Wendie Trubow, MD, MBA, IFMCPPresident at Five Journeys, Functional Medicine & Wellness Provider, Best Selling Author, Passionate Champion for Health

The Dangers of Ignoring Diabetes

5 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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0:48

In this short multi‑speaker discussion, the participants outline the severe health consequences of untreated diabetes. They enumerate a range of complications: blurred vision progressing to diabetic retinopathy and blindness; kidney stress that can require dialysis or transplantation; high blood pressure and high cholesterol that raise the risk of heart attacks and strokes; peripheral neuropathy leading to foot problems and possible amputation, as well as erectile dysfunction and reduced libido; increased risk of various cancers; and the emerging concept of "type 3 diabetes," linking chronic high blood sugar to Alzheimer’s disease. The tone is conversational yet urgent, emphasizing how brutal and life‑threatening these outcomes can be if diabetes is ignored.

What are the problems with untreated diabetes? That, 'cause like diabetes, sure, that's bad, but what is it for people that matters to reverse their diabetes? What are the consequences of diabetes?
Yeah, the consequences are brutal. I mean, you could literally get blurred vision that can go to diabetic retinopathy that can lead to blindness. You can get kidney stress that can lead to dialysis or needing a kidney transplant. You can get high blood pressure, high cholesterol that can lead to a heart attack or a stroke. You get neuropathy in your feet that can lead to an amputation. It causes ED, causes low sex drive in women, can cause cancer, can cause Alzheimer's. I mean, it's like, it's brutal, right? Those are the reasons why.
Yeah, I'm double-clicking on that type 3 diabetes now, which is— yes, now we're calling Alzheimer's.
Exactly.
Yeah, because people, people like don't care about their eyes per se. That's a long-term thing, but they really They've seen so many people get, so many of their families get Alzheimer's. Yes. And they don't realize that the elevated blood sugar is massive. Yeah.