Can diabetes affect your kidneys?

by Rahul Kumar Health and Medical

Yes, diabetes can bring storms over your health by affecting your kidneys. This problem occurs when the blood sugar level of your body goes up and starts wounding many parts of your body, especially your kidneys, heart, blood vessels, eyes, feet, and nerves.

India is considered an abode of diabetes patients. The estimated ratio of people suffering from diabetes in adults is around 72.96 million, and numbers don't seem to be slowing down. Diabetes has become commonplace in India that you may find every third home in India has a diabetic patient. Even fully-fledged with strong core bio-science, hospitals, and technology, still the health graph of India is not satisfactory.

There are two primary factors which contribute for the diabetes outbreak which may include the following-

Unhealthy eating is a primary cause of diabetes, on which the Ayurvedic aspect says that the food you eat is looked upon as an offering to Agni. What you eat can either nourish and strengthen this fire, or smother and weaken Agni. Harmful foods like - pizza, french fries, and processed meats can create an undigested residue that forms toxins inside your body.
The human body comprises three primary doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha) which control certain areas and functions of a human body. The disruption caused in any of the three doshas can bring some serious health problems, including diabetes. You can aggravate your doshas by eating spicy food, taking stress, taking less sleep, and overeating.

What is diabetes?

Generally, when you eat or drink something, your body starts functioning to break down sugar into energy which is required for the optimal functioning of your body. Insulin plays a crucial role in the completion of this process. Insulin is a vital chemical compound produced by your pancreas which helps your body to break down glucose into energy. The pancreas of a diabetic patient is not able to produce sufficient amounts of insulin or their body is not able to make the proper use of insulin which eventually gives a spike to the blood sugar level of their body. A high blood sugar level can harm many parts of your body, including your heart, eyes, brain, and kidneys.

There are two main types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2. Type 1 most often develops at a young age. In type 1, the body does not make enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes is common and usually found in adults who are 40 years old or above. If you’re overweight or if your family has a long history of diabetes then you’re also likely to have this problem too.

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic health condition that doesn’t come up with visible signs or symptoms at the initial stages. Also, the symptoms are very mild that can easily go unnoticed between your daily routine works. Here we’ve listed some symptoms which may include the following-

Having dry skin
Irritation
Feeling very thirsty
Increased appetite
Increased appetite
feeling numbness or tingling in hands or feet
Having blurry vision
Having frequent urges to pass urine

Ayurvedic treatment for diabetes

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes occurs when your immune system misfires and destroys insulin-making cells in your pancreas also termed as beta cells. People with type 1 diabetes have symptoms which may include the following-

Nausea
Stomach pain
The feeling of throwing up
Fatigue

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is commonly reported in people who are above 40 years old. In this case, the pancreas stops making sufficient amounts of insulin, which increases the blood sugar level of the body to the danger mark. People with type 2 diabetes have symptoms which may include the following-

Feeling hungry
Recurring yeast infection
Being very thirsty
Blurry vision
Wounds that don't heal quickly

What is chronic kidney disease?

Chronic kidney disease is a gradual loss of kidney functioning in which your kidneys permanently stop working in a certain period. This is a common renal ailment in which your kidneys stop working properly as they should and a person might require undergoing dialysis to live. The worst thing about CKD is it doesn’t come out with any visible sign or symptom at the early stage, and you may only experience visible signs when the condition of your kidneys becomes worse which cannot be controlled with routine medications.

How diabetes can affect your kidneys’ functioning?

Diabetes is a primary cause of kidney-related problems, it directly harms the small blood vessels around your kidneys which plays a core process in removing chemical intoxicants, pollutants, and other contaminants from the body. Eventually, this increases the level of waste product in your blood which can also bring some serious health problems like- stroke, heart disease, brain tumor, and irreversible kidney problems.

How do I know if I have kidney damage?

Kidney failure is hard to get detected, so it’s better to get your urine test report once a year. This will help your doctor to examine your kidneys’ and if something comes fishy then it can be controlled with the right treatment in time.

So, what is the solution?

Although there are a plethora of treatments available in allopathy for slowing down the effect of CKD in your body, the effect can fuel out too soon and you might lose your kidneys permanently. Allopathy argues and strongly believes that kidney damage cannot be cured or reversed in the last stage, but Ayurveda has a different take on that.

According to Ayurveda, kidney damage can be cured and reversed if it gets detected in time. Ayurveda offers a different combination of natural remedies which can reverse and cure your kidneys’ functioning gradually.

Ayurvedic treatment is a strong association of a well-balanced diet and herbs which together work on the ground cause of the problem and promote overall holistic health which involves your physical, mental, and social well-being. The ayurvedic treatment works on three different layers of the problem which are-