WHAT IS DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY?!?!

Hi all, I posted a cute picture of a kidney dog. Let’s be like the kidney dog, happy and healthy. Before we get into the topic of diabetic nephropathy, look to the photo of the kidney dog to keep your spirits up.

When you have diabetes, you are at risk for a variety of things including diabetic nephropathy.

What is diabetic nephropathy, you ask?

Definition: nephropathy means there is damage to the kidney (kidney disease). Diabetes can cause damage to your kidney and obviously….that’s not cool. (BOOOoOOoooo!)

How does that happen you ask?

            Something malfunctions with the blood vessels and the glomeruli (plural for glomerulus) in the kidneys.  Before we get started, we should understand what the glomerulus is. Glomerulus is a circular structure that is vital to the kidney filtration process of the blood. The kidneys help filtrate the blood and removes waste by emptying it urine that excretes out of the body.  Glomeruli is one of the key components that make up a nephron, which is a functional unit of the kidney. Hence, when the glomerulus of the nephron of the kidney is damaged, then it is called nephropathy.

Basically, the kidney of the body is constantly filtering waste from the blood. Diabetes increases your blood sugar, which slowly destroys the kidneys from functioning properly.  Eventually, it will be lead to some SERIOUS stuff called KIDNEY FAILURE or IRREVERSIBLE END STAGE KIDNEY DISEASE. So you better check yourself before you wreck yourself.  (Don’t cry though/ Just look at the cute kidney dog!)

Does everyone with diabetes get it?

No! Only some people who have diabetes gets kidney damage.  And it depends on risk factors such as high blood pressure; high cholesterol/triglyceride levels, smoking history and certain ethnicities will increase your chances. With proper management of your blood sugar levels, and happy kidneys, you can reduce your chances of diabetic nephropathy.

Don’t despair. I’m here! (Yes, that was incredibly lame.) Look to next week and we will get into more details of this disease!



Citations:
1. Kidney Disease (Nephropathy). (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/kidney-disease-nephropathy.html

2. Diabetes and kidney disease: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000494.htm


3.Diabetic Nephropathy . (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2015, from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/238946-overview

4. Kidney dog image: Google images, http://www.kidneystoners.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/kidney-dog.jpg


5. Lewis, S. (2014). Medical-surgical nursing: Assessment and management of clinical problems. (8th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier/Mosby.