Reasons To Quit Smoking If You Are Diabetic

Saturday, January 9, 2016, 10:50 [IST]

Diabetes itself is considered as a silent killer. If you have the habit of smoking, no doubt, you are making your health even worse! When you have diabetes, you are under the risk of getting many associated health problems.

When you light up your cigarette, you are making its complications more severe. Smoking will make diabetes more difficult to manage and control, even after having taken medicines or insulin.

Nicotine, present in the cigarettes, is the major culprit for making the health of diabetes patients worse. There are studies that prove that the presence of nicotine in blood can increase the concentration of HbA1c.

This means, the amount of glucose that sticks to your haemoglobin will tend to increase. This, then reaches other parts of the body and can cause specific organ-associated health problems.

Another important finding from studies is that nicotine replacement measures like nicotine patches or e-cigarettes that contain nicotine are also harmful for diabetic patients.

The common complications that you may face are heart and kidney diseases, blood vessel blockages, infections, poor blood flow to organs like legs, retinopathy and neuropathy.

Here, we will discuss on why smoking cessation is the best option if you are a diabetic individual. Remember these reasons to avoid and quit smoking if you are a diabetic individual.

Heart Diseases

Smoking and diabetes can together affect your heart's health. This can increase your chance of getting cardiac problems like atherosclerosis. Smoking will contribute to an increased blood pressure as well.

Nicotine is the prime reason that increases the complications of heart diseases in diabetic patients, who are already under the risk of getting heart problems.

Kidney Problems

Nephropathy is a common complication of diabetes. When you are a smoker, you are increasing the chance of getting the complications even more faster.

Kidney damage can be permanent and can lead to life-threatening situations. Therefore, you must quit smoking if you don't want to harm your kidney's health.

Insulin Resistance

People who have diabetes will find it difficult to manage their blood sugar level, if they are smokers too. The main reason behind this is increased insulin resistance due to smoking.

Many studies have proved the relation between smoking and insulin resistance. This is one of the major reasons why you should quit smoking if you are a diabetic individual.

Retinopathy

Glucose, when circulated in an increased concentration throughout the body, can increase the chance of retinopathy. Smoking can also cause age-related macular degeneration, cataract and glaucoma.

Therefore, quitting smoking is the only solution to reduce the rate of progression of these eye-related problems.

Erectile Dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction is a common problem of people who fall under the category of diabetes and smoking. So, if you are having both together, your chance for experiencing erectile dysfunction is doubled.

If you're wondering why you should quit smoking if you have diabetes, know that this is one of the most important reasons.

Stroke

Smoking will cause deposition of nicotine in the blood vessels. This will eventually lead to blockage of the blood vessels, especially the ones in the brain.

Therefore, this can lead to other complications such as stroke. The habit of smoking can thus increase the likelihood of a diabetic person to experience a stroke, in case he is a smoker.

Therefore, quit smoking today, especially if you are a diabetic individual!