What is it?
Diabetic kidney disease is a type of kidney disease caused by diabetes. When your kidneys are damaged, they can’t filter blood like they should, which can cause wastes to build up in your body. Kidney damage can also cause other health problems. Kidney damage caused by diabetes usually occurs slowly, over many years.
What are the symptoms?
Most people with diabetic kidney disease do not have symptoms. The only way to know if you have diabetic kidney disease is to get your kidneys checked. Symptoms develop as the kidney function worsens, symptoms may include:
- Swelling of the hands, feet, and face.
- Trouble sleeping or concentrating.
- Poor appetite.
- Nausea.
- Weakness.
- Itching (end-stage kidney disease) and extremely dry skin.
- Drowsiness (end-stage kidney disease).
What to expect?
If you are diagnosed with diabetic kidney disease, you can consider discussing the following subjects with your doctor after the initial treatment:
- Do you need a stricter control of your diabetes?
- Do you need a stricter control of other medical conditions you may have, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol?
- A healthy diet and an active lifestyle can help in preventing further complications. Which changes can you make in your lifestyle? If overweight or obese, how regular exercise should be and what type of exercise is needed?
- Quitting smoking is important in preventing diabetes and its complications. Are you open to stop smoking? Is your doctor able to support you with this?