What can you do to prevent kidney disease with diabetes?

Too much glucose can impact your kidney’s ability to function over time. Make sure you:

• Eat healthy.
• Take medication to manage blood glucose levels.
• Take medication to control high blood pressure.
• Lose weight if you are overweight or obese.
• Get regular physical activity.

Diabetes & Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

Source: American Kidney Fund

Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, which is a type of disease where your immune system mistakenly attacks your body. In type 1 diabetes, your body makes little or no insulin because your body attacks the cells in your pancreas that make it. The pancreas is an organ in your upper belly area that makes insulin, as well as the digestive juices that help you digest food. You cannot prevent type 1 diabetes, but you can treat it with regular insulin shots.

Type 2 diabetes

In type 2 diabetes, your body makes insulin, but does not use it the way it should. You are also more likely to have type 2 diabetes if you are overweight or if someone else in your family has the disease. It is more common in adults but can also happen in children. In recent years, more children have type 2 diabetes due to the rise of childhood obesity.

The symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes are very similar. Talk to your doctor if you notice any of these symptoms:

• Being more thirsty or hungry than normal
• Urinating (peeing) more than normal
• Blurry vision
• Crankiness or being easily irritated
• Being very tired
• Unexplained weight loss (symptom of type 1 diabetes)
• Tingling, pain or feeling numb in your hands and feet (symptom of type 2 diabetes)