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Kidneys, Diabetes and BP Tablets

L

Lolagirl

Member
Messages
23
Hi All,
I was diagnosed with T2 on New Years Eve and since then discovered this website and what a help it has been!

I have followed the advice on this forum as I have had little help from my Dotors. I am low carbing, I havent touched a sweet or chocolate, started to excercise more and am happy to have lost a stone in six weeks. I thought I was doing really well then I got called in to the Doctors this morning.....

Aparently there was something wrong with my urine results which they needed to discuss. I saw a Nurse who said that the results seem fine but Dr Cooper wants to put me on BP tablets. I asked how they could tell my BP from a urine sample and why I needed tablets because I dont have high BP. He said it was because I have high protein levels in my urine which coud be kidney disease and that I must go on BP tablets to protect my kidneys.

I had been to see the nurse with a suspected water infection before christmas but she got so carried away with the diabetes that the infection was never treated.

I asked if it could still be an infection rather than kidney disease and he wasnt sure so finally agreed to give me 3 days of antibiotics. I have to go back on Friday to see the DN - not that she will be much help as she doesnt seem to know very much.

Yet again I have had to refer to this forum for some advice because the doctors dont explain anything.

I have read that they can diagnose kidney disease through a blood test so I am going to ask for that - Is there anything else I should be asking for?
 
Hi Lolagirl, sorry to hear of your troubles it cant have been nice to get this news so soon after your diabetes diagnosis. It never rains eh? But try not to worry about this just yet, there can be several reasons for protein in urine so it is not necessarily kidney damage or disease especially if you have recently had an infection in that area.

Stress can cause a temporary rise in protein in urine and a kidney infection will do the same and is easily treated with antibiotics. Kidney infections are quite common in newly diagnosed diabetics I beleive, I know I had one shortly after diagnosis.

It is common practice for doctors to prescribe bp meds to help protect kidneys as diabetes is known to cause kidney damage in some cases usually associated with long term high blood sugar levels, a medication often prescribed is a low dose of Ramipril which many diabetics take as a precaution even though they have no kidney problems.

Wait and see what the antibiotics do before getting too stressed, your doctor at least seems to be on the ball if lacking a little in bedside manner/people skills.
 
The diabetes urine test is to detect tiny amounts of protein, which is the earliest sign of kidney damage, usually either due to longstanding diabetes or longstanding high blood pressure. If you have this, tablets called ACE inhibitors have been shown to reduce it's progression, they also lower blood pressure, and keeping blood pressure low also helps protect the kidneys, but they have an additional effect independent of the BP effect.
BUT - the condition should only be diagnosed once a urine infection has been excluded by sending a urine sample for culture & sensitivity, and if at least 2 out of 3 samples are positive for protein within a 3 month period (at least that's out guidelines). Lots of things can cause transient increases in urine protein, so one raised reading shouldn't mean them rushing into diagnosing & treating.

If you've already started the antibiotics then it'll probably be too late to send a sample to test for infection - if you haven't I'd insist on one being sent - and I'd be asking if this has even shown on any of your previous urine tests before agreeing to lifelong medication.
 
ramipril is given to diabetes patients primarily because it also protects the kidneys... my blood pressure isn't excessively high but my nurse said she'd like me to go on BP tablets of a very low dose for now
 
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