How To Detect And Prevent Kidney Disease
- Facts about kidney:
Most people have 2 kidneys. The kidneys are found on either side of the spine slightly below the ribs. The kidneys clean your blood by operating as a filter to get rid of water and wastes from the body.
The wastes are what's left over in the blood from food used by the body and therefore the body’s several functions. a number of the wastes are passed go into excretion, which flows down the evacuation tubes (called ureters) into the bladder.
You may hear the word (renal) this can be the medical word about kidneys.
- Healthy or unhealthy:
Kidneys typically begin healthy. they will then keep healthy,be broken slowly (chronic damage) or be damaged quickly (acute damage). Your kidneys age as you age so they do slow down.
You cannot see the difference between healthy kidneys and kidneys that aren't working properly. Changes happen within your body. If you recognize your kidneys aren't working perfectly it's most likely as a result of your doctor did a blood test or a urine test.
A healthy kidney doesn't let albumin pass into the urine. A damaged kidney lets some albumin pass into the excretion. The a lot of albumin that's in your urine, the bigger the injury to your kidneys.
- Kidney disease:
Kidneys will stop working properly for variety of reasons. those who have diabetes or high blood pressure are at greater risk.
When the kidneys don't work properly it's known as renal disorder. renal disorder can happen very slowly while not anyone noticing (called ‘chronic kidney disease’ or CKD).
Kidney disease usually affects each kidneys and might additionally cause injury to different parts of the body, especially your heart.
Kidney disease damages the kidney filters so they can’t take away wastes and water. once enough of the filters are damaged, the body can stock up with excess wastes and water that might normally be removed by the healthy kidneys.
Even though someone with nephropathy would possibly still be passing a lot of urine, there aren't enough wastes in it to keep them healthy and instead the wastes build up within the body.
- Is kidney damage permanent?
Acute damage happens quickly. as an example, your kidneys could stop working properly as a result of a sudden loss of enormous amounts of blood (e.g. during surgery) or as a results of an accident.
A sudden change in kidney function is named acute kidney injury.
Most kidneys can improve after acute kidney injury however it will increase your risk of chronic kidney disease.
Chronic damage happens over an extended amount of your time this can be referred to as chronic kidney disease (CKD). it's an current condition. it's permanent, except for some kinds of kidney disease the damage may be slowed down. Your doctor can advise if there are treatments to prevent the damage to your kidneys.
Chronic kidney disease is termed a silent disease as there ar typically no warning signs. it's not uncommon for people to lose up to ninety per cent of their kidney perform before getting any symptoms.
- Symptoms and causes:
In the early stages of CKD you regularly don't have any symptoms. If your CKD worsens you may have some or all of those symptoms at totally different times:
• fatigue
• lack of appetency
• sickness
• cramp in your legs
• itching
• swollen ankles
• shortness of breath
Many of those symptoms can improve with treatment, which can include taking medications.
- Can CKD happen with no symptoms?
Yes, often individuals with early stage CKD don't feel unwell and should not have any vital symptoms. you may only find out from a routine blood test that your kidneys don't seem to be working properly which you would like to begin some treatment.
- What causes CKD?
There are loads of conditions which will damage your kidneys, however often CKD may be a consequence of the normal ageing method as kidneys scar step by step with age and are unable to repair themselves.
Here are a number of the other common causes:
• Diabetes Mellitus (D.M.):
A condition in which there's an excessive amount of sugar in the blood. It may be treated by insulin, tablets or diet.
It's the one most common reason for CKD and usually happens in those who have had diabetes for extended than 10 years.
• High pressure:
Also known as hypertension and must be under control or will cause more problem.
• Nephritis:
A general term that means the kidneys become inflamed and damaged. the reason is usually not identified.
• Urinary tract infection:
An inflammation of the kidneys’ drainage system, sometimes caused by an infection.
• Renovascular disease:
A narrowing of the arteries that provide blood to the kidneys. it's caused by smoking and an excessive amount of cholesterol in the body.
• obstructive nephropathy:
A blockage within the flow of excretion that causes damage to the kidneys, most common in men over sixty. it's typically caused by the prostate gland becoming enlarged. In rare cases it happens to ladies and is connected to gynaecological issues.
• Polycystic kidney disease (PKD):
A condition that runs in families. If you've got polycystic kidney disease you'll have lumps, known as cysts, on your kidneys.
- How to detect
The problem of kidney diseases is there not any symptoms until the late stages, don't worry with us we will give you some simple tests to see if you have any kidney disease.
The main tests are:
• Check your blood pressure from time to another, high blood pressure can be due to kidney disease or can reason kidney disease.
• Urine tested for protein, finding of protein in urine is a sign of kidney problems.
• Blood creatinine level test, if the level is not normal, you have a big problem in your kidney, and may a sign to kidney failure if you don't treat. this test is a measure of how the kidneys are working.
Urine tests
Urine tests are used to check if your kidneys are leaking things into your urine that are not supposed to be there. Sometimes when your kidneys are damaged they can leak a substance called albumin into your urine. Albumin is the same as protein. This is called albuminuria. Albuminuria is best detected by a special urine test called albumin:creatinine ratio (ACR).
You will need to collect a sample of your urine (wee) for this test.
Blood tests
A blood test is used to work out how well your kidneys are cleaning your blood and removing wastes. This is called your estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).
eGFR means:
• estimated (worked out by sums)
• Glomerular (kidney filters – glomeruli)
• Filtration (filter)
• Rate (how well they filter)
Your eGFR result is written in millilitres per minute per 1.73m2. It may look something like this: 67 mL/min/1.73m2.
Your eGFR tells how much of your kidneys are working (percent).
100 mL/min/1.73m2 = working well
50 mL/min/1.73m2 = working at 50% percent
30 mL/min/1.73m2 = working at 30 percent
Blood pressure
A blood pressure test is also usually performed as part of a Kidney Health Check.
Blood pressure is recorded as two numbers, for example 140 on 90. It is recommended that you talk to your health professional to work out your ideal blood pressure result.
To be diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, your Kidney Health Check blood tests or urine tests must be abnormal for at least three months.
- How to prevent
It is important to prevent your kidneys becoming damaged further. Having protein in your urine also increases your chance of having a heart attack, stroke and / or high blood pressure.
Keeping your kidneys as healthy as possible in the early stages of chronic kidney disease can slow down any damage and help your heart.
There are simple ways to keep your kidneys as healthy as possible:
- No smoking
- Eat healthy
- Take blood pressure medicines
- Exercise
- Manage diabetes