Causes of High Creatinine in Diabetics

Diabetic Nephropathy is one of the severest complications caused by Diabetes. And high creatinine is a typical manifestation of Diabetes kidney disease. Why Diabetes causes high creatinine? What does high creatinine mean for people with Diabetes?

Diabetic kidney disease is a chronic complication of Diabetes. And rising creatinine is a warning sign for worsened illness condition. Higher levels of creatinine indicate that the kidneys are very severely impaired. Creatinine is a metabolic end product of our muscle. When exogenous intake of creatinine is stable, creatinine is produced in proportional to muscle and will be transported to the kidneys to be filtrated out, so serum creatinine mainly depends on glomerular creatinine clearance rate (Ccr). However, creatinine is not in consistent with creatinine clearance rate. Creatinine clearance rate can more sensitively reflect early kidney damage. At initial stage of kidney disease, creatinine clearance rate declines obviously but serum creatinine is still in normal range. Only when glomerular filtration rate (GFR) declines by over 50 percent, serum creatinine rises obviously. Hence high creatinine is a warning sign for severe kidney injury in Diabetics.

Why Diabetes causes high creatinine? Why high creatinine will occur? The earliest manifestation of diabetic kidney disease is an increased level of albumin in urine. Poor controlling or long-term of Diabetes can impair the filtering cells of the kidneys known as glomerulus. When glomerular cells are not functioning well, an excess amount of protein will escape into urine. The level of protein in urine increases with kidney condition worsening in prolonging disease course. High creatinine means an advanced stage of the disease. Many other wastes build up as well, such as blood urea nitrogen, PHT, etc, those toxins may affect gastrointestinal tract functions and damage heart, brain and other vital organs. This may be complicated with diabetic complications—such as nerve damage, eye disease, foot ulcers, etc, to worsen the illness condition. With high creatinine, doctors may prescribe certain medicines to control the symptom, supplement necessary amino acids and slow accumulation of toxins.

To be noted, however, the high creatinine results from damaged kidneys, to treat the symptom, preventing further progression of kidney disease and protecting or improving injured kidney cells are key points. As of now, you may seek for combined treatments of western medicines and traditional Chinese medicines for optimal treatment effects. At meantime, make sure your diet is a balanced one so as to protect kidneys and not add extra workload to the kidneys. Communicate with your doctors for further investigation and specific treatment plan. You may also submit your information to us for free expert guidance.