The changes to the retina may occur without any symptoms. It is found by having your eyes examined every one or two years by a eye care specialist. In order to look for retinopathy, the eye care specialist will use drops to dilate your pupils so that the blood vessels in the back of your eye can be clearly seen. If you haven't had a dilated eye examine in more than one to two years, ask your provider for a referral. Diabetic kidney disease is also called nephropathy.
Diabetes can damage the kidney's ability to filter waste products in the blood.
These waste products build up in the blood stream, instead of passing out of your body in the urine. There may be no symptoms until kidney disease is advanced. Fortunately there are simple urine tests that your health care provider can arrange that can find the earliest signs of kidney damage. Keeping your blood sugar and blood pressure near normal and medications can slow the progress of kidney damage, and hopefully prevent kidney failure. Neuropathy may also affect nerves that regulate blood pressure, heart rate and stomach function.