The 20 million or so diabetes patients in the United States suffer damage to many of the body’s organs and diabetic side effects in the form of other conditions and diseases caused by diabetes. Even for patients that do their best to strictly self-manage their diabetes, some diabetic side effects are all but inevitable. Depending on the type of diabetes and the length of time they live with it these diabetic side effects will vary widely, and will vary from minor to severe.

In all cases, long-term damage and diabetic side effects can be reduced by better control of blood glucose levels. According to the American Diabetes Association, the most common diabetic side effects seen follow:

• Diabetic Retinopathy causes more than 20,000 diabetes patients to go blind every year. The damage done to the small blood vessels in the retina is the main cause of this tragic statistic.
• Foot ulcers