If the high blood glucose levels associated with diabetes are allowed to go on for long periods of time, you can develop kidney disease. This type of kidney disease is referred to as diabetic nephropathy.
Many people ignored the symptoms of their conditions until they are deep into kidney damage. A diabetic could have a urine test to measure microalbuminuria without much cost. Those with strong kidneys will have small numbers of the protein, albumin, that is measured in this urine test. The reason that people with kidney damage show a lot of albumin in the urine is that the damaged kidneys are no longer able to prevent the albumin in the urine.
But the early symptoms of kidney disease may not include higher microalbuminuria test results in some rare cases. So it is possible that such a test can come back negative during the early stages of diabetic nephropathy. Later on when you have full kidney disease, it will probably come back positive. In the meantime, a more complex, definite test for urine microalbuminuria can be done to determine more definitively how much microalbuminuria is in the blood.
These more advanced tests are done on several urine samples that you provide over a period of time. But such things as exercise can make a few of these samples give a false positive. Simply repeating this test a few times will help you determine whether or not this has been a false positive or you really are developing kidney disease.
If the positive test is confirmed then your doctor is likely to start you making some changes to your lifestyle and health care to protect your kidneys. The damage done to your kidneys cannot be reversed, but changes may help prevent further damage. The important thing is that you get the proper treatments you need and live the proper lifestyle.
If you've had diabetes for five years or more, you should be getting regular testing of your albumin protein counts. Typically, someone with type 1 diabetes can develop this disease about five years after being diagnosed with diabetes. Someone with type 2 diabetes has probably been diabetic since long before diagnosis, so kidney disease may already be developing. Type 2 diabetics should get tested regularly from the diagnosis of diabetes.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Jensen
Many people ignored the symptoms of their conditions until they are deep into kidney damage. A diabetic could have a urine test to measure microalbuminuria without much cost. Those with strong kidneys will have small numbers of the protein, albumin, that is measured in this urine test. The reason that people with kidney damage show a lot of albumin in the urine is that the damaged kidneys are no longer able to prevent the albumin in the urine.
But the early symptoms of kidney disease may not include higher microalbuminuria test results in some rare cases. So it is possible that such a test can come back negative during the early stages of diabetic nephropathy. Later on when you have full kidney disease, it will probably come back positive. In the meantime, a more complex, definite test for urine microalbuminuria can be done to determine more definitively how much microalbuminuria is in the blood.
These more advanced tests are done on several urine samples that you provide over a period of time. But such things as exercise can make a few of these samples give a false positive. Simply repeating this test a few times will help you determine whether or not this has been a false positive or you really are developing kidney disease.
If the positive test is confirmed then your doctor is likely to start you making some changes to your lifestyle and health care to protect your kidneys. The damage done to your kidneys cannot be reversed, but changes may help prevent further damage. The important thing is that you get the proper treatments you need and live the proper lifestyle.
If you've had diabetes for five years or more, you should be getting regular testing of your albumin protein counts. Typically, someone with type 1 diabetes can develop this disease about five years after being diagnosed with diabetes. Someone with type 2 diabetes has probably been diabetic since long before diagnosis, so kidney disease may already be developing. Type 2 diabetics should get tested regularly from the diagnosis of diabetes.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Jensen
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