How Does Blood Sugar Affect The Kidneys?
22 Dec 2020 What is diabetic kidney disease?
Diabetic kidney disease is a disease caused by too much blood sugar levels in your body. Over time, too much sugar can damage the blood vessels in the kidneys and cause you problems. Diabetes is the leading cause of damage to the kidneys and their vessels. It is to note that 1 out of 3 adults with diabetes suffered from impaired kidney function.
The kidney’s main job is to separate waste and extra water out of the blood to produce urine. They contribute to the production of hormones that help control blood pressure and generate RBCs; both activities are helpful to stay healthy.
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When your kidneys are damaged, they may not perform their tasks regularly. This allows waste to build up in the body. Kidney damage can also cause other health problems in your body. Kidney damage triggered by diabetes develops slowly over the years. But you can always take measures to prevent or delay damage.
How does diabetes cause kidney disease?
High blood sugar or glucose can damage the blood vessels in the kidneys. When the vessels are injured or damaged, they may not function or work as intended.
It would not be unreasonable if you have high blood pressure during diabetes, which is yet another cause of kidney disease.
What alleviates your risk of developing diabetes kidney disease?
Having diabetes for an extended time can alleviate your chances of kidney damage. You are likely to have kidney disease if your:
- blood glucose is too high
- blood pressure is too high
And your risk of developing diabetic kidney disease increase, if you:
- smoke
- don’t follow your diabetes eating plan
- eat foods high in salt
- are not active
- are overweight
- have heart disease
- have a family history of diabetes and kidney failure
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How can you tell if you have diabetic kidney disease?
Most people with diabetic kidney disease generally do not notice any signs. The only way to know if you have diabetic kidney disease is to get it diagnosed with the help of blood and urine tests.
Healthcare professionals use blood and urine blood tests to check for diabetic kidney disease. The healthcare professional will check for albumin in the urine and the blood to see how well the kidneys are filtering the blood.
Get diagnosed every year for kidney disease if you
- have type 2 diabetes
- have type 1 diabetes
Keeping the kidneys healthy if you have diabetes
The best way to slow down or prevent diabetes-related kidney disease is to reach your blood glucose and blood pressure goals. Healthy lifestyle habits and medicines, as suggested, can help achieve and improve your health.
Reach your blood glucose goals
To know your blood sugar, your doctor may do a test called A1C. It is a blood test that shows your average blood glucose for the past three months. This is different from the blood glucose tests that are normally done. The higher your A1C count, the higher the blood sugar has been during this time. For a diabetic patient, the A1c goal should be below 7%. Make sure that you are helping your kidneys by reaching your A1C goals.
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For this, ask your healthcare team about your blood sugar goal. Work along with your dietician to get the results with the help of food, physical activity, and medicines. Ask your doctor about how frequently you should monitor your blood sugar levels.
Control your blood pressure
When the pressure of the blood against the wall of the blood vessels is too high, it is termed as high blood pressure. It also means that the heart has to work hard to pump the blood. High blood pressure can even damage the blood vessels in your kidneys.
Your healthcare team will also work to help you reach your blood pressure goals. The blood pressure goal for the diabetic patient should be below 140/90 mm Hg. But you should ask about what your goal should be given your health status.
Medicines that lower blood pressure pressurizes the kidney even more. So, be careful about your medicines.
Develop or maintain healthy lifestyle habits
Healthy lifestyle habits can help you reach your blood sugar and pressure goals. Adopt the following measures mentioned below to help you keep your kidneys healthy.
- Stop smoking
- Ask a dietitian to curate a diabetes meal plan for you
- Limit salt and sodium
- Make physical activity part of your routine
- Get enough sleep
- Manage your stress levels
Take medicines as suggested by your doctor
Medicines contribute to the treatment process. You can also take ayurvedic treatment to help manage blood sugar and blood pressure goals. Ayurveda helps prevent any damage to the other body parts as a result of alleviated blood sugar and blood pressure.
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Does diabetic kidney disease get worse over time?
Kidney damage due to diabetes gets worse as time passes. However, you can always take steps to help slow down kidney damage or delay kidney failure. Diabetes kidney damage may or may not progress to kidney failure as it is, to an extent dependent on you. If you take well care of your kidneys, you will not end up with kidney failure.
