Diabetic kidney disease is damage to your kidneys caused by diabetes. This is sometimes called diabetic nephropathy. In severe cases it can lead to kidney failure. But not everyone with diabetes has kidney damage.
There are no symptoms in the early stages of diabetic kidney disease. If you have kidney damage, you may have small amounts of protein leaking into your urine. (This is called albuminuria.)
As diabetic kidney disease progresses, your kidneys can't do their job as they should. They can't clear toxins or balance the chemicals in your blood very well. You may:
You may have symptoms if your kidney disease gets worse. They include:
If the kidneys are severely damaged, blood sugar levels may drop. That's because the kidneys can't remove excess insulin or filter medicines that increase insulin production.
Diabetic kidney disease is diagnosed using tests that check how well your kidneys are working. These include a test that checks for a protein (albumin) in the urine. Another test checks how well your kidneys are filtering waste from your blood. This is called the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).
An albumin urine test can detect very small amounts of protein in the urine. This allows doctors to find kidney disease early. Starting treatment early can prevent further damage to the kidneys.
The eGFR is measured using a formula that compares a person's size, age, and sex to blood creatinine levels. As kidney disease gets worse, the eGFR number goes down.
When your doctor will start checking your kidney function depends on the type of diabetes you have. After testing starts, it should be done every year.
The main treatment is medicine to lower your blood pressure and prevent or slow the damage to your kidneys. Medicines include:
There are other steps you can take. For example:
As kidney damage gets worse, your blood pressure and cholesterol level rise. You may need to take more than one medicine to treat these problems. If damage becomes severe, you may need kidney dialysis or a transplant.
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