by Steven Mazzafield, Speech-Language Pathologist, Veterans Memorial Hospital
Diabetes is a disease that causes high levels of glucose or “sugar” in your blood. When you have high levels of blood sugar over a long period of time, it can be harmful to the brain in several ways.
First, it raises your risk of heart disease and stroke. It damages blood vessels that feed the brain, which leads to cognitive decline. High levels of blood sugar affect how brain cells communicate with one another. Lastly, it causes inflammation, which damages brain cells, leading to dementia.
Having high blood sugar can also damage nerve cells outside of the brain resulting in numbness or tingling in the hands and feet, which is called neuropathy. There is also a strong association between diabetes and developing depression, which can affect management of blood sugar levels.