Diabetes and Kidney Disease

Diabetes is a potentially disaterous problem that affects kidneys, stomach, nerves, eyes and every other organ in the body. It is a problem in which the body is unable to properly use or produce insulin. Insulin, a hormone that is necessary for converting starches, sugar and other food into energy. The cause of diabetes is unknown and there is no known cure although effective management may be achieved under a doctor's care.

Endocrinologists are specialists that treat diabetes. They are easy to find in most areas. Here are some examples: David Alster, MD of Tucson AZ, Dr Marsha Werb of Toronto, Udaya Manohar Kabadi, MD, FACE of Des Moines, IA, Mohammad S. Alam, MD, FACE at Providence Medical Group in Terre Haute, IN, Frederick G. Berlinger, MD, FACE in Columbus, NC, Vasti L. Broadstone, MD of New Albany, IN, Leigh Marie Eck, MD of Kansas City, KS, Dr Daniel Drucker of Toronto, Dr Sylvia Asa of Toronto

In 2005, it was estimated that there were 20.8 million people of all ages who are afflicted with the disease. That is just about 7% of the population. Of all of those, 14.6 million people had been diagnosed, but 6.2 million people were thought to have diabetes but they had not seen a doctor. Additionally, neaerly 54 million folks are pre-diabetic with one and a half million diabetes found in people over 20, showing up annually.

Diabetes is the number one cause of renal disease. Truly, hypertension and diabetes are the two primary causes of kidney disease. This causes about 70 percent of kidney failure cases with diabetes accounting of 44 percent of kidney failure cases. The early stages of kidney disease have virtually no symptoms or signs . It attacks your body and by the time it is finally detected, the injury is so great that it might well be too far to prevent failure of the kidneys. Once your kidneys fail, you have two options: kidney transplant or dialysis. If you do not receive either one of these, you will eventually die.

How Diabetes causes Renal Disease

When both kidneys are functioning properly, the glomeruli (tiny filters that are in the kidneys) keep your serum proteins inside of your body. Protein is vital for a multitude of functions within your body and are needed for keeping you healthy. Diabetes creates a greater concentration of glucose in the blood which damages the glomeruli. The result is that they are no longer effective in keeping the protein in the body and it seeps into the urine from the kidneys.

When the kidneys are damaged they no longer work correctly and do not cleanse our waste and extra fluids as they should. When this occurs, the fluids and waste build up in the serum instead of being removed through urine. The longer this happens, the worse the damage becomes until the kidneys eventually fail.

The Progression of Renal Disease

It often requires years for diabetic kidney disease to develop. Some experience hyperfiltration in the first few years of their diabetes. This means that the glomeruli actually leak out more than normal. Once the damage starts, however, it continues. As a person develops kidney disease, they will have a serum protein named albumin that will begin to leak into the urine in small amounts. At this time, normally the glomeruli are actually functioning normally.

The progression of the disease will lead to more protein moving into the urine and the glomeruli begin to fail as the filtering apparatus begins to drop. Waste is kept in the serum because of the filtration failure. Finally, the kidneys stop functioning.

How to Prevent Kidney Problems if you have Diabetes

Having diabetes, you can often prevent kidney problems. Use these steps to protect yourself: * Control your diabetes by eating the right foods and getting good exercise * Take your medication as prescribed * Have your endocrinologist test your blood regularly for kidney disease * If the laboratory test shows that you do have kidney disease, consider medicines like ARBs and ACE inhibitors that can help keep your kidneys healthy.

A diagnosis of diabetes does not have to automatically result in kidney disease. As long as you treat your condition, manage it well and follow your physician's orders, there is no reason that you can't live a long, healthy, happy life - without kidney disease.

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