March is National Kidney Month
Diabetes is the number one cause of chronic kidney (or renal) failure in the U.S., and kidney disease among people with diabetes has more than doubled in the past decade. According to the National Kidney Foundation, approximately 30% of people with long-term type 1 diabetes (about one in three) will develop kidney disease. The good news is that with early detection and proper treatment, kidney disease can be slowed and, in some cases, reversed.
How much do you know about your kidneys and how they work? Take our quiz to find out! Also, learn more about the prevention and treatment of kidney disease.
Comments
- At 10:53 AM on Wed, Mar 5, 2008 Scott wrote:
With all due respect, your blog posting is misrepresenting the facts slightly, specifically when you write "kidney disease among people with diabetes has more than doubled in the past decade". Although true, the reason behind it is because so many more people have diabetes, and uncontrolled diabetes is a huge factor behind the trend. But other data suggests a far more positive outlook.
The October 12, 2005 of the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that the number of type 1 diabetics with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was actually lower than had been previously estimated.
In addition, during 2006 research actually showed a REDUCTION in nephropathy (kidney failure). For nearly 20 years, the rate of annual increases in this particular complication was between 5%-10%. But the most encouraging trend in nephropathy was actually seen in diabetes cases, where the rates for new cases of kidney failure among caucasian patients under age 40 is now the lowest level observed in 20 years!
Researchers attributed the improvement to improved control of blood glucose and blood pressure, and no doubt that was one of the more important factors. However, the use of anti-hypertensive drugs such as ACE inhibitors to prevent or delay kidney failure is just as important (if not moreso) given the abundance of scientific evidence proving the beneficial effects these drugs have on the kidneys.
The most ominous element seems to be the rapid growth in uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, although with proper care, fewer than 10% of people with diabetes will develop kidney failure, and recent data suggests that the incidence is falling among patients with type 1 diabetes, not increasing.
I Have had diabetes since I was 14, my daughter got it at 2 years old..It has been a constant struggle and battle for me, my whole life. I am turning 40 this year and frankly am suprised I have made it this far. My kidney now only work at 25 percent,so I am told. I have let it take over and run my life for years and now I would like to take my life back, but I dont know exactly how and I hate to ask for help.. I want to be nothing but independent, but I cant. I want to do it all myself and I cant, and I hate it. It weighs me down and slows me down and disrupts my whole life. I hate it..Do u have a cure for that..how bout a pill that will stop all of this and make it go away..I think about death and how I feel it at my door, but yet I am to weak to change it..Sometimes I welcome it, because I am tired of the fight and nobody knows how it feels..And I am supposed to show my daughter the right way, I am overwelmed and tired. I ve just about given up on the right way. Who comes home from the hospital and feeds themselves 1/4 cup of this and 4 ounces of that. Thats not real life, unless u are lucky enought to afford your own personal chef..Good luck..Because I feel defeated and I dont know how to fix it or help my daughter be better, way better at it than I ever was. And I fear something will happen to her and it will be all my fault. Do u live with that everyday..I do....
Thanks for listening.......