Real Health World

If you have diabetes you are probably aware that this condition can cause a host of complicated problems.  Uncontrolled blood sugars are to blame for vision loss, nerve damage, heart disease, foot infections and more! Sadly, there is no diabetes cure and there is no way to reverse most damage from this condition.  In addition, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and is a top cause of chronic kidney disease leading to dialysis.This disease puts incredible stress on the kidneys and that is why it is so important that your doctor if screening you for renal damage.

High blood sugars cause damage to the filtration system of the kidneys.  Unfortunately for patients, this damage can go undetected until the problems are quite severe because there are few symptoms with early kidney disease. It is for this reason that all diabetic patients should have annual urine and blood screening tests to look for early kidney problems.

One easy and fast screening test that is used by many physician is the microalbumin spot collection test.  This test uses a simple urine sample that can be from any time of the day.  This test measures a proteins called albumin that should not be present in large amounts within the urine.  Albumin in the urine is an early indicator of diabetic nephropathy.

A normal microalbumin level is a result of less than 30 mcg/mg.  This signals a healthy renal system and requires just annual screening.  When levels rise above 30 mcg/mg this is a signal that high sugars are damaging the kidney’s filtration system.  At this time, blood testing to check special markers should be done and correlated with this urine test.  When levels rise greater than 300 mcg/mg this is a sign of high levels of protein being present in the urine and represents the progression of kidney disease.

Unfortunately, there is no diabetes cure so the next best thing is to prevent these complications through good sugar control.  Ask your doctor how to find a free glucose meter so that you can track your blood sugar levels closely at home.  This will give you an indication of how at risk you are for developing complications such as chronic kidney disease.

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