Diabetes tends to launch attacks on many of the body areas. One of the big ones is the kidneys. Kidney problems are often quiet, producing no symptoms until they begin to become very advanced. There are ways to determine kidney disease or damage before it gets a head start, and therefore advanced kidney disease can be delayed for a long time provided the right treatment is given.

Diagnosing kidney damage from diabetes isn't really that hard for doctors to determine. One of the tests they can do right from the office using a simple test strip is a protein test for proteinuria. If urine is showing a great deal of protein, that reflects kidney damage for sure. If that is found, then the next step is to do some other kidney function tests which involve testing the blood for factors related to kidney disease.

The first blood test that a doctor will order upon suspecting kidney damages, is a creatnine test. The creatnine levels will rise as kidneys continue their declining stages. Creatnine is actually a chemical that should be released by kidneys that are doing their job properly. If they are not functioning well, the blood testing will reflect this through a decrease in your glomerular filtration rate, which shows kidney function according to your age, race, and creatnine number. As creatnine continues to rise, your glomerular filtration rate will decline steadily. So this test is a good indicator of what is happening with kidney function overall.

A BUN blood test will also be ordered. This stands for blood urea nutrogen. Urea is another chemical waste filtered by kidneys in the body. Urea goes through your liver and then on into your kidneys for elimination there. If kidneys are working in the right fashion, they will filter the urea away from the body, if not, then urea remains in the blood as toxic build-up. The upper limit on this blood test for normal is about 50 milligrams per deciliter. If it goes beyond that, kidney damage is taking place or the beginning of kidney failure.

If a doctor also goes ahead and orders a potassium level test, this is another telltale key factor about whether your kidneys are flushing out potassium or keeping it inside the body, causing a toxic build-up. Potassium levels that are really high will indicate poorly functioning kidneys.

Testing phosphates in the blood and calcium are both ways to tell if kidney damage is occurring. Your kidneys should flush out calcium and phosphates properly so that they don't build up into toxic levels in your system. These levels on a blood test that show a very high result on both tests, is an indication that the kidneys are not working since they are supposed to process these minerals in the body.

If all of these types of blood tests come back with abnormal levels showing hyperkalemia, hypercalcemia, high urea levels, and a declining glomerular filtration rate, then kidney disease is present. At what stage depends on your symptoms you are currently having, along with the bloodwork at the levels I indicated an urine protein. A nephrologist who is a kidney specialist will need to be in order provided there is kidney problems clearly showing.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Kirkman.
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