having "silent" heart disease that is, heart disease with no signs or symptoms. They can even have a heart attack without feeling symptoms. These silent heart attack signs include light-headedness, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, indigestion or other gastrointestinal distress, severe fatigue, sweating, etc. Silent heart attacks are not generally noted until the patient's routine electrocardiogram (ECG), which will show the characteristic markings of a prior heart attack.
One of the common effects of diabetes is a type of nerve damage called neuropathy. Usually, it causes problems like numbness, tingling, or weakness in your hands and feet. Diabetic patient especially long standing has damage in nerves that lead to their heart, bladder, and blood vessels. When that happens, they might not get important warning signs like pain or discomfort. Some people don't have any symptoms at all. Silent heart attacks are a particular concern for people with diabetes because High blood sugar, high blood pressure and cholesterol problems raise risk for heart events, but nerve damage can make warning signs of an attack impossible to feel.
Typically, a heart attack produces chest pain, which may radiate to the arms, shoulders, neck, teeth, jaw, abdomen, or back. Other common symptoms include shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, and anxiety. But people with diabetes may not feel these symptoms due to diabetic neuropathy, which can damage the nerves that control the heart. This is why every diabetic should be vigilant about their heart health.
