Types of Heart Disease Linked to Type 2 Diabetes

From clogged arteries to heart failure, type 2 diabetes can affect your ticker in a lot of ways. To help protect yourself, learn about the kinds of heart disease that are linked to diabetes and the warning signs to watch for.

Coronary Heart Disease

This is the most common type of heart disease in people with diabetes. When you have it, the arteries that carry blood to the muscle of your heart have a buildup of a fatty, waxy substance called plaque.

With time, plaque gets hard and makes your arteries stiff. As more of it collects, there’s less room for blood to flow, so your heart doesn’t get the oxygen it needs. Clumps of plaque can also burst apart, making you more likely to get blood clots in those vessels.

Add it all up, and it can lead to conditions like:

Angina. You may feel pain, pressure, or squeezing in your chest. You might even feel it in your arms, back, or jaw as well. Sometimes it feels a lot like indigestion. Physical activity and strong emotions can set it off or make it worse.

Arrhythmia. This is when your heart rate or rhythm is off. You might feel like your heart skips a beat, flutters, or beats too fast. At its worse, it can cause sudden cardiac arrest, where your heart stops beating.

Heart attack. It’s caused by a clot that cuts off blood flow in the arteries of the heart. You’re likely to have pain or discomfort in the center or left side of your chest. But that’s not always the case. With diabetes, you have higher odds of silent heart attacks, where you don’t even feel it happen.

Heart Failure

Despite the name, it doesn’t mean your heart has stopped working. It’s just that it’s too weak to pump enough blood to your body. Over time, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and high blood pressure all make you more likely to have it. They wear down your heart muscle because they keep it working too hard for too long.

When your body doesn’t get enough blood, your cells don’t get the oxygen they need. That can lead to symptoms like:

• Feeling tired and weak
• Hard time exercising
• Heartbeat that’s too fast or off-rhythm
• Problems staying focused
• Swelling in your legs, ankles, and feet
• Trouble breathing

Cardiomyopathy

If you don’t manage your diabetes closely, you could get a condition called cardiomyopathy. Your heart muscle gets thick and stiff. It just can’t work the same, which can lead to rhythm problems and heart failure.

Early on, you might not have any symptoms. But as the condition gets worse, it can lead to:

• Shortness of breath, even when you’re resting
• Chest pain
• Coughing, especially when you’re lying down
• Feeling dizzy or light-headed
• Feeling weak and tired
• Swelling in your legs, ankles, and feet

Other Conditions

Diabetes is also tied to:

High blood pressure. This happens when blood pushes against the walls of your blood vessels with a stronger force than normal. It makes your heart work harder than usual and damages your blood vessels.

Most people with type 2 diabetes also have high blood pressure. Together, they put a lot of extra strain on your heart, boosting your chance of having serious issues like heart disease and stroke.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD). With this condition, you have plaque buildup in the arteries of your legs. It typically causes pain in your calves. You’ll feel it when you walk or climb stairs, and it usually goes away with rest. Your legs may also feel heavy, numb, or weak.

PAD is also a warning sign. That’s because if you have plaque in your legs, you might have it in your heart, too. In fact, PAD raises your odds of having a stroke or heart attack.

Stroke. Diabetes also means you’re more likely to have a stroke, where blood flow to part of your brain gets cut off. The symptoms may come on suddenly and include:

• Drooping face, causing a lopsided smile
• A hard time talking, such as slurred speech
• Weakness in one arm, making it hard to lift and keep both arms in the air

Pterygium: What Is “Surfer’s Eye”?

A pterygium (tuh-RIJ-ee-uhm) is an elevated, wedged-shaped bump on the eyeball that starts on the white of the eye (sclera) and can invade the cornea. If you have more than one of these eye growths, the plural form of the word is pterygia (tuh-RIJ-ee-ah).Though it’s commonly called “surfer’s eye,” you don’t have to be a surfer or ever see the ocean to get a pterygium. But being in bright sunlight for long hours — especially when you are on water, which reflects the sun’s harmful UV rays — increases your risk.

Pterygia are benign (non-cancerous) growths, but they can permanently disfigure the eye. They also can cause discomfort and blurry vision.

Causes

Although ultraviolet radiation from the sun appears to be the primary cause for the development and growth of pterygia, dust and wind are sometimes implicated too, as is dry eye disease.

Pterygia usually develop in 30- to 50-year-olds, and these bumps on the eyeball rarely are seen in children. Having light skin and light eyes may put you at increased risk of getting a pterygium.

Signs And Symptoms

Pterygia usually occur on the side of the eye closer to the nose, but they can also develop on the side closer to the ear as well and can affect one eye or both eyes.

Many people with mild surfer’s eye may not experience symptoms or require treatment. But large or growing pterygia often cause a gritty, itchy or burning sensation or the feeling something is “in” the eye (called a foreign body sensation). Also, these pterygia often become inflamed, causing unattractive red eyes.

If a pterygium significantly invades the cornea, it can distort the shape of the front surface of the eye, causing astigmatism and higher-order aberrations that affect vision.

Sometimes people confuse pterygia with eye growths called pingueculae, but they are different. Learn more about what a pinguecula is.

Pterygium Treatment

Treatment of surfer’s eye depends on the size of the pterygium, whether it is growing and the symptoms it causes. Regardless of severity, pterygia should be monitored to prevent scarring that could lead to vision loss.

If a pterygium is small, your eye doctor may prescribe lubricants or a mild steroid eye drop to reduce swelling and redness. Contact lenses are sometimes used to cover the growth, protecting it from some of the effects of dryness or potentially from further UV exposure. Topical cyclosporine also may be prescribed for dry eye.

If pterygium surgery is required, several surgical techniques are available. Your ophthalmologist who performs the procedure will determine the best technique for your specific needs.

Pterygium excision may be performed either in a room at the doctor’s office or in an operating room. It’s important to note that pterygium removal can induce astigmatism, especially in people who already have astigmatism.

Surgery for pterygium removal usually lasts no longer than 30 minutes, after which you likely will need to wear an eye patch for protection for a day or two. You should be able to return to work or normal activities the next day.

Recurrence

Unfortunately, pterygia often return after surgical removal, possibly due to oxidative stress and/or continued UV exposure.

Exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun is a suspected cause of pterygia; wrap sunglasses will protect your eyes from all angles. These Zyon sailing sunglasses by Rudy Project come with removable side wings for even more eye protection.

Some studies show recurrence rates up to 40 percent, while others have reported recurrence rates as low as 5 percent. Some research even shows higher rates of recurrence in those who have pterygia removed during the summer months, potentially because of their increased exposure to sunlight.

To prevent regrowth after a pterygium is surgically removed, your eye surgeon may suture or glue a piece of surface eye tissue onto the affected area. This method, called autologous conjunctival autografting, has been shown to safely and effectively reduce the risk of pterygium recurrence.

A drug that can help limit abnormal tissue growth and scarring during wound healing, such as mitomycin C, also may be applied topically at the time of surgery and/or afterward to reduce the risk of pterygium recurrence.

After removal of the pterygium, the doctor will likely prescribe steroid eye drops for several weeks to decrease swelling and prevent regrowth. In addition to using your drops, it’s very important to protect your eyes from the sun with UV-blocking sunglasses or photochromic lenses after surgery, since exposure to ultraviolet radiation may be a key factor in pterygium recurrence