Kidney Pie

Kidney disease as part and parcel of the entire nightmare of diabetes is easy to understand with a little knowledge of how kidneys work. In essence, they are filled with blood vessels.
Learning that simple fact also tied the connection between blood pressure and kidneys in my brain. I had not been able to grasp the logic of the kidney-blood pressure correlations even asking questions of doctors. I knew that blood pressure medications are usually also beneficial to kidney health.
The tiny blood vessels within the kidneys act as the actual filters for waste products in the blood. The kidneys expel the waste through urine.
Those facts make a lot of the diabetes connections self evident to me.
The primary symptom of high blood sugar in diabetes is severe thirst and frequent urination. The kidneys sense too much waste sugar and make you thirsty to give them the fluid they need to expel the waste at peak efficiency.
Constant high blood sugar damages blood vessels. This damage is most apparent in retinapathy and circulation. Kidneys follow closely behind these problems. Knowing that the blood vessels in the kidneys are tiny makes it quite understandable that they can be damaged easily.
High blood sugars thicken the blood. The thicker blood passes less easily, especially through smaller vessels. Like Coca-Cola that was wiped but not washed from a surface, the blood becomes sticky, and this further reduces the blood’s ability to pass freely. The smaller vessels and passageways clog. Weaker blood vessels can break, restricted vessels can increase blood pressure, and smaller vessels will clog or reduce circulation, which deprives body parts of needed oxygen.
Constant high blood sugar overworks the kidneys on a regular basis and thus can hasten damage just by effectively wearing out the kidneys with overwork. The waste products that the kidneys remove from the blood slide through "filter holes" in the kidney. The waste stays molecularly smaller than protein and healthy blood cells. Overwork of the kidneys essentially enlarges the holes over time and allows good protein molecules to pass into the urine.
The lab test for kidney function and performance is usually a simple test. The lab checks for amounts of protein in the urine. The kidneys are supposed to filter waste but retain protein. The presence of protein in the urine indicates a problem. This really is the best way to determine kidney problem at a stage where further development of the problem can be kept in check.
Other "early symptoms" of kidney disease are vague and overlaps with too many other potential problems with the body. The overlap is also high with other symptoms that diabetics may feel on a daily basis without kidney problems. These general symptoms include fatigue, poor appetite, poor concentration, insomnia or other sleeping difficulties, general weakness, and upset stomach.
The best preventative maintenance for kidneys is to drink a lot of water regularly, not just when your body says it’s thirsty.