What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is an ailment that occurs due to heightened blood sugar levels in one’s body. The food we eat provides us with the necessary blood glucose which is an essential source of energy. The glucose from the food we eat enters our blood cells with the help of a hormone called insulin. Sometimes, our system doesn’t function well enough, either in insulin generation or transmission. In such a scenario, the glucose stays in the blood and paves the way for diabetes.
How Does Diabetes Affect Our Kidneys?
Diabetes, depending on the degree, can cause minor to severe damage to the kidneys, sometimes even leading to chronic renal failure. It can affect:
The blood vessels inside our kidneys: High blood sugar levels can cause the tiny blood vessels inside the kidneys to become narrow and direct albumin protein towards urine which is abnormal. This abnormality is also known as diabetic nephropathy.
The nerves: Diabetes can damage the nerves of the bladder that transmit signals from the brain to the body and urinary system. In this scenario, the damaged nerves may not allow you to know when your bladder is full. And bladder pressure can damage the kidneys. It can also result in involuntary passage of urine due to the damaged nerves being unable to send the correct signals to the bladder.
The Urinary Tract: Diabetes also leads to Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), if and when the urine stays in the bladder for an unusually long period of time.
Does Being Diabetic Mean You Have Kidney Disease?
Diabetes remains to be one of the most observed causes for kidney failure and kidney malfunction. High blood sugar levels hold the potential to damage the kidneys and the only kidney failure treatment is either dialysis (manual and repetitive) or renal transplant (one-time, subject to donor-availability and match).
What Causes Chronic Kidney Disease?
Chronic kidney disease occurs due to two major reasons - diabetes and high blood pressure. High blood sugar levels can affect multiple organs in the body such as the kidneys, blood vessels, heart, eyes, and the nerves.
What Causes Kidney Disease and Renal Failure?
High blood sugar levels, i.e. diabetes, hinder the normal functioning of the kidneys leading to bladder damage, and more commonly directing the albumin, a type of protein into the urine, which can be lethal.
How Do Diabetes Patients Develop Chronic Renal Failure?
Apart from autoimmune abnormalities such as IgA nephropathy and lupus, which constitute the least number of cases, diabetes makes up for the most number of ESRD (End-stage renal disease) cases in the world, ultimately leading to chronic renal failure.
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