Any damage to the heart or blood vessels can impede or slow the flow of blood within the circulatory system. It can restrict the ability of the heart to either accept or push out blood. It can cause the blood vessels to offer too great a resistance to the blood that enters the veins and arteries. Such damage can cause a cardiovascular disease.

Many different factors contribute to the development of a cardiovascular disease. Some of those causal factors represent elements over which no person has control. A person has no control over the genes in his or her body. A person has no control over his or her age. Yet those two factors contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease.

Fortunately, medicine has uncovered a number of ways by which any person can reduce his or her chances for developing a cardiovascular disease. A person can control his or her weight. A person can control the manner by which he or she deals with the stress of daily life. A person can watch his or her diet, and a person can schedule times for regular exercise. Lifestyle choices can hasten or slow the appearance of cardiovascular disease.

For people with diabetes there is yet a third category that relates to control over the development of cardiovascular disease. That category concerns the damage done to the body by the continual presence in the blood stream of excess glucose. That damage includes damage to the circulatory system.

A person with diabetes must deal with the fact that he or she faces an above normal chance for developing a cardiovascular disease. Still, the person with diabetes does not need to abandon hope for any control over the health of his or her circulatory system. A person with diabetes can monitor the degree to which damage from diabetes might contribute to the development of a cardiovascular disease.

A person with diabetes must deal with the fact that his or her inability to utilize glucose in the bloodstream increases the likelihood for development of high blood pressure (hypertension) and arteriosclerosis. Those two conditions can trigger the development of a cardiovascular disease. A person with diabetes must act to limit the likelihood the he or she might suffer from either hypertension or arteriosclerosis.

A healthy person has a certain amount of blood pressure in his or her circulatory system. Blood pressure arises from the resistance that a blood vessel shows to the constricting force of the heart. That force pushes blood into the vessels that are in the circulatory system.

A healthy person has a level of resistance that is within the normal range. A healthy person has an acceptable blood pressure both when the heart constricts (the systolic pressure) and when the heart is filling with blood (the diastolic pressure). When the blood vessels in any person display a resistance that exceeds the amount expected by doctors, that person is said to demonstrate evidence of hypertension.

Hypertension makes the heart work harder. Because the blood vessels display a greater amount of resistance, the heart must exert an added amount of push. As the heart muscles push harder and harder, they become stronger. They also become stiffer.

As the heart muscle becomes stiffer, it begins to display an unhealthy amount of resistance. It resists the force of incoming blood, the blood that fills the heart prior to each heart constriction. When the heart displays such resistance, it takes-in a bit less blood, and so less blood can flow from the heart to the lungs.

As the lungs begin to receive a lower than normal amount of blood, the amount of oxygen in the blood stream begins to decrease. As a result, the blood flowing from the lungs and to the cells carries a below normal amount of oxygen. That fact causes anyone with a stiff heart to develop a marked shortness of breath.

Shortness of breath is a symptom associated with cardiovascular disease. A diabetic, who fails to monitor his or her weight, by using diet and exercise, could well develop a shortness of breath. A diabetic might also develop what seems like an unquenchable thirst. Such a thirst could well be a sign of kidney damage.

As the kidneys need to filter large amounts of glucose-laden blood, they must perform at a level above the level expected from the average kidney. That added amount of work can wear the kidneys down at a rapid rate. As the kidneys of a diabetic work less and less efficiently, the diabetic develops a seemingly unquenchable thirst.

There is one other type of cardiovascular disease that can develop in a diabetic who fails to make wise lifestyle choices. The combination of hypertension and diabetes can lead to the appearance of arteriosclerosis. That disease manifests itself in those who allow plague to build up in their arteries.

A diabetic can reduce the chance that he or she might develop arteriosclerosis by making wise daily decisions. As mentioned at the start of this article, a person with diabetes should seek to hold his or her weight down to an acceptable level. A person with diabetes should exercise on a regular basis. Still, there are other ways that a diabetic can hold-off, if not prevent, the development of arteriosclerosis.

A diabetic can seek to restrict the amount of salt in his or her diet. A healthy diet should supply a person with no more than 24 grams of salt each day. A diabetic can also circumvent his or her chances for developing arteriosclerosis by eating foods that are rich in potassium and calcium.

Two other areas that relate to lifestyle choices can determine the degree to which any one diabetic might be affected by arteriosclerosis. One of those areas focuses on stress. Stress can cause hypertension. Stress reducers, such as counseling and yoga, limit the chances that a diabetic will suffer from hypertension and arteriosclerosis. Refusal to smoke also helps with avoidance of those two cardiovascular diseases.

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Christopher Berry
Diabetic Discussion

With dealing with diabeties, I have to deal with shortness of breath all the time. I use to find it weird before I found out I was a diabetic but I know understand what is going on with my lungs. This is the hardest part, to me about being a diabetic.

What have you been diagnosed with that causes the shortness of breath?

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Christopher Berry
Diabetic Discussion

When I used to walk with a friend, after a mile or so, my right shin used to get so stiff and painful that I couldn't raise my foot to walk. But if I pushed myself through the really loud pain, after another mile (of agony) the stiffness would suddenly feel as if it washed away and I'd feel fine.

Since it went away if I forced it I never thought it was a diabetic problem. Can this be a circulation problem or is it shin splints that I've heard of?

I heard that not finding diabetes could cause alot of different health problems such as heart disease. I had a friend who had a heart attack because of diabetese which she didn't catch in time.

My father died from a TIA and CVBO: Transient Ischemia attack and Cardio Vascular Blow out.

Both from ill treated diabetes. My father was diligent and anal when it came to his diabeets. He was on high doses of Glucotrol but it had reached its efficacy and should have been changed to insulin. My father also had strange BP since the army. One side was always much higher than teh other, but doctors never found anything and when it quit smoking it just got worse. Yes you read that right, it got worse. The way the cardiologist explained, when he smoked it equalized the amount of oxygen and CVS constricture, basically equalizing it.
When he quit there was no equalizing, no external " drug" to create balanced pressure. So he went on to say, in my dads case if he continued to smoke, sure he would have small complications but he would have been around longer......
My grand mother died at 79 from a thinning of the artery wall, but it didnt rupture it just lost its elasticity. my grandfather from kidney failure due to the use of a dye that your not supposed to use on diabetics........

anyway. my family all experinced cardivascular problems, and now I have DVT starting, but we aregetting anatural handle and the best thing I can do is be on insuliin and vitamins......... and like fish and going away from red meat except in rare cases...........

I think alot of CV problems can be reduced in severity by some lifestyle changes as well as agressive treatment......... But tehn thats just me...