Can people with diabetic nephropathy drink alcohol?

Written by Pan Wu Shan
Nephrology
Updated on September 17, 2024
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Diabetic nephropathy, as the name suggests, is a complication caused by diabetes that leads to kidney problems. The typical symptoms of diabetic nephropathy are significant proteinuria and hypoalbuminemia. Generally speaking, there is no particularly effective treatment for diabetic nephropathy; it can only be managed by keeping blood sugar and blood pressure under control. For patients with diabetic nephropathy, it is recommended to keep fasting blood glucose below 7, and postprandial glucose should be controlled between 8 and 10, which is considered appropriate. If hypertension is present, blood pressure should be kept below 140/80 mmHg. In terms of diet, patients with diabetic nephropathy definitely should not drink alcohol, and they should avoid sweets, fried foods, and foods high in starch. It is also important not to stay up late.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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Can diabetic nephropathy cause blood in urine?

Diabetes-induced kidney damage primarily affects the glomeruli, leading to hardening and narrowing of glomerular blood vessels. Clinically, this is manifested by proteinuria, starting with small amounts of urinary protein and progressively increasing to large amounts, ultimately causing renal failure. Generally, hematuria is rare during the course of diabetic nephropathy. If a patient with diabetic nephropathy experiences hematuria, and the cause is unexplained, it is generally recommended that the patient undergo procedures such as a kidney biopsy to further clarify the cause. It is possible that the patient may have other forms of glomerulonephritis, or an ultrasound of the urinary system should be performed to rule out common causes of blood in the urine, such as urinary system stones or tumors.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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Does diabetic nephropathy require a biopsy?

Whether a patient with diabetic nephropathy needs a biopsy depends on the condition of the patient. Firstly, if the kidney disease is in the early stages and the blood creatinine level has not exceeded 256 micromoles per liter, a kidney biopsy can be considered. Otherwise, if the blood creatinine level exceeds 256 micromoles per liter, a biopsy is no longer meaningful since significant fibrosis and hardening of kidney tissue have already occurred. At this point, if it is unclear whether the proteinuria is caused by diabetes or another disease, a kidney biopsy can be considered to diagnose the cause and extent of glomerular damage, and to provide a basis for treatment.

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Written by Zhou Qi
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Can diabetic nephropathy with swollen feet be treated?

Patients with diabetic nephropathy who experience swelling in their feet often have significant amounts of protein in their urine or may have already developed renal failure. While there are ways to manage foot swelling, the fundamental issues may not be resolved. For swelling, diuretics can be used to increase urine output. If diuretics are ineffective, hemodialysis may be employed to ultrafiltrate and remove excess fluid from the body and alleviate swelling. However, these measures only address the symptoms on the surface. For patients with diabetic nephropathy, the underlying causes are due to diabetes, oxidative stress, and high blood sugar states, which damage the kidneys. Currently, there is no specific clinical treatment for these fundamental issues.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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Is diabetic nephropathy dialysis painful?

Whether it is diabetes, nephritis, high blood pressure, or other causes leading to kidney failure, it may eventually progress to uremia. Patients with such conditions need dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive. Generally, patients undergoing any type of dialysis do not experience significant pain symptoms. Dialysis can be divided into hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, both of which use artificial methods to remove metabolic waste from the patient's body and maintain the stability of the internal environment. These methods generally do not involve significant traumatic procedures, so they mostly do not cause notable pain. However, patients undergoing hemodialysis may need temporary needling each time, which causes minimal trauma and typically does not result in severe pain or significant discomfort.

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Which department should diabetic nephropathy patients see?

Diabetic nephropathy is damage to small blood vessels caused by diabetes, and the kidneys contain a large number of small blood vessels. Therefore, it generally takes more than ten years for diabetes to damage these small blood vessels, causing kidney lesions, proteinuria, renal failure, and other clinical manifestations. This disease can be treated in departments specializing in diabetes or endocrinology, as well as in nephrology. In the early stages of diabetic nephropathy, treatment primarily involves controlling blood sugar levels, and visiting departments like diabetes or endocrinology might be more specialized in this regard. These departments are proficient in adjusting medications for blood sugar control. When patients develop significant proteinuria, the condition progresses, and it is advisable to visit nephrology. At this point, the treatment focuses on the kidney lesions, as well as managing complications caused by diabetic nephropathy.