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Managing Diabetes Complications

As you may already know, controlling your blood sugar is important for avoiding hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia—blood sugar lows and highs.

By keeping your blood sugar in your target range, you may delay or prevent long-term complications. High blood sugar can damage many parts of your body, including your eyes, heart and toes. The good news is that you, along with your healthcare professional, may be able to lessen or even prevent the impact of diabetes complications on your life.

These pages list some of the more common diabetes-related complications, their symptoms and treatments, and some steps your healthcare professional may recommend to help reduce your risk.

 

Kidney Disease

Kidneys filter your blood through millions of blood vessels and then dispose of body waste in your urine. Diabetes can damage these small blood vessels, making it hard for the kidneys to filter your waste.

As a result, diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure. About 30% of people with type 1 diabetes and 10%–40% of those with type 2 diabetes will eventually have kidney disease, or nephropathy.1

Smoking, uncontrolled blood sugar, or high blood pressure, you may be at increased risk of kidney disease. Having a family member with kidney disease, also increases the risk of developing kidney disease.

Detecting Diabetic Nephropathy

While there are no early symptoms of kidney damage, your healthcare professional can test for it.

Your healthcare professional will check your urine for a protein called albumin. This screening can detect nephropathy in its early stages, when treatment can slow or even prevent progression of the disease. If you have diabetes and are between the ages of 12 and 70, you should have a urine protein test at least once a year.2

Prevention and Care

  • Keep your blood sugar levels close to normal range. Discuss your target range with your healthcare professional.
    Lower your blood pressure, if it is high. Discuss your normal range and how to treat high blood pressure with your healthcare professional. Medications such as ACE inhibitors may both effectively lower blood pressure and protect the kidneys.
  • Reduce the protein in your urine. If you have protein in your urine, discuss how to treat it—whether through medication or by limiting protein in your meals—with your
    healthcare professional.
  • Stop smoking. Smoking increases your risk of kidney damage.

1 National Kidney Foundation. Diabetes and kidney disease. Available at: http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=37. Accessed October 16, 2008.
2 National Kidney Foundation. Microalbuminuria in diabetic kidney disease. Available at: http://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/fs_new/microalbindbkd.cfm. Accessed October 16, 2008.

 

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My active meal planner and My active recipe box

To achieve better blood glucose results, one of the things you need to do is plan your meals accordingly. Click here to find out how My active meal planner and My active recipe box can help you. To use the tools, please be prepared to enter your Accu-Chek Active serial number.

Accu-Chek Smart PixAccu-Chek Smart Pix

The Accu-Chek Smart Pix is a plug-and-play device which can be used to analyse blood glucose levels and therapy data from your Accu-Chek meter. The analyses are displayed on a computer in the form of various, specifiable reports.

Accu-Chek ClubAccu-Chek Club

Join the Accu-Chek Club to receive news and updates on Accu-Chek products, diabetes management and events.

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