Can Diabetes Affect the Human Kidney?

The one major cause of kidney disease is diabetes mellitus, a condition in which the blood glucose level rises high. Over time, an increased level of blood sugar can affect the human kidney and may damage the filters within each kidney. Any kidney damage which occurs from a continuous-time is called chronic kidney disease, also resulting in chronic kidney failure.

Around 20% of the people who have diabetes also have kidney disease later in their life. A person, if ill of diabetes, is susceptible to nephropathy, irrespective of the fact that they use insulin or not. The risk is directly related to the years of diagnosis of diabetes.

There is no cure for diabetic nephropathy in allopathy, but Ayurveda has the capacity to initiate the cure for diabetic kidney disease (kidney disease occurring because of diabetes is called diabetic kidney disease).

Another name for this condition is diabetic glomerulosclerosis, and those with this condition are also at the threat of damage to the arteries of the kidneys.

How can diabetes affect the human kidney?

It is known that diabetes can pose a threat to the kidneys, but why and how blood sugar levels can damage the kidney or glomerular is still unknown.

Maybe because of the fact that hypertension is a known risk factor for kidney disease and people with diabetes are susceptible to hypertension. Renin-angiotensin system helps the body in the management of blood pressure or hypertension level, known to be a factor involved in diabetic kidney disease.
The other less common risk factor associated with diabetic kidney disease are smoking and a family history of the person.

The underlying symptoms of how diabetes can affect kidney disease.

In the initial stages, diabetic nephropathy remains asymptomatic, but as the condition worsens, the following symptoms may appear:

Swelling in the hands, feet, and in the face
  • Weakness
  • Poor appetite
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Weakness
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Irregular in the heart’s regular rhythm
  • Potassium buildup
  • Muscle twitching
  • A rise in the levels of BUN and creatinine
  • You may need less insulin

As damage progresses, the kidneys find it hard to remove the waste from the blood. Thus, the waste stays in the blood reaching hazardous levels. The waste buildup in the blood because of the kidney disease is called uremia.

Uremia is a fatal condition in which a person may become comatose.

How can you diagnose diabetic kidney disease?

Certain blood tests best determine whether you have kidney disease or not. Diabetic kidney disease can also be diagnosed with the help of protein in the urine. So, if you have diabetes, you should go for annual screening.

The tests that may be conducted at that time include:

  • Urine tests: Done to check the albumin levels. With the progression of diabetic kidney disease, the urine protein level rises.
  • Blood pressure: Regular check-ups can raise the blood pressure level. Hence, it is valuable to check for the hypertension level.
  • Blood tests: To diagnose kidney function.
  • Kidney ultrasound: To check for the size of the kidneys and see the narrowing of the arteries in the kidneys.
  • A kidney biopsy: A small tissue from the kidney is extracted out with the help of a needle. It is usually done when the damage to the kidneys occurred because of diabetes.

Treatment options

There is no permanent cure for diabetic kidney disease in allopathy. The allopathic treatment only focuses on managing and preventing kidney disease with medical options, such as:

Prevention: Control over blood glucose and blood pressure levels by taking a renal-friendly diet.
Medications: Medications to reduce blood pressure and blood sugar level, particularly angiotensin-converting enzyme and insulin.

Dialysis: Dialysis to manage kidney disease or end-stage renal disease. End-stage renal disease is the last stage in which the kidneys do not function at all. Dialysis is an artificial machine that is used to filter the blood of the patient as done by the healthy kidneys. It is done several times a week for the entire life.

A kidney transplant: It’s another procedure done to replace the unhealthy kidneys of the patients with that of the healthy one by a donor. The new kidney does all the functions of the healthy ones, but it requires the patient to consume anti immune suppressants for the rest of life.

Ayurvedic approach, on the contrary, is different from the allopathy, and it requires the patients to consume herbal medicines and nothing else. It is a surgery-free treatment that can ensure the continuity of the kidney function and the revival of the damaged cells and tissues of the renal.

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