Lao Zhang developed diabetes at a young age of 42. When he first developed diabetes, he lacked common sense, did not take diabetes seriously, and did not actively understand the complications of diabetes. Relevant knowledge, and in his 40s, he is also in his prime, and his blood sugar is well controlled, so he usually doesn’t pay much attention to what he eats and drinks. He likes to drink beer in summer and liquor in winter.

He has followed this eating habit all the year round, and his body will naturally have some “minor problems”, such as frequent trips to the toilet, the smell of urine is heavy, and he There is also high blood pressure, and he often feels dizzy, trembling, and weak, but he has always thought that the problem is not a big problem.

It has been like this for more than ten years. When he retired, he thought that he could finally rest and enjoy life, but he found himself His complexion began to deteriorate, his complexion became darker and duller, and he especially liked to run the toilet at night, and sometimes his calves and feet were swollen, and his whole body was weak, which increasingly affected his life, and Lao Zhang went to the hospital. The results of the examination revealed that he had “damaged kidneys”, that is, diabetic nephropathy. He was diagnosed with uremia, and his condition had developed to the extent that he needed regular dialysis.

But in fact, Lao Zhang’s uremia can be effectively prevented, and his body has given Lao Zhang many reminders, but he is negligent. Learning from Lao Zhang’s painful lessons, I hope that diabetic patients must understand the harm of not controlling blood sugar for a long time and not paying attention to the prevention and treatment of complications.

1. Why does diabetes cause complications?

We often say that diabetes is a chronic, wasting disease characterized by hyperglycemia and combined with many metabolic abnormalities. In general, diabetes can cause Acute and chronic complications. For diabetes, elevated blood sugar can be seen as its most intuitive and early manifestation, and behind the elevated blood sugar often hides many abnormal metabolic functions of the body.

If diabetics have microvascular disease, complications such as retinopathy, nephropathy, and peripheral neuropathy will occur in the eyes. Diabetic nephropathy is the most serious form of diabetes. Microvascular complications, when the disease progresses to the end stage, patients need to go through “dialysis to save their lives”. If diabetic patients, like Lao Zhang, still smoke and drink after being diagnosed with diabetes, it is bound to accelerate the speed of complications.

2. How can diabetics detect kidney disease in time?

The reason why many patients with kidney disease are negligent and fail to detect the disease in time is not only related to the patient’s neglect of reexamination and physical examination, but also related to kidney disease. This characteristic of arrival is silent. It is not as obvious as other symptoms of complications and can directly cause suffering to the patient. Therefore, I would like to remind diabetics that if they find themselves with the following symptoms, they must go to the hospital to check their kidneys.

1 Foamy urine: diabetic patients who find themselves urinating foamy urine that persists for a long time , to consider the possibility of proteinuria.

2 Increased nocturnal urination: meaning frequent urination at night, urgency, and increased urination, Often wake up at night while sleeping.

3 Urine smells great: smells like rotten apples, And the smell can’t be dissipated for a long time.

4 Puffiness:Mainly manifested as swelling of the lower extremities, eyelids, and face.

5 ​​Dizziness and anemia: Except for diabetic patients with hypertension In addition, dizziness may also occur when renal anemia occurs in patients with uremia.

3. How does TCM view diabetic nephropathy?

In fact, with regard to kidney disease, traditional Chinese medicine has long put forward the concept of “Kidney Elimination”, just as it is said in “Ancient and Modern Records”, “If you are thirsty, you can’t drink much water, but your legs are swollen and your feet are thin first. , Yin is also weak, and those who count urination, this is the kidney elimination.” Diabetic nephropathy belongs to the category of “lower elimination” of diabetes mellitus in traditional Chinese medicine, and is classified as “consumption”, “edema” and other categories.

Diabetic nephropathy patients with kidney qi deficiency, once symptoms such as edema, anemia, oliguria, etc., are often in the end stage of renal disease, that is, renal failure stage. When the patient has been ill for a long time and the kidney qi is damaged, we all know that “the kidney controls water”. If the kidney qi is deficient, the qi transformation function will be abnormal, and the water liquid will not be able to get normal distribution and metabolism, and it will accumulate in the body. It is what Chinese medicine often calls “water and dampness stop within.” Internal dampness can easily damage the spleen and stomach. Therefore, patients with diabetic nephropathy often have deficiency of both the spleen and kidney. At this time, the water and grain essence cannot biochemically compose qi and blood, causing the patient’s body to be deficient in qi and blood, which will eventually involve the whole body’s viscera and meridians, aggravating the damage to the patient’s body functions. Accelerates the development of kidney disease, which in turn leads to symptoms such as edema and proteinuria. Therefore, the reason why people with diabetes have kidney disease is, in the final analysis, the problem of “deficiency of qi and blood”.

The patient I mentioned at the beginning has already experienced edema. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that “blood stasis and water will also cause edema, which is a combination of blood disease and water. That is to say, once diabetic nephropathy patients develop edema symptoms, the treatment of invigorating qi and promoting blood circulation and diuresis to reduce swelling is far from enough. treatment effect.

The Astragalus, Coix Seed, Atractylodes, etc. in the recipe, tonify Qi, strengthen the spleen and benefit the kidney; Cinnamon, etc. warms the Yang and benefits water; Reduce urinary protein; Panax notoginseng, peach kernel, safflower, etc. to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis. After the patient received a period of conditioning, the edema subsided, the frequency of nocturia was reduced, the physical strength was improved, and the urine protein, creatinine and other indicators were decreased.

Diabetes patients must pay attention to the maintenance of their kidneys, eat less high-salt food, stay away from tobacco and alcohol, and stay away from kidney disease.