Diabetic Nephropathy is a common complication of Diabetes and also the main
death cause for the patients. With the prolonging of Diabetes course, the
incidence of Diabetic Nephropathy also rises. Among Type 1 Diabetes, about
30~40% of the patients have kidney damage and 15~20% for Type 2 Diabetes. Nearly
all patients with more than 5 years’ disease history have the possibility of
getting Diabetic Nephropathy. As Diabetic Nephropathy usually occurs latently,
the patients with Diabetes do not pay attention to the disease or even do not
know when it starts. However, when the patients have edema, high blood pressure,
persistent proteinuria and decline in renal function, it is very difficult for
the patients to get an improvement. A lot of clinical practices prove that
Diabetic Nephropathy can be reversed in the early period. Therefore, the
prevention of Diabetic Nephropathy is more important than treatment. Then what
should the patients with Diabetes do?
1. Eliminate causes of Diabetic Nephropathy
Long-term high blood sugar is the important inducement of Diabetic
Nephropathy. Therefore, the patients with Diabetes should keep blood sugar
within normal level so as to prevent microangiopathy and protect kidneys.
2. Arrange daily diet properly
The patients with Diabetes should figure out the total calorie they need per
day and regulate the proportion of sugar, protein and fat rationally. In order
to decrease the metabolin of protein and decline the burden to kidneys, the
patients should keep a low-protein diet and increase the proportion of high
quality protein in the total protein intake. If the patients with Diabetic
Nephropathy have had proteinuria, their protein intake should be less than 0.8
grams per body weight in kilograms. In order to prevent malnutrition, the
albumin in blood should be over 40 grams/L. Moreover, the salt intake should
keep within 5 grams per day. If they have had edema, they should be stricter in
the limitation of salt.
3. Monitor blood sugar and urine protein
Besides monitoring urine sugar, the patients with Diabetic Nephropathy should
check blood sugar once in every two weeks and urinary routine exam per month. If
possible, they should also urinary albumin excretion in 3~6 months so as to find
renal damage as early as possible.
4. Maintaining normal blood pressure
High blood pressure can accelerate the progression of Diabetic Nephropathy.
Therefore, the patients with Diabetes should monitor blood pressure often and
keep its level within 130/80 mmHg.
The above article has listed some preventive measures for Diabetic
Nephropathy.
The patients with Diabetic Nephropathy should follow the above
advices and receive treatment as early as possible so as to avoid the disease
from developing into Renal Failure.