Being overweight or obese is a leading risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Being overweight can keep your body from making and using insulin properly, and can also cause high blood pressure.

Diabetes can indeed affect pregnancy. It can affect the baby's development. They may end up heavier than normal and the risk of premature birth is higher. Some women may acquire what is known as Gestational Diabetes during pregnancy, which is controllable with insulin injections, which goes away after birth.

Diabetes, a disease that prevents your body from making or using insulin to break down sugar in your bloodstream, can cause changes in nearsightedness, farsightedness, and premature presbyopia. In fact, the early signs of diabetes are often detected during eye examinations. Diabetes can lead to cataracts, glaucoma, and decreased eye-muscle coordination and cornea sensitivity.

Being sick by itself can raise your blood glucose. Moreover, illness can prevent you from eating properly, which further affects blood glucose. In addition, diabetes can make the immune system more vulnerable to severe cases of the flu. People with diabetes who come down with the flu may become very sick and may even have to go to a hospital. You can help keep yourself from getting the flu by getting a flu shot every year. Everyone with diabetes-even pregnant women-should get a yearly flu shot.

It is estimated that up to 20 million people have diabetes, but only two-thirds of these individuals are diagnosed. Studies have shown that diabetics are more susceptible to the development of oral infections and periodontal (gum) disease than those who do not have diabetes. Oral infections tend to be more severe in diabetic patients than non-diabetic patients. And, diabetics who do not have good control over their blood sugar levels tend to have more oral health problems.

Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body's glucose (sugar) levels are abnormally high. Diabetes occurs when your pancreas stops making enough insulin, which is necessary for the proper metabolism of digested foods. Diabetes doesn't interfere with digestion, but it does prevent the body from using an important product of digestion: glucose for energy. When we eat, foods containing proteins, fats, and carbohydrates are broken down into simpler, easily absorbed chemicals.

Diabetes and its complications can affect many parts of the eye. Diabetes can cause changes in nearsightedness, farsightedness and premature presbyopia (the inability to focus on close objects). It can result in cataracts, glaucoma, a lack of eye muscle coordination (strabismus) and in decreased corneal sensitivity. Visual symptoms of diabetes include fluctuating or blurring of vision, occasional double vision, loss of visual field and flashes and floaters within the eyes.

being born very large and with extra fat; this can make delivery difficult and more dangerous for your baby If you have gestational diabetes, your health care team may recommend some extra tests to check on your baby, such as kick counts" to check your baby's activity (the time between the baby's movements) or special "stress" tests

The good news is your gestational diabetes will probably go away after your baby is born. However, you will be more likely to get type 2 diabetes later in your life. (See the information on how to lower your chances of getting type 2 diabetes.) You may also get gestational diabetes again if you get pregnant again. Some women wonder whether breastfeeding is OK after they have had gestational diabetes.

Diabetes can affect blood flow and nerves in the feet. If the tissues have been damaged, it is very difficult to heal a wound and fight infection. The nerve damage is called neuropathy (numbness) and you can "walk a hole (ulcer) in the foot" and not even know it. The most important thing a diabetic can do is check feet daily for changes.

Patients with diabetes are more likely to develop eye problems such as cataracts and glaucoma, but the disease's affect on the retina is the main threat to vision. Most patients develop diabetic changes in the retina after approximately 20 years. The effect of diabetes on the eye is called diabetic retinopathy. Over time, diabetes affects the circulatory system of the retina. The earliest phase of the disease is known as background diabetic retinopathy.

In diabetic kidney disease (also called diabetic nephropathy), cells and blood vessels in the kidneys are damaged, affecting the organs' ability to filter out waste. Waste builds up in your blood instead of being excreted. In some cases this can lead to kidney failure. When the kidneys fail, a person has to have his or her blood filtered through a machine (a treatment called dialysis) several times a week, or has to get a kidney transplant.

Gastroparesis, otherwise known as delayed gastric emptying, is a disorder where, due to nerve damage, the stomach takes too long to empty itself. It frequently occurs in people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Symptoms of gastroparesis include heartburn, nausea, vomiting of undigested food, an early feeling of fullness when eating, weight loss, abdominal bloating, erratic blood glucose levels, lack of appetite, gastroesophageal reflux, and spasms of the stomach wall.