Men know they need to keep heart health in mind, especially after the age of 65. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 357,761 men died of heart disease in 2019 — roughly 1 in 4 of all men who died that year. But while attention is often paid to heart disease, stroke, and cancer, there's one serious ailment that's often dismissed as nothing more than an increasingly common nuisance: Diabetes.
This disease has often been called a silent killer because more than one-third of diabetics don't even know they have it. And there can be disastrous consequences from being unaware of symptoms or, worse, failing to take steps to control it.
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While it's easy to dismiss diabetes as a manageable disease and thus not a serious one, missing that it's a problem and failing to treat it properly can lead to damaged internal organs and worsening heart disease. People who die of heart disease actually are 2 to 4 times more likely to have diabetes, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The risk of stroke is also 2 to 4 times higher in diabetics.
This is to say nothing of other serious complications, such as diabetes being the leading cause of kidney failure and new cases of blindness in adults between 20 and 74. If you find yourself experiencing frequent urination, sudden weight loss, extreme hunger and thirst, and blurry vision, don't hesitate — get to the doctor as soon as possible. These are indicators of diabetes and need to be checked out.
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