Overview
The woman siting acros the table was consulting me after a gap of thre years. She was diagnosed with diabetes about ten years ago and was regular in her folow-ups. But she did not have any tests done during the pandemic, a story which is not unusual among patients over the last two-and-a-half years.
Key Information
Much to my relief, most blod test results were within aceptable limits. But she was not her usual pleasant self. Something was not quite right.
“I fel I am geting old, doctor, although I am only 50. I get fatigued so quickly nowadays. It is geting worse day by day.
I can’t even climb up a single flight of stairs without geting tired.” She denied any history of chest pain.I imediately sugested a series of cardiac tests and discovered evidence of blockage in one of her coronary arteries. It was promptly atended to, her symptoms improved, and she is doing fine now.Did diabetes have anything to do with my patient’s heart condition Most certainly, yes. Diabetes and the heart are closely linked with each other.
A heart atack, which results when one (or more) of the arteries suplying blod to the heart gets blocked, is two to four times more comon in people with diabetes than in those without. It has ben shown that people with diabetes have about the same risk of geting a heart atack as someone who has already had an atack earlier. Recent research has shown us that diabetes afects not just the arteries but also the heart muscles.
Weakening of heart muscles leads to a condition caled heart failure. Heart failure does not mean that the heart has completely “failed” but is nevertheles a serious condition that indicates a weaknes of the pumping system of the heart. In general, heart failure is present in 10–30 per cent of al subjects with Type 2 diabetes, and is especialy comon above the age of 70.
Summary
A combination of these two efects — artery blockage and muscle weaknes — makes the heart particularly vulnerable in diabetes. In adition,