Over time, high blood glucose can have harmful effects on the body, leading to complications such as neuropathy (nerve damage), nephropathy (kidney disease), and retinopathy (eye disease). Read the articles below to learn about diabetes complications, from why they develop to how to prevent and treat them.

Avoiding Complications: by Amy Tenderich, M.A.

Most people who are diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes are told at some point about the long-term damage diabetes can do, such as causing heart attack and stroke...

Avoiding Eye Complications by A. Paul Chous, M.A., O.D.

When it comes to diabetes-related eye complications, the good news is that most cases of severe vision loss due to diabetes are preventable. The bad news is that tens of thousands of people still lose vision to diabetes each year, despite all that is...

Also inside: Eye Diseases Associated With Diabetes

Keeping on Top of Neuropathy by Wayne Clark

Most people with diabetes aren't fully aware of the dangers of diabetic nerve damage, or neuropathy, which include impotence, heart-rhythm abnormalities, and amputations. Neuropathy affects 90% of people who have had either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes...

Also inside: Tips for Foot Care

Protecting Your Kidneys by Robert S. Dinsmoor

Diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease) is the leading cause of kidney failure in the United States. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the outlook for protecting your kidneys has gotten much brighter over the past decade or so. There are now a...

The Benefits of Tight Control by Wayne Clark

It has been 14 years since the results of the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) were published. Despite its continuing legacy of proof that maintaining blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible reduces the risk of...

Treating Gastroparesis by Kathryn Feigenbaum, R.N., M.S.N., C.D.E.

Although the term gastroparesis may be new to some, the symptoms of this ailment, in which the stomach’s ability to move food into the small intestine is impaired, can be all too familiar, as up to 50% of people with diabetes will develop...

Also inside: Recipes for a Liquid Diet

Statements and opinions expressed on this Web site are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the publishers or advertisers. The information provided on this Web site should not be construed as medical instruction. Consult appropriate health-care professionals before taking action based on this information.