In order to head off problems, you must understand the possible complications that accompany diabetes and its treatments.

People taking insulin can experience hypoglycemia--low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia can cause many problems, including coma. Muscle weakness and headaches are common signs of mild hypoglycemia.

Missing an insulin dose or having an infection can cause diabetic acidosis-a life threatening condition. Type 1 diabetics are more prone to diabetic acidosis than Type 2 diabetics are.

This occurs because insulin regulates glucose levels and the metabolism of body fat. Your body begins burning fat when your insulin level significantly drops. This leads to ketone-smelling breath. Your body responds with rapid breathing to reduce the problem, but this is only mildly successful.

Long term, diabetic retinopathy - a generation of the retina from damaged blood vessels - is another possibility. Kidney malfunction, as the kidneys come to filter less efficiently due to gradual destruction of the glomeruli, is also common.

Today, these complications can be avoided.

The possible long term effects of diabetes are very well known and there have been developed a number of strategies for dealing with them.

The first defense is proper self-care. Proper self-care helps to keep the insulin and glucose levels normal. Proper self-care also preserves the body's fitness to deal with any problems. Self-care includes keeping the blood pressure normal, so that complications from high blood pressure are avoided.

Methods are being developed which go beyond self-care. These methods target the two primary malfunctions of diabetes: insufficient insulin production (Type 1) and inadequate insulin use (Type 2). While there are other types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2 account for 95% of long-term cases. These new methods include organ transplant and gene therapy.

Organ transplantation, in this case of a defective pancreas is an option for those who have Type 1 diabetes. Though a serious procedure, and not for everyone, the surgery has come a long way over the past 30 years, as has every other type of transplant. Immunosuppressive drugs are more effective to reduce the odds of rejection. Some gene therapy techniques are being developed to eliminate even the need for that.

Beyond being an adjunct in aiding immune system suppression, gene therapy can have a more direct role. Research is being conducted to correct autoimmune disorders, one type of which causes Type 1 diabetes. Even Type 2 diabetes sufferers have hope as well, though.

Gene therapy holds out the promise of being able to adjust the efficiency with which the body uses insulin, the characteristic of Type 2. Gene therapy may be able to affect the gene that controls the production of insulin beta cells.

Research is active and ongoing. There are good reasons to hope that in the years to come diabetes may be treated more effectively or even eliminated entirely.