Complications from Diabetes

Did you know that diabetes leads to so many complications? We all know diabetes but we forget all the complications so here is a list :

Heart Disease: Almost 80% of by-pass surgery patients were diabetic before. However many of don't know that insulin causes hardening of the arteries. This contributes to heart attacks.
High Blood Pressure: 75% of diabetics have high blood pressure
Stroke: The risk of stroke is 3 times higher for diabetics
Blindness: Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults
Kidney Disease: Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure. This also leads diabetics to have to go to frequent urination and severe diabetics to need dialysis. 
Amputation: Diabetes leads to loss of sensation in the feet. The feet often get damaged and wounds don't heal. This leads to amputations and diabetes is the leading cause of limb amputations.
Erectile Dysfunction: Yes, you won't hear diabetics say it, but majority of diabetics will get erectile dysfunction
Pregnancy Termination: Having uncontrolled gestational diabetes can lead to loss of the developing baby in a mother's womb. We see women come in who either want to have a baby or are pregnant and want to avoid losing their baby. I wish they would have been educated and treated the disease before it became urgent.
Cancer: Diabetes increases the rate of colorectal cancer by 30%

So yes, I believe you need to take a high HbA1c seriously. It's better to stop things early. And if you are a diabetic, don't wait till you're taking 100 units of insulin to start treating it or have had some surgeries.