Diabetic Kidney Failure: A Case Study

Diabetes is a disease where the body is unable to produce or use insulin effectively. Insulin is needed for proper storage and use of carbohydrates. Without it, blood sugar levels can become too high or too low, resulting in a diabetic emergency. It affects about 7.8% of the population. The incidence of diabetes is known to increase with age. It’s the leading cause of end-stage renal disease in the US, and is the primary cause of blindness and foot and leg amputation. It is known to cause neuropathy in up to 70% of diabetic patients. Individuals with diabetes are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease. There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2.

Most patients who have diabetes for an extended amount of time may end up with diabetic neuropathy, which is damage caused to the nerves; it affects the peripheral nerves, autonomic nerves, and focal nerves. From the high blood sugar, it can destroy parts of the patient’s blood vessels, heart, and kidneys. If diabetes is not treated, it will almost always cause heart disease or kidney disease.

Diabetes can affect the entire body. Two-thirds of adults with diabetes have high blood pressure, or hypertension. This condition is serious because it leads to an increased risk of stroke, heart disease, kidney and eye problems.

Other symptoms such as damage to the kidneys, eyes, nerves, heart, and blood vessels can occur if the diabetes goes unnoticed for a prolonged period of time and glucose levels are not controlled (Novitt-Moreno, 1996).

There is currently no cure for diabetes, nevertheless, all types of diabetes can be treated and managing diabetes starts with diagnosing it. Diagnosis of diabetes could be done by a doctor and the sooner it is diagnosed the less damaging it will be. The information in this section was collected from source 2 page 7.

This could lead to effects such as blindness, strokes, and heart disease. Until a method of injecting insulin appeared, it was difficult to tame diabetes. Diabetes affects many areas in the body but usually attacks the eyes, blood vessels, arteries, and kidneys. Despite this, scientists are still not sure what causes this disorder. According to Dr. Moalem, the reason is “a complex combination that can involve inheritance, infections, diet, and environmental factors” (Moalem, 25) so it is difficult to pin-point one exact reason. Hence, because of the lack of information, researchers still haven’t found a cure for

The heart, nerves, blood vessels, kidneys, eyes and other organs can be negatively impacted by uncontrolled diabetes. The goal is to keep the blood sugar normal most of the time to avoid these complications.

There are many different complications that are caused by diabetes. If you have diabetes, you are up to five times more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke (WHO). When the blood glucose levels are increasing it results in the furring and narrowing of your blood vessels which may result in a poor blood supply to the heart. This can lead to a heart attack or a stroke. This doesn’t only put the patient’s life at risk but it also results in a huge cost on the NHS. It can also affect the patient’s family a friends hugely emotionally but also physically if they are in need of care after the event. It can change the patient’s life style dramatically. It is not only the blood vessels near the heart that are affected it is also the blood vessels in the nerves. This

Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of developing primarily vascular complications that contribute to morbidity and mortality of diabetic patients. Poor glycaemic control leads to vascular complications that affect large (macrovascular), small (microvascular) vessels or both. Macrovascular complications include coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease and stroke. Microvascular complications contribute to diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage), nephropathy (kidney disease) and retinopathy (eye disease).

Long-term effects of diabetes can cause many serious complications: heart disease, stroke, blindness, amputations, and kidney disease and nerve damage. These complications are usually progressive and develop over time due to poor control of blood glucose levels. High blood glucose levels cause a narrowing of all the vessels, blockage, and high blood pressure.

According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, vital organs like the heart, nerves, blood vessels, eyes, and kidneys can be affected by type 1 diabetes. Complications include retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy, tingling in hands and feet, dry skin and severe complications of DKA (Smeltzer, 1420).

Chronic Kidney Disease affects more than 10% of adults in the United States, and more than 20 million individuals may have this illness (National Chronic Kidney Disease Fact Sheet, 2014). Moreover, there are 26 million Americans beyond 20 years old with this ailment, which incorporates more than 940,000 adults in Michigan (Kidney Disease, 2105). Notwithstanding this, a combined populace of more than 600 million individuals in developing countries that can’t manage the cost of renal replacement, subsequently causing over 1 million deaths for untreated kidney failure (Chronic Kidney Disease, 2015). Indeed, there are more than 80% of people receiving renal replacement therapy. Additionally, as assessed around 1 in 5 men and 1 in 4 women between the age of 65 and 74 and half of people over the age of 75 years old have Chronic Kidney Disease (Chronic Kidney Disease, 2015).

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a global health issue affecting children, adolescents and adults. Diabetes complications are divided into Micro vascular and Macro vascular complications. Micro vascular complications include damage to eyes (leading to blindness), kidneys (leading to renal failure) and nerves (leading to impotence and diabetic foot disorders). Macro vascular complications include cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks, strokes and insufficiency in blood flow to legs.

Small arteries in diabetic patients experience changes due to increased atherosclerosis. Tissue perfusion depends upon fasting plasma glucose and fasting insulin levels which are also dependent upon how sensitive the patient is to the insulin. Increased permeability to large molecules such as albumin is increased in diabetes, which can be associated with hyperglycemia (Levy, et al., 2008). Studies have shown patients with type 2 diabetes experience decreased coronary flow which is related to hemoglobin A1C and fasting plasma glucose levels (Marketou, et al., 2008). Mild insulin resistance can also be associated with a decrease in coronary flow. In addition, a decrease in myocardial perfusion in diabetic patients is related to decreased blood flow. An impairment in peripheral circulation leads to ischemia, which is associated with pain in the lower legs called intermittent claudication, which may result in lacerations of the feet (Levy, et al., 2008). Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) can cause thrombosis of the arteries causing tissue death. Gangrene from Diabetes Mellitus (DM) can lead to amputations beginning in the toes and moving into the foot (Lemone, Burke, & Bauldoff, 2011).

Diabetes is linked to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease, gum disease, damage to the nervous system, cancer, and tissue death that can necessitate amputation. Diabetes can shorten life span and cause body to age prematurely.