Diabetic Kidney Disease

What is diabetic kidney disease?

Diabetic kidney disease is kidney disease resulting from diabetes. Diabetes is a common disease affecting the way you process glucose or blood sugar. If you don’t manage your diabetes effectively, the accumulation of blood sugar can damage your body and affect various organs and systems. 

Over time, built up glucose in your blood can damage the delicate blood vessels within your kidneys. When this happens, your kidneys slowly lose their ability to filter waste products out of your blood. Diabetes often causes high blood pressure and can contribute to a decline in kidney function. 

At Houston Kidney Specialists Center, the team creates a diabetic kidney disease management plan to slow your kidney damage from diabetes and prevent kidney failure. 

What are the symptoms of diabetic kidney disease?

The symptoms of diabetic kidney disease are the same as chronic kidney disease symptoms, but you must also have a diagnosis of diabetes. You might go for a long time without any symptoms indicating kidney disease and find out about it through routine testing at the doctor’s office. 

If you do experience symptoms as the result of diabetic kidney disease, they might include:

• Increased urge to urinate
• Fatigue
• Itching
• Nausea and vomiting
• Swelling in your feet and ankles
• Trouble concentrating

Additionally, you might have more trouble controlling your blood pressure than usual. Even if you don’t notice symptoms, if you have diabetes, you should get a urinalysis at least once a year to evaluate your kidney function. 

Which treatments are available for diabetic kidney disease?

The most important components in diabetic kidney disease treatment are managing your diabetes and controlling your blood pressure. If your kidney disease is mild, you may be able to handle it with medications and lifestyle changes alone and without more complicated procedures. 

The team at Houston Kidney Specialists Center can prescribe you medications that control your cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, and other contributing factors to diabetic kidney disease. They can also make recommendations for beneficial dietary and lifestyle changes to promote better kidney health.

If you have a more advanced stage of diabetic kidney disease, you might need to undergo dialysis. Dialysis is a process that performs your kidney function. You undergo dialysis several times a week to filter waste from your blood. 

To set up an appointment for diabetic kidney disease diagnosis and treatment, call Houston Kidney Specialists Center, or book online today.