September 9, 1999
Complications
Question from Dayton, Ohio, USA:
My husband has been a diabetic for the past 22 years; he is now 27 years old. He has been following a tight controlled insulin regimen for about 2 years. He does pretty good, but sometimes he may have a bad day every now and then but it’s a lot better now that he is an adult and not a careless teenager. He takes multiple shots and monitors his glucose levels up to 5 times a day, mainly because he works crazy hours and its very hard for him to follow a certain meal schedule.
My question is about renal disease. He was recently diagnosed with moderate stage renal disease. What does this mean? Does this mean dialysis very soon? Is there anyway of prolonging this? What can we do? His creatinine levels were 4.6 if that helps to answer my questions. His doctor was very vague about the whole thing. Should we try another Nephrologist?
Answer:
As I am a pediatric endocrinologist, I have little first-hand experience in kidney disease in diabetes, as this rarely starts until after the teenage years. A creatinine of 4.6 however, is definitely quite abnormal.
It is important to have a kidney specialist who will answer all your questions and give you and your husband honest, complete answers regarding your husband’s prognosis and what you can do to help prevent or delay complete kidney failure. You may want to ask if you could make a separate appointment just to come in and discuss these issues.
It is important for your husband to continue to work with an endocrinologist to help maximize his blood sugar control.
TGL
Additional comments from Dr. Quick:
See How to protect your kidneys for more information.
WWQ
