73-year-old Ms. An has been suffering from diabetes for more than 20 years. She found that although her blood sugar was generally well controlled and her fasting could be maintained below 7, in the past six months, she I often feel chest tightness, shortness of breath, and fatigue. Sometimes I exercise for a while, and I still feel chest pain. I went to the hospital for examination and found that I had coronary heart disease and carotid artery plaque.

As an old patient with many years of diabetes, Ms. An knows that there are many diabetic friends around her who are deeply affected by diabetic foot, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic eye disease, heart disease Due to the trouble of vascular complications, some people with diabetes also go to the hospital for heart stents, but those people with diabetes usually do not have good blood sugar control! Obviously, her blood sugar was well controlled, but she did not expect complications, and Ms. An was very distressed. Here, I would like to remind people with diabetes: even if blood sugar is well controlled, diabetes may be worsening.

1. Why is blood sugar well controlled but still can’t stop complications?

I have discussed with you before about the relationship between blood sugar and complications in the treatment of diabetes. It does not mean that blood sugar is well controlled, it means that you can sit back and relax without worrying about complications. . Many diabetic patients think that their diabetes is simply high blood sugar. I saw a patient last year, and she thought that the complications were nothing more than high blood sugar.

Therefore, they felt that as long as they “pegged” blood sugar firmly, they basically did a good job in the treatment of diabetes. But this kind of thinking is really very wrong. The patient I mentioned at the beginning is a very typical example.

Her blood sugar is well controlled, but isn’t she still suffering from diabetic coronary heart disease? Therefore, I hope that diabetic patients understand that diabetes is a chronic wasting disease, and the blood sugar level is only a superficial manifestation of the disease.

The body of a diabetic patient is basically on a path of gradual depletion and damage from the day of the disease. Because all diseases, whether diabetes or other diseases, are not formed overnight. Diseases are the result of a combination of factors, but the causes often share some commonalities and laws.

Second, regarding the prevention and treatment of complications, TCM believes that the fundamental problem must be understood first

If you want to do a good job in the targeted treatment and prevention of complications, you must first understand the fundamental problem of why you get diabetes.Because the complications of diabetes are It is developed on the basis of diabetes, so patients who have developed complications have basically suffered from diabetes for many years. When discussing the etiology of diabetes, traditional Chinese medicine mainly focuses on the following four aspects. For diabetic patients who have developed complications, the prevention and treatment work should focus on the following points:

1 Improper diet

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that fatty food generates internal heat, and sweet food can easily lead to blockage of the spleen and stomach qi, causing abdominal distention, belching, and hiccups. and other symptoms, long-term eating of thick and greasy food will easily accumulate heat toxin in the spleen and stomach of the middle burner, thus leading to the occurrence of diabetes.

2 Emotion Disharmony

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that long-term excess of the five will induce thirst. To give a simple example, for example, many diabetes The patient’s temper is not very good, and the anger is easy to damage the liver, and the stagnation of liver qi can turn into fire, which in turn can damage the yin and body fluid, and cause thirst.

3 Overwork

This part mainly refers to physical exertion Tiredness, such as overwork at work will damage muscles and bones, excessive sexual intercourse will cause loss of kidney essence, kidney deficiency and yin dryness, etc. These factors will cause diabetes.

4 Genetic Factors

This is mainly related to heredity. For example, the patient has a family history of diabetes, hereditary obesity in the family, a congenital constitution of Yin deficiency and fire, etc. , eventually developing diabetes.

The above four points, except the last point, we can’t change, the other three points, diabetic patients can avoid it through their own efforts.

Third, what should TCM do in the face of this kind of patient?

Arterial plaques belong to the category of “cervical arterial obstruction” in traditional Chinese medicine. Diabetic patients due to qi and blood deficiency, the body’s yin deficiency and internal heat, consume body fluid and burn fluid, eventually Qi stagnation and blood stasis, blood stasis stagnates the collaterals, and the stasis becomes heat poison for a long time, which eventually leads to the occurrence of carotid plaques. Due to the age of the patient, the long course of disease, and the symptoms of constipation at the time of consultation. Therefore, for his treatment, I usually focus on clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, soothing liver and spleen, and moistening intestines and defecation.

In the recipe, Astragalus and Red Ginseng replenish Qi and solidify, and relieve fatigue and fatigue; Asparagus, Trichosanthes, nourish yin and moisten the lungs, promote fluid and quench thirst; Ophiopogon japonicus, Atractylodes Etc. to strengthen the spleen and replenish qi; Magnolia officinalis to widen the middle, eliminate accumulation and guide stagnation; rhubarb clears heat and detoxifies, clears the internal organs and purifies turbidity; citrus aurantium clears the internal organs and lowers the qi and so on. The patient received a period of traditional Chinese medicine conditioning, the plaques were reduced, and the symptoms such as chest tightness, shortness of breath, and fatigue were relieved.

Concluding remarks:I hope that diabetic patients will not be obsessed with blood sugar levels, and must have regular physical examinations. Watch out for complications. Well, I will share it with you in this issue. Welcome to follow me. If you have any diabetes-related questions, you can leave me a message in the comment area.