Sadly, chronic kidney disease is far more common nowadays than it has been in the past. The reason? The sharp increase in diabetes cases. So why is this? Well, some background on how how your kidneys work will help understand this.



Kidneys consist of of nearly a million nephrons. Each of these nephrons contains a structure called the glomerulous. Glomeruli are what cleanse your blood via this process:



1. Your blood runs through very small glomerular capillaries.



2. This filtered blood then runs through tubules connected to the glomerular capillaries.



3. When your blood passes through these tubules, two things happen:



a. Your body reabsorbs most of the water an normal contents of the blood



b. A small amount of water and waste passes through kidney's into the ureter and then into the bladder and out through the urethra.



Now, this is the normal process when your kidneys are operating normally. When you first get diabetes, your kidneys become enlarged and would seem to function exceptionally well, based on how fast they clear waste out of your body. But don't be fooled. They are running so well because of the increased amount of glucose entering them. Glucose draws a lot of water with it and causes a significant amount of pressure inside each glomerulous. The faster movement of blood through the kidneys is known as an increased glomerular filtration rate.



In the early development stages of diabetes, the membrane that surrounds your glomeruli thickens as do all the other nearby structures. As time goes on, these expanding membranes start taking up the space occupied by the capillaries inside the glomeruli so that the capillaries are not as able to filter as much blood.



The good news is that there are many more glomeruli in your body than you actually need. In fact, you could actually lose a kidney and still have plenty of capacity to filter your blood. This is why people can donate a kidney and continue to live a long life.



The bad news is that if your kidney disease goes undetected for 15 years or more, the damage may become so severe that your blood will start showing measurable signs of the start of kidney failure. If you were able to get to the 20 year mark, you'd likely be looking at complete kidney failure.



It's important to realized that no everyone with diabetes is at the same risk of kidney disease or kidney failure. This long term complication of diabetes seems to be more prevalent in certain families and among certain racial groups - especially African Americans, Mexican Americans and Native Americans. It's also much more common when high blood pressure is present. While it's commonly thought that the major reason for kidney disease is the increased levels of blood glucose, it's important to note that only about half of the people who have done a poor job controlling their blood sugar level actually develop kidney disease. A 50-50 chance? I don't know about you, but I don't like those odds. All the more reason to carefully monitor your blood glucose level on a regular basis.