Look after your kidneys!

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Northerner

Northerner

Admin (Retired)
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Quite disturbing report in today's National Diabetes Audit that kidney failure is up 20% over the period 2003-2009. The problem is particularly bad amongst young people, who are apparently only receiving 20% of the annual tests they should be getting.

People - make sure you get your tests done - including your urine test - to make sure that you're not at risk. Also, after our recent discussion about drink, which I know is a favourite pastime of many people 😉 bear in mind that alcohol will raise your blood pressure. High blood pressure is one of the main factors contributing to kidney damage, so keep an eye on it. There are no symptoms for high blood pressure, so make sure you have regular checks.

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us...in-kidney-failure-among-people-with-diabetes/
 
Advice given to me was to have at least two glasses of plain water every day, one on rising and one before going to bed, and to always use plain water whenever you take tablets unless the directions say otherwise.

As water helps to flush the system out it makes sense to drink it more often I keep a bottle on my desk and tend to sip whenever my mouth starts to feel dry, which is a lot in an air conditioned building!
 
Im really bad at getting this done, I either forget to take one with me or never need the loo when i'm sat there waiting.

any way i can get this done like, outside of clinic? I'm a bit scared now.
 
When I 'do' mine I take it down to the doctors (has to be there before 10am) with the card and they send it off. Provided you have a card and go straight to the path lab at the hospital sometimes. May pay you to find out.

Try not to worry too much as everyone I know who has had problems with kidneys has known (they noticed a change in colour and smell of wee), so went to the docs for tests
 
my mother was a life long diabetic and she always told us drink plenty of clean clear water every day it will clean out your kidneys and prevent infections ,wise words, i drink a 2 ltr bottle every day🙂
 
SilentAssassin1642 said:
Im really bad at getting this done, I either forget to take one with me or never need the loo when i'm sat there waiting.

any way i can get this done like, outside of clinic? I'm a bit scared now.
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Your GP should be able to do it for you Sam (well, not the p'ing part 🙂).
 
There are 9 key care processes that 'they' consider should be done.
Measure: Weight, Blood Pressure, HbA1c, Urinary Albumin, Serum Creatinine, Serum Cholesterol
Assess: Eyes, Feet, Smoking

I find it very disturbing that it seems that many don't get these basic checks and that the figures for type 1 are lower than type 2. The majority must visit the the doctor at least once a year as 88% have their HbA1c checked so why aren't they followed up with the other checks?

In England only 32.2per cent of people with Type 1 diabetes received all nine, though there has been a big improvement on 6 years ago when it was only 10.6%
It's as Alan mentioned more younger people who don't get the checks for those aged 16-39 years only 20.3% had all 9 checks but even in those aged 40-84 only 1 in 3 had all the checks.
 
What is serum creatinine? I assume the serum cholesterol is part of the blood test.

My doctor took my blood pressure when I went in to discuss medication as the practice nurse had not done it at my first follow up HbA1c. I ask if I can weigh myself on her scales just for the hell of it so she can see all the effort I am putting in to losing weight! I get weighed every week at Slimming World!
 
Northerner said:
Also, after our recent discussion about drink, which I know is a favourite pastime of many people 😉 bear in mind that alcohol will raise your blood pressure.
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Can you direct me to it please Northe, I missed it, having been out of touch for a little while.

I sometimes take Milk thistle, which is supposed to protect your liver, but I don't know about kidneys.
 
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MargB said:
What is serum creatinine? I assume the serum cholesterol is part of the blood test.

My doctor took my blood pressure when I went in to discuss medication as the practice nurse had not done it at my first follow up HbA1c. I ask if I can weigh myself on her scales just for the hell of it so she can see all the effort I am putting in to losing weight! I get weighed every week at Slimming World!
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The creatinine test is a blood test to measure kidney function.
 
There is also a urine microalbumin test which can pick up the very, very early stages of diabetic kidney disease when it can be treated with, I think, ramipril. I've had this test done every year for at least ten possibly 20 years. Usually if you take a sample for your diabetic check they should test it for protein and then send it off for the microalbumin test - if they don't ask them if they can do this for you.
 
MargB said:
What is serum creatinine? I assume the serum cholesterol is part of the blood test.

Serum creatinine is also part of the blood test.

Creatinine is a breakdown product of muscle (we break down and build new muscle all the time), essentially a waste product that ends up in our blood. The kidneys are supposed to filter it out. If the kidneys aren't filtering it out for some reason (e.g. because of kidney failure, or because the blood flow to the kidney is reduced so the creatinine isn't getting to the kidney) then it builds up in our blood.

So by measuring the creatinine concentration in out blood, we can see how the kidneys are doing (although it can sometimes also be high because there's a lot of muscle turnover gonig on, so it's good to look at it in relation to the urea concentration).
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I unfortunately have a rare Kidney Diease and have to go on Dialysis very soon! :(

Totally agree Northerner . please keep an eye on things 🙂
My creatine levels are very high too

Hugs Mo xx
 
Caroline said:
Advice given to me was to have at least two glasses of plain water every day, one on rising and one before going to bed, and to always use plain water whenever you take tablets unless the directions say otherwise.

As water helps to flush the system out it makes sense to drink it more often I keep a bottle on my desk and tend to sip whenever my mouth starts to feel dry, which is a lot in an air conditioned building!
Click to expand...

Not convinced on the pint of water before going to bed! don't want to be up ALL night, lol.:D
 
Northerner said:
Your GP should be able to do it for you Sam (well, not the p'ing part 🙂).
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ahahahahaha! Scuse me mr doctor, I need to do a P test, dyu mind just popping off to the toilet for me? :D

I'll ask next time I'm up there, which will be...pump change insulin from cartridges to bottles time
 
AJLang said:
There is also a urine microalbumin test which can pick up the very, very early stages of diabetic kidney disease when it can be treated with, I think, ramipril. I've had this test done every year for at least ten possibly 20 years. Usually if you take a sample for your diabetic check they should test it for protein and then send it off for the microalbumin test - if they don't ask them if they can do this for you.
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I think you are refering to the ACR test (albumin/creatinine ratio).
I had to have that done prior to going onto insulin because the doctor thought I might have some kidney damage.
 
there are several different possible tests.
There is a creatine clearance test which requires a blood test and a 24 hour urine sample. (I had to do this one in hospital when first diagnosed)Very embarasing when you've filled the large yellow sample container and don't know the French to explain and ask for another! This is a fairly accurate way of determining your Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) ie your kidney function

Then there is a creatine clearance test using a blood test and a urine sample;
not so accurate but fine for normal purposes (this is the one + the microalbumin test that I have done on an annual basis)

The 2 tests mentioned in the report are the:

Creatinine test (serum) This blood test, together with a bit of calculation using height, weight, gender and racial origin that can estimate the GFR. However things like protein intake and exercise, neuropathy can cause a rise in creatinine. It is also the trend that matters, so its important to have it done regularly
http://www.diabetesexplained.com/serum-creatinine-test.html

Then there is a microalbuminuria test which measures proteins in the urine(they shouldn't be there in any quantity). At the same time they can measure the creatinine in the urine and produce a ratio.
 
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