Diabetes and your Kidney: What is diabetic kidney disease?
Diabetic kidney disease is a type of kidney disease caused by diabetes.
Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease. About 1 out of 3 adults with diabetes has kidney disease.1
The main job of the kidneys is to filter wastes and extra water out of your blood to make urine. Your kidneys also help control blood pressure and make hormones that your body needs to stay healthy.
Diabetes and your Kidney: What are other names for diabetic kidney disease?
Diabetic kidney disease is also called DKD, chronic kidney disease, CKD, kidney disease of diabetes, or diabetic nephropathy.
How does diabetes cause kidney disease?
High blood glucose, also called blood sugar, can damage the blood vessels in your kidneys. When the blood vessels are damaged, they don’t work as well. Many people with diabetes also develop high blood pressure, which can also damage your kidneys. Learn more about high blood pressure and kidney disease.
What increases my chances of developing diabetic kidney disease?
Having diabetes for a longer time increases the chances that you will have kidney damage. If you have diabetes, you are more likely to develop kidney disease if your
- blood glucose is too high
- blood pressure is too high
You are also more likely to develop kidney disease if you have diabetes and
- smoke
- don’t follow your diabetes eating plan
- eat foods high in salt
- are not active
- are overweight
- have heart disease
- have a family history of kidney failure
Diabetic nephropathy is a serious kidney-related complication of type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. It is also called diabetic kidney disease. About 25% of people with diabetes eventually develop kidney disease.
Diabetic nephropathy affects your kidneys’ ability to do their usual work of removing waste products and extra fluid from your body. The best way to prevent or delay diabetic nephropathy is by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and treating your diabetes and high blood pressure.
How can I prevent diabetic kidney disease or keep it from getting worse?
To prevent diabetic kidney disease or keep it from getting worse, you can:
- Control your blood sugar
- Control your blood pressure
- Control your cholesterol
- Eat healthy
- Quit smoking or using tobacco
- Be active most days of the week
- Stay at a healthy weight
- People with diabetes should aim for a blood sugar level:
- Between 80 mg/dL and 130 mg/dL before eating
- Less than 180 mg/dL about two hours after eating
Ask your doctor how often to check your blood sugar and what your blood sugar level should be.
While your blood sugar may be too high, it can also be too low. If your blood sugar is too low, you can increase it by:
- Eating a glucose tablet, raisins, hard candy or honey
- Drinking fruit juice, milk or a sugary drink
Then, use your meter to check your blood sugar again after 15 minutes to make sure it is getting higher
Aim for a blood pressure of 120/80 mm Hg (120 over 80)
- Total cholesterol less than 200 mg/dL
- HDL more than 40 mg/dL
- LDL less than 100 mg/dL
Your triglycerides are also important. For most people, a healthy triglyceride level is less than 150 mg/dL.
Symptoms of kidney failure
For people with diabetes, kidney problems are usually picked up during a check-up by their doctor. Occasionally, a person can have type 2 diabetes without knowing it. This means their unchecked high blood sugar levels may be slowly damaging their kidneys. At first, the only sign is high protein levels in the urine, but this has no symptoms. It may be years before the kidneys are damaged severely enough to cause symptoms. Some of the symptoms may include:
- Fluid retention (oedema of the legs or face)
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Nausea
- Vomiting.
The first symptom of kidney disease is often fluid buildup. Other symptoms of kidney disease include loss of sleep, poor appetite, upset stomach, weakness, and difficulty concentrating.
It is vital to see a doctor regularly. The doctor can check blood pressure, urine (for protein), blood (for waste products), and organs for other complications of diabetes.
How can I prevent it?
Diabetic kidney disease can be prevented by keeping blood glucose in your target range. Research has shown that tight blood glucose control reduces the risk of microalbuminuria by one-third. In people who already had microalbuminuria, the risk of progressing to macroalbuminuria was cut in half. Other studies have suggested that tight control can reverse microalbuminuria.
Treatments for kidney disease
Self-care
Important treatments for kidney disease are tight control of blood glucose and blood pressure. Blood pressure has a dramatic effect on the rate at which the disease progresses. Even a mild rise in blood pressure can quickly make kidney disease worsen. Four ways to lower your blood pressure are losing weight, eating less salt, avoiding alcohol and tobacco, and getting regular exercise.
Drugs
When these methods fail, certain medicines may be able to lower blood pressure. There are several kinds of blood pressure drugs, however, not all are equally good for people with diabetes. Some raise blood glucose levels or mask some of the symptoms of low blood glucose. Doctors usually prefer people with diabetes to take blood pressure drugs called ACE inhibitors.
ACE inhibitors are recommended for most people with diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease. Recent studies suggest that ACE inhibitors, which include captopril and enalapril, slow kidney disease in addition to lowering blood pressure. In fact, these drugs are helpful even in people who do not have high blood pressure.
Diet
Another treatment some doctors use with macroalbuminuria is a low-protein diet. Protein seems to increase how hard the kidneys must work. A low-protein diet can decrease protein loss in the urine and increase protein levels in the blood. Never start a low-protein diet without talking to your health care team.
Kidney failure
Once kidneys fail, dialysis is necessary. The person must choose whether to continue with dialysis or to get a kidney transplant.
it is always scary when diabetes damages the kidney, the body will no longer be able to filter out fluid from the system. There is fluid accumulation on the face and the legs. The person’s body size doubles.
My brother had diabetes and died from the complications of diabetes. Please, let us not play with monitoring the blood sugar ad please take the medications as prescribed.
you can get your health supplements here. Detoxify your body system up to cellular level to allow the prescription drugs and the supplements to work, get yours here.
Buy your other health need here
sign up for our newsletter here
get your antidiabetes tea and supplements here
Get your weight loss pack here