Let me start with just the overall issues from the disease from the medical view. But please don’t read this and get worried. After this, I will put together a list of things that can help you not be as concerned. Things that will help Samson for a lifetime.
This is just what you have to fight against. But there are workable solutions for all of this, and I really want to post that too. but it will take a bit of time to gather all my thoughts on it.
So just to start, here are a few of the reasons for cardiac troubles that I’ve been able to piece together over the years:
-
Diabetics have a higher incidence of dyslipidemia (higher levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL). http://www.globalresearchonline.net/journalcontents/v25-1/48.pdf
-
Lack of sufficient insulin can raise the levels triglycerides, because insulin promotes the activity of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase, which helps allow free fatty acid uptake into adipose tissue (storage), which decreases the amount of free fatty acids in circulation.
-
Insulin also suppresses the activity of the enzyme hormone-sensitive lipase (also known as cholesteryl ester hydrolase - CEH), which also decreases the free fatty acids in circulation.
-
People with diabetes have been found to have decreased availability of nitric oxide (NO) from the endothelium. NO is a vasodilator, which widens blood vessels. The vasodilation relaxes the smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls and allows for better blood flow, better oxygen exchange, and reduced blood pressure.
-
Diabetes are believed to have general low-level inflammation from the immune activation of the disease. Long term inflammation is believed to be a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis.
-
The long-term inflammation causes an increase in the activity of leukocytes, which increases the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Additionally, high BG in diabetics can cause the overproduction of ROS. the bottom line of this is that overproduction of ROS can cause damage to lipids, proteins and DNA. https://www.biotek.com/resources/white-papers/an-introduction-to-reactive-oxygen-species-measurement-of-ros-in-cells/ and www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4055301
-
Because of endothelial dysfunction, diabetics have a higher activation of platelets and clotting factors in the blood, which can cause higher levels of atherosclerosis. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/01.cir.0000033634.60453.22
All of that sounds horrible, I know. But Samson can do things that will make him healthier than probably 90% of his peers. The difference is simply that he will do the right things, and his peers won’t.
Let’s spend some time focusing on what he needs to do. If he does the right things, it is really not that bad as all of this makes it sound.