This is one of the leading cause of kidney disease

Overtime, high blood glucose (known as blood sugar) can damage the blood vessels in your kidneys which makes it a leading cause of kidney disease. When the blood vessels in the kidneys are injured, kidneys can’t remove waste products and extra fluid from the body properly. This condition is called Diabetic Nephropathy. Many people with diabetes also develop high blood pressure, which may also cause more kidney damage by raising the pressure in the filtering system of the kidneys.

End-stage renal failure, or kidney failure, occurs when patients’ kidneys are no longer able to support them in a reasonably healthy state and they may require dialysis or kidney transplantation. It occurs when you have only 10 to 15 percent kidney function.

Signs of kidney disease in people with diabetes are protein in the urine, high blood pressure, swelling of feet, ankles, hands or eyes, leg cramps, foamy urine, going to the bathroom more often at night, high levels of BUN and creatinine in the blood, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, unexplained weight loss, morning sickness, nausea and vomiting, paleness, anemia and itching. If symptoms are left untreated, diabetic nephropathy can cause complications such as body fluid buildup leading to swelling in the arms and legs, high blood pressure, or fluid in the lungs (known as pulmonary edema).

If you have diabetes, uncontrolled high blood sugar also (hyperglycemia), unchecked high blood pressure (hypertension), smoking, high blood cholesterol, obesity and a family history of diabetes and kidney disease may make you more prone to diabetic nephropathy.

According to Dr. Shri Ram Kabra, Director - Department of Nephrology & Kidney Transplant Medicine, Marengo Asia Hospital, Faridabad, “People with diabetes are recommended to have your blood, urine, kidney function test and blood pressure checked at least once a year. This may result in better control of your disease and early treatment of high blood pressure and kidney disease. Maintaining control of your diabetes can minimize the risk of developing severe kidney disease.”

Once your kidneys have failed, you may be advised to undergo kidney transplantation, hemodialysis, and peritoneal dialysis.

To minimize the risk of diabetic nephropathy, you should follow certain measures:

Keep your diabetes under control

Keep your body weight in check by doing regular exercise

Avoid high protein diet, control your daily diet

Avoid self-medication specially pain killers as excessive consumption of these medicines can damage your kidneys

Control blood pressure too

Say no or limit smoking as cigarette smoking can damage kidneys or make kidney damage more worse

Patients with kidney failure due to diabetes should not do vigorous exercise as it may increase protein in your urine. You can do a normal brisk walk but should avoid running.

Diabetes patients should keep getting their urine tested once every 6 months.

Diabetic patients having kidney problems should avoid consuming citrus foods like lemon, sweet lime, orange, tomato, gooseberry etc. because their consumption can increase the amount of potassium in the blood, hence they should eat tinda, ridge gourd, pumpkin etc. Consumption of most pulses and gram should be stopped. They can be fed only moong dal, arhar dal and masoor dal. Instead of citrus fruits, you can eat fresh fruits such as apple, papaya, pear.

Consume dry fruits as per the advice of doctor or dietician

Take your medicines regularly as prescribed by your doctor

Cut down intake of salty, processed food

Reduce mental stress

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