Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! (Your Health Matters!)

Daniel Guerrero is one of the lucky ones. Although he discovered his diabetes late, he has successfully managed it without developing complications, including kidney disease.

"I had not been to a doctor in 35 years. I felt fine, but yet I had diabetes for years before I was diagnosed," the Brownsville man shares.

Because he didn’t experience any troubling symptoms, Guerrero didn’t regularly see a doctor. His diabetes diagnosis was a much-needed wake-up call about maintaining his health.

"I knew a person who ended up in the hospital and was told his kidneys were gone," Guerrero says. "I do not want to go through that, so I visit my doctor regularly and I get my kidneys tested every year."

Screening for diabetes is the first step in preventing diabetic kidney disease. I order fasting blood sugar testing to diagnose diabetes in my practice, as do primary care physicians everywhere. Once a patient is diagnosed with diabetes there are several items to address in addition to blood sugar control: lowering cholesterol, normalizing blood pressure and testing for kidney damage.

The American Diabetes Association and the National Kidney Foundation recommend patients with diabetes get annual testing for kidney disease.1 The first step in screening is a urine microalbumin test, which is simple and painless. The test looks for tiny protein particles in a patient’s urine. Protein indicates the kidneys are damaged. Changes in medications and diet can slow down or prevent further damage from occurring if damage is detected, with the goal of avoiding end-stage kidney disease and dialysis.

Dr. Pablo Olmedo, a family physician at Su Clinica Familiar in Brownsville, would like to see more patients like Daniel Guerrero who are caring for their diabetes and preventing kidney damage.

"Diabetes is the most common risk factor for kidney disease," he says. "Many people with diabetes may have kidney damage, but because they don’t have symptoms, they don’t ask about getting tested. Testing is the only way to know if the kidneys are damaged."

Many Valley residents are very familiar with diabetes, which affects the region at three times the national average, with even higher rates in the aging Latino population.

One in four Hispanics over the age of 50 is living with diabetes. However, few realize the direct connection between diabetes and kidney disease. This lack of awareness has prompted a combined effort from several local groups to educate the community about kidney disease and the need for annual testing.

Diabetes patient Daniel Guerrero completely agrees with the need for increased public awareness.

"A lot of people think all they have to do is cut back on the sugar, like pan dulce, but you have to do more. You have to see the doctor regularly and ask about your kidney test. Don’t wait for the symptoms to tell you something is wrong."…because Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta!

For more information go to www.nkdep.nih.gov or www.diabetes.org

Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! (Your Health Matters!) is produced by the University of Texas, School of Public Health, Brownsville Regional Campus. You can watch our Spanish language Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! segments on T.V. Channel 7 (Buenos Dias) every Thursday morning from 8:00 and 9:00 a.m.; weekdays listen on radio FM105.9 at 6:45 a.m.; AM1450 at 10:50 a.m.; and FM1490 at 5:45 a.m. Visit our Website at www.tssc.info.

1 National Kidney Foundation. KDOQI Clinical Practice Guidelines and Clinical Practice Recommendations for Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease. Am J Kidney Dis 49:S1-S180, 2007 (suppl 2). Page S91; The ADA: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes – 2007. American Diabetes Association. Diabetes Care 30 (suppl 1): January 2007 TMF Health Quality Institute, Austin