One of the causes of kidney failure is diabetes, a condition characterized by high blood glucose (sugar) levels.
Over time, the high levels of sugar in the blood damage the millions of tiny filtering units within each kidney.
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 Fatigue, Headache, Fluid retention (oedema of the legs or face), Nausea, and Vomiting.
There is no cure for diabetic kidney disease. Patients’ options include:
Prevention. this is the best form of treatment and includes good control of blood glucose levels and blood pressure.
Medications. This includes medications to reduce high blood pressure, particularly angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers to curb kidney damage.
Dialysis or artificial kidney treatment. End-stage kidney failure is the failure of the kidney to function at all.
Dialysis involves either shunting the patient’s blood through a special machine (haemodialysis) that helps remove the wastes while preserving water and salts, or removing wastes through fluid introduced into the abdomen (peritoneal dialysis).
Dialysis is required several times every week for the rest of the person’s life.
Kidney transplant. a healthy donor kidney, obtained either from someone who has died or from a relative or friend, replaces the function of the diseased kidneys.
Here are some of the best ways to prevent or slow diabetic nephropathy and take care of your kidney health:
Maintain your blood glucose levels in the optimum range. keep your blood pressure within the safe zone.
Pay more attention to your nutrition. Take all your prescribed medicines regularly. Don’t let stress get you down.
For more information about kidney disease in diabetes, please check this video:
If you care about kidney health, please read studies about common vegetables that may reduce kidney damage caused by diabetes, and smoking and vaping can damage kidneys in people with diabetes.
For more information about kidney diseases, please see recent studies about common eating habits that may harm your kidney health, and results showing this common diabetes drug may reduce chronic kidney disease.
