Diabetes and Kidney Diseases: A Harmful Combination

Diseases are among the most unfortunate realities in human life. Illnesses are dreaded as they can cause not only inconveniences but even impairments in a persons lifestyle. The pain and suffering one has to endure because of some ailment is hardly describable, add to this the distress and misery experienced by ones family, friends, and loved ones. What could be more devastating than a dreaded disease other than the combination of two or more diseases? And this was just what some Australian doctors have discovered - the combination of diabetes and kidney diseases.

August 6, 2006, Google News - a recent research in Australia has just discovered that one out of two patients diagnosed with Type II Diabetes also suffer a type of chronic diseases in the kidneys, and the figures may be even higher than what has been observed, doctors feared. Blood samples from four thousand diabetic patients were tested by the Baker Heart Research Institute and the results showed that though the patients were seemingly fine except for their diabetes, they had underlying kidney conditions that remained undetected for years. This has pushed Australian doctors and health institutes to perform mandatory tests to screen kidney diseases among Type II Diabetes patients, according to a following report by Yahoo! News. The tests recommended include not only simple urine tests, but more extensive blood tests.

Type II Diabetes is a disorder in a persons metabolic function that manifests in the resistance to and the deficiency in insulin, it is also characterized by hyperglycemia. Currently, the disease has no cure. It has been observed to be increasing greatly in the developed countries, the rest of the world is also following suit in the coming years that its rapid growth has already been considered as a form of epidemic. Unlike in Type I diabetes, there is not much inclination to develop ketoacidosis (the accumulation of acid in the blood due to the breaking down of fat) in Type II diabetes. But the two types of diabetes could cause disability in several vital organs, particularly in the cardiovascular system due to the multifaceted changes in metabolism occurring.

The kidneys are the organs that are responsible for filtering wastes in the blood. The bean-shaped organs come in pairs and perform the vital function of removing wastes from the body in the form of urine. Kidneys also keep the balance in many of the bodys conditions including the concentration of acids and bases, the volume of blood plasma, blood pressure. Kidneys also secrete certain important hormones for normal function. Great dangers arise when the kidneys grow awry. Without the kidney functioning well, body wastes may reach toxic levels, causing poisoning and great impairments and the bodys many functions. Advanced onsets of kidney diseases may create the need for dialysis filtering blood painstakingly outside the body, or the need for the kidney transplants.

Clearly, both conditions of diabetes and kidney disease are dangerous, if not fatal to ones health. The combination of these two illnesses could be even more hazardous considering the grave symptoms they cause. Curing both diseases is still rather difficult nowadays if not unfeasible. Such is why prevention is always seen as the best cure. But for those who already have one of the two conditions, early detection for the other is the next best thing. Perhaps developments for cures and treatments may be available in the near future, but for now, patients would have to deal with the diseases according to current accessible therapies.

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What is diabetes?

A disease in which the body cannot convert food into energy because of a lack of insulin (a hormone produced by the pancreas), or because of an inability to use insulin. Diabetes is a serious condition that can cause complications ranging from numbness to loss of vision to coma. It also significantly raises the risk for other problems, such as stroke and heart disease. About 17 million Americans have diabetes.
A hereditary or developmental problem with sugar metabolism. Caused by a failure of the pancreas to produce enough insulin. Juvenile diabetes, or type 1 diabetes, is treated with diet, exercise and insulin. Type 2, formerly called adult onset, is now seen in overweight children. It is treated with diet, exercise and medication. In severe cases, type 2 diabetes is also treated with insulin.
A chronic condition associated with abnormally high levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood. The two types of diabetes are referred to as insulin-dependent (type I) and non-insulin dependent (type II). Type I diabetes results from a lack of adequate insulin secretion by the pancreas. Type II diabetes (also known as adult-onset diabetes) is characterized by an insensitivity of the tissues of the body to insulin secreted by the pancreas (insulin resistance).