Diabetic Kidney Disease

Diabetes can cause major damage to the kidneys. Excess blood sugar due to diabetes damages the kidney filters. This causes a protein called albumin to leak out of blood into the urine. Albumin is a protein essential for health, and its loss causes great harm to the human body. The damaged kidneys also fail to filter out wastes and excessive fluid from the blood. As a result, these accumulate in the body, producing many symptoms and complications. This condition is medically known as “diabetic kidney disease” or “diabetic nephropathy”.

Know your Kidneys

To understand diabetic kidney disease, you need to know a little about your kidneys. Humans have two bean-shaped kidneys that are found just below the rib cage, one on each side of the spine, and are about the size of our fist. These organs have the ability to filter about 120 to 150 quarts of blood, producing 1 to 2 quarts of urine. The urine passes into the bladder via tubes called ureters. The bladder stores urine until it is full, or we decide to eliminate it. Thus urine passes out as waste, when we urinate.

Diabetic Kidney Disease Symptoms

The onset of diabetic kidney disease is so slow that it may not produce any obvious signs or symptoms for many years. You may not feel sick even when the kidney function is cut by half, or only one kidney is functioning. Kidney disease can be detected only by tests that check the protein or albumin level in your urine. If you have diabetes, it is important that you do this kind of testing at least once a year, so that you are aware of any kidney problems.

Nonetheless, the most common symptom of diabetic kidney disease is swelling in certain parts of your body, such as your hands, face, feet, or ankles. You may also notice that your urine is foamy, because of the large amount of protein in your urine. Once kidney function is severely affected, symptoms become quite noticeable, such as:

• Increased or decreased urination
• Drowsiness or tiredness
• Itching or numbness
• Dry skin
• Headaches
• Weight loss
• Low appetite
• Sick feeling in the stomach
• Vomiting
• Sleep problems
• Trouble staying focused
• Skin darkening
• Muscular cramps

Kidney Disease Diagnosis

There are some tests that can help detect if you have diabetic kidney disease. These include: 1. Albumin and creatinine measurement – Albumin levels can be checked with a urine test. A high level of albumin in your urine may mean you have kidney disease. The urine sample is screened for the amount of albumin compared with the amount of creatinine, a waste product also found in your urine. A urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio test result above 30 indicates a kidney problem.

2. Estimated glomerular filtration rate H*)5 test – This blood test is meant to measure how much blood your kidneys filter each minute. If the test results show that your kidneys are not filtering enough blood, it may indicate kidney damage or even kidney failure. You should get this test done at least once a year.

3. Blood pressure test – You should also check your blood pressure regularly.

Diabetic Kidney Disease Treatment

One of the best ways to slow the progression of diabetic kidney disease is to keep a tight check on your blood glucose and blood pressure.

If you are suffering from high blood pressure, or have protein in your urine, your doctor may advise you to take ACE inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB). This can help control your blood pressure and reduce kidney damage.

However, pregnant women should not take an

ACE inhibitor or ARB.

To properly monitor your kidney condition, you should regularly consult your doctor and get your urine and blood tests done as advised.

You may also be asked to consult a nephrologist, a specialist in kidney diseases.

Stop!

Consult your medical doctor!

FUN FACT A human foot & ankle is a strong, mechanical structure that contain 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons & ligaments.

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