Free guide · Scarlet Beast En español →
Diabetic kidney disease: what it is, who is more likely, the yearly tests, blood sugar and blood pressure goals, and the medicines
For adults with diabetes who want to protect their kidneys, or who have been told they have diabetic kidney disease, and the people who help them. It passes on, by name, what the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says: what diabetic kidney disease is and how diabetes causes it; why it is often silent; what raises the chances; who should be tested every year and with which tests; blood glucose, the A1C and blood pressure goals; the two kinds of blood pressure medicine that help protect the kidneys; healthy habits and stress; and whether it gets worse. It builds the questions to ask and prints a card for writing down each result. Nothing is saved.
Right now
- Chest pain, trouble breathing, fainting, or someone very confused or who cannot be woken? Call 911 (ours).
- Blood sugar very low or very high? Our page When blood sugar goes too low or too high says what to do and when to call 911.
- Thoughts of suicide, or all too much? Call or text 988, any hour, free (ours).
More help
- On this site: When it’s your kidneys · Eating with kidney disease · Kidney failure: choosing a treatment · Kidneys, bladder and urine: find the right page.
- Diabetes: When blood sugar goes too low or too high · Getting ready for an A1C test · Blood sugar log. Blood pressure: When it’s high blood pressure · Blood pressure log.
- For you: When you want to quit smoking · When you can’t afford your medicine · When you need a doctor and can’t pay · Get ready for your appointment. In an emergency: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Kidneys, bladder or urine, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for bladder infections, kidney stones, blood in the urine, bladder pain, bladder leaks, the prostate, kidney disease and bedwetting, on one list.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- Diabetes, heart disease, and stroke: what raises the risk, the warning signs, the ABCs, and the medicines: diabetes, heart disease and stroke: why diabetes raises the risk, what else adds to it, the warning signs of a heart attack and a stroke, how doctors check your heart, aspirin, statins and the medicines to ask about, and your diabetes ABCs.
- Diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage from diabetes): the signs, foot care, the tests, and treatment: diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage from diabetes): the signs, foot care, the tests, and treatment.
- Diabetic retinopathy: the signs, who is at risk, the yearly eye exam, protecting your sight, and treatment: diabetic retinopathy: the signs, who is at risk, the yearly eye exam, protecting your sight, and treatment.
- High blood pressure and kidney disease: what it does to the kidneys, who is more likely, the numbers and tests, the medicines, and everyday steps: high blood pressure and kidney disease: how high blood pressure harms the kidneys and how damaged kidneys raise it more; how common both are; who is more likely; the symptoms; the two blood pressure numbers and the GFR and urine albumin tests; ACE inhibitors, ARBs and diuretics; sodium, DASH and protein; and activity, weight, smoking, alcohol and stress.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, nurse or dietitian has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 21, 2026 on NIDDK’s (NIH) page Diabetic Kidney Disease and its Spanish twin, both last reviewed in February 2017. That is an older page: the goal numbers on it are NIDDK’s from then, and the goals your own team gives you are the ones to use. The two NIDDK pages give different numbers for how many adults with diabetes have kidney disease (about 1 in 3 in English, from a 2019 CDC report; about 1 in 4 in Spanish, from a 2016 study): we give both. The medicines named are the kinds NIDDK names, with no brands and no doses. Ours: the 911 and 988 lines; never stopping or changing a medicine on your own; calling soon if you take a -pril or -sartan medicine and are or may become pregnant; asking for each result and writing it down; the questions to ask; the card; the links to our other pages; and the order of the steps. What we left out: NIDDK’s video and the other NIDDK pages it links to, which we did not read. Nothing you tick or type here is saved or sent.