FAQ
 

Diabetes & Kidney Problem

How to Protect Your Kidneys When You Have Diabetes

Like most people, you may not often think about your kidneys. If you have diabetes, though, it’s a good idea to start giving them more thought.

Though diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, you won’t have symptoms from early kidney disease. But simple tests can check how your kidneys are working and detect early disease linked to diabetes. Treating kidney disease early can make a huge difference. Drugs, changes in your diet, and good control of your blood sugar (glucose) levels and blood pressure can slow down or prevent kidney damage.

 

How Diabetes Damages Kidneys
Your kidneys filter your blood. They get rid of wastes in your body through urine, while the cleaned blood is sent back into your body.

Chronic high blood sugars make your kidneys work harder to filter blood and can damage them, so they don’t filter it as well. Small amounts of protein start to leak into your urine — a first sign of the damage. The damage may worsen and blood pressure may start to rise. This puts more stress on your kidneys, causing more protein to leak into your urine. Your kidneys don’t work well and waste products start to build up in your blood.

High blood glucose levels may not be the only diabetes-linked cause of damage to kidney cells. “Kidney damage in type 1 diabetes is largely the result of high glucose,” says Janet B. McGill, MD. She’s an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “But in type 2, it could have many causes. There may be an interaction between high blood glucose, high blood pressure, inflammation, age, and genetics.”

If you don’t treat kidney disease, the damage can get worse until your kidneys fail to work at all. At this point — called end-stage renal disease — you’ll need to have your blood filtered through a machine or have a kidney transplant.

 

Help for Diabetes and Kidney Damage
If you have signs of early kidney damage, you can take action to treat it.

- Lifestyle changes. If you eat healthier and exercise more, it can have a big impact on your blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure level. All of these have an impact on kidney disease. Some people benefit from a diet that’s low in protein. If you smoke, quit.
- Home monitoring. Besides checking your blood glucose at home, you may need to keep close track of your blood pressure.
- Drugs. A Nephrologist can suggest you medicines that can help slow or prevent kidney disease if you have diabetes.
 

kidney donation

Who can donate an organ?
Just about anyone, at any age, can become an organ donor. Anyone younger than 18 needs to have the consent of a parent or guardian.

For organ donation after death, a medical assessment will be done to determine what organs can be donated. Certain conditions, such as having HIV, actively spreading cancer, or severe infection would exclude organ donation.

Having a serious condition like cancer, HIV, diabetes, kidney disease, orheart disease can prevent you from donating as a living donor.

Let your transplant team know about any health conditions you have at the beginning of the process. Then they can decide whether you’re a good candidate.

 

Do my blood and tissue type have to match the recipient’s?
It’s easier to transplant an organ if the donor and recipient are a good match. The transplant team will put you through a series of tests to determine whether your blood and tissue types are compatible with the recipient’s.

Some medical centers can transplant an organ even if the donor’s and recipient’s blood and tissue types don’t match. In that case, the recipient will receive special treatments to prevent his or her body from rejecting the new organ.

 

How can I become an organ donor?
To donate your organs after death, you can either register with your state’s donor registry (visit OrganDonor.gov), or fill out an organ donor card when you get or renew your driver’s license.

To become a living donor, you can either work directly with your family member or friend’s transplant team, or contact a transplant center in your area to find out who’s in need of an organ.

 

If I donate an organ, will I have health problems in the future?
Not necessarily. There are some organs you can give up all or part of without having long-term health issues. You can donate a whole kidney, or part of the pancreas, intestine, liver, or lung. Your body will compensate for the missing organ or organ part. If it is determined that donating an organ would put your health at risk in the short term or long term, then you would not be able to donate.