Diabetes and Kidney Disease
Diabetes and Kidney Disease
Diabetes is a potentially disaterous disease that affects kidneys, stomach and every other organ in the body. It is a condition in which the body is unable to produce or properly use insulin. Insulin, a hormone that is necessary for converting starches, sugar and other food into energy. The thing that leads to diabetes is unknown and there is no known cure. It can alsooften be controlled through proper diet. And you should know, effective management may be achieved under a endocrinologist'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, Lori Davis Book, MD of Colorado Springs, CO, Cheryl Lyda Medalla Almirante, MD at Inland Hospital in Waterville, ME, Melanie J. Brunt, MD, MPH at The Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge, MA, Merilyn Goldschmid, MD of Tucson AZ, Dr Maria Kraw of Toronto
In 2005, it was estimated that there were 20.8 million people of all ages who are afflicted by this disease. That is just about 7% of the population. Of all of those, 14.6 million people were diagnosed, but 6.2 million people were thought to have diabetes but they had not found out yet. Also, neaerly fifty four million folks are pre-diabetic with 1.5 million new disease found in people older than 20, emerging each year.
Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney disease. In fact, high blood pressure and diabetes are the two leading causes of kidney disease. This is responsible for an estimated 70 percent of renal failure with diabetes accounting of 44 percent of kidney failure cases. The early stages of kidney disease have virtually no symptoms or signs . It underhandedly attacks your body and by the time it is detected, the disease is so great that it can be too advanced to prevent kidney failure. Once your kidneys fail, you have two options: kidney transplant or dialysis. If you do not receive either of these, you will die.
How Diabetes causes Renal Disease
When your kidneys are serving properly, the glomeruli (tiny filters that are in the kidneys) keep your serum proteins inside of your blood. Protein is necessary for quite a few functions within your body and are needed to keep you healthy. Diabetes causes 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 leaks into the urine from the kidneys.
When the kidneys are thus damaged they no longer work properly and do not cleanse our extra fluids and waste as they should. When this occurs, the waste and fluids build up in the blood instead of being secreted in the urine. As this continues, the worse the damage becomes until the kidneys eventually fail.
The Progression of Renal Disease
It can take years for diabetic kidney disease to develop. Some diabetics 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, though, it will continue to progress. As a person develops kidney disease, they will have a serum protein named albumin that finally begins to enter into the urine in small amounts. At this time, usually the glomeruli are really working normally.
The progression of the disease leads to more protein moving into the urine and the glomeruli begin to progressively fail as the filtering begins to decrease. Waste is kept in the blood because of the filtration failure. As a result, the kidneys fail.
How to Prevent Kidney Problems if you have Diabetes
Having diabetes, you can normally prevent kidney problems. Use these steps to protect yourself: * Control your diabetes by eating well and getting good exercise * Take your medication according to your doctors orders * Have your endocrinologist test your blood routinely for kidney disease * If testing shows that you do have kidney disease, consider medicines such as ACE inhibitors and ARBs (angiotensin II receptor blockers) that can help keep your kidneys healthy.
A diagnosis of diabetes does not have to result in kidney disease. As long as you adequately treat your condition, manage it well and follow your provider's orders, there is no reason that you can't live a long, healthy, happy life - without kidney disease.
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