Overview
For someone who has been experiencing an increase in their blood sugar levels or their incapacity to produce and use enough insulin, their condition is medically concerned as diabetes. Without the proper amount of insulin utilized in stabilizing the levels of the body’s overall blood glucose, a surge can happen, leading to diabetes mellitus.
To those who have been diagnosed with the condition, their healing process, involving wounds, cuts, scratches, or any bodily injury, can take more time compared to those who do not have the illness. Without proper diabetes treatment, these injuries or wounds can transcend to more severe health concerns. On that account, staying healthy and taking your medications regularly can help in preventing probable complications from happening.
Read to know more about the factors involving this issue and how you can lessen yourself from acquiring wounds and injuries related to diabetes.
Factors Associated with Diabetes Affecting Wound Healing
Here are the following factors that impact how the body heals its wounds. Note that these factors are also associated with diabetes, which means that the condition is still very crucial to how our body becomes affected, especially in its ability to recover from injuries.
- High levels of blood sugar/glucose – Aside from being linked with diabetes, when your body’s blood sugar increases against its normal condition, there is a negative impact on the healing process of your wounds or injuries. How does this happen? Medically explained, when there is a surge in blood glucose, the body’s immune system cannot function properly. The phenomenon also hinders important properties that can energize the cells. Add to that cell’s incapability to work effectively due to inflammation caused by diabetes.
- Bacterial infection – A bacterial infection can happen if diabetes is present. Among all complications, a bacterial infection is the most common. When diabetes is existent, the body’s immune system can be comprised. The body is then incapable of healing wounds more quickly.
- Cardiovascular disease – A diabetes diagnosis may also be linked with poor blood circulation. And one of the complications related to this issue is what is medically called peripheral vascular disease. This condition happens when the body’s blood vessels become narrow. As a result, the blood flow is reduced and limited. This condition also negatively impacts your wounds’ healing process.
- Impairment of the immune system – Any type of medical condition can affect how the immune system works, most especially if the necessary treatment is not administered. In terms of diabetes, the surge in blood sugar can contrastively burden how the immune system heals wounds, cuts, and injuries.
These factors are also considered complications of diabetes, which makes the healing time slow and sluggish. However, there are helpful ways to mitigate these factors. The following unravels the probable complications of this condition and how you can prevent them.
List of Possible Complications
Since the difficulty in healing wounds easily is already a burden and a complication linked to diabetes, there are still other serious complications associated with the body’s incapacity to cure and recover. Consider the following:
- Heart disease
- Kidney damage
- Liver complication
- Health concerns involving the eyes
- Muscle infection
One of the major complications related to this issue is gangrene. If you have heard about this complication already, then you already know what will happen next – amputation. This concern is what people with diabetes have to go through if their treatment does not progress or improve.
How to Assist Your Bodily System in the Healing Process
Given the complications mentioned above, there are remedies that individuals can do and take advantage of. There are ways to assist the body in its healing process without the worry of having to experience different health complications. Consider the following:
- Be observant of your own body. Aside from doing regular visitation to the doctor, keeping yourself free from any harm is necessary. You can do so by regularly checking your own body. Check for any wound or injury in your body, especially your feet.
- If you have an existing wound or deep cut, make sure that you clean it by changing the dressing frequently. Make sure that the wound will not infect other parts of the skin surrounding it. A fresh dressing will help in the healing process.
- Do not put a lot of pressure on your wounds. If you fail to do so, the cuts can go deeper, making the treatment more difficult. It can also lead to a more serious health concern.
Do these things, and your wound will heal quicker than expected. Aside from that, always follow your diabetes medication so that the infection or illness will not progress to a more severe state.
Prevention of Bodily Wounds and Boosting Your Immune System
There are always ways to avoid having wounds and injuries, most especially for those people who have underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes. Here are the following approaches that you can follow to remain healthy and injury-free.
- Continue with consuming only healthy foods – Eating only what’s best for you and your condition can help in preventing complications linked with the burden of recovering from wounds. Following a healthy meal plan on a daily basis can promote better levels of blood glucose.
- Boost your immune system – You can do so by quitting habits that can inhibit the immune system from functioning effectively. Things like alcohol abuse or smoking can go and avoid doing them in the future.
- Make use of honey – To ensure that the wound can heal fast, you can make use of honey. It has healing properties and is even good for the skin.
Takeaway
If your wounds do not heal in one week or take a month to recover, the condition can be tagged as not normal anymore, most especially for individuals with diabetes. If, in any case, you tend to have a non-healing wound again, or if you feel swelling and intense pain during the injury, consult with your healthcare professional immediately. This condition may call for a more serious medical threat.
