CARE OF KIDNEY

CARE OF KIDNEY

“Optimize kidney health by consuming the right type and quantity of food, exercise regularly, drinks enough water, take adequate rest and reduce stress levels” 

Kidneys perform some of the body’s most important functions. Most people know little about what kidneys do unless they develop kidney problems and require treatment. Many cases of kidney failure can be delayed or prevented if people pay more attention to its function.

Protecting kidney function following can help reduce your risk of developing kidney disease:

• Early diagnosis
• Lifestyle changes
• Improved diet
• Exercise habits

In cases where people already have kidney problem, it may be possible to delay or prevent kidney failure by taking the right steps to help avoid further progression of kidney disease.

How can we prevent kidney disease to happen or progress?

• have a good control of blood sugar and blood pressure
• do regular exercise
• eat healthy, nutritious diet that is heart and kidney friendly
• take a low salt and low fat diet
• avoid pain killers
• avoid smoking
• maintaining the wait as applicable your height
• Uncontrolled high BP may speed up the natural course of any underlying kidney disease.
• Our target should be a BP reading that is 120/80 or less

If you have diabetes, ensure that your disease and blood sugar levels are under control, as a growing number of kidney failure patients are diabetic

Have infections treated immediately.

Screening tests:

Early detection and treatment of kidney disease is critical to prevent it from progressing on to kidney failure. Once you have taken note of the early symptoms, you need to consult your doctor for further guidance.

• Regular check ups after 35 years of age
• Check BP
• Urine examination
• Urine for micro albumin in diabetic patients

The best treatment for kidney disease “is to prevent it”.

Kidney failure and treatment:

Dialysis is the major treatment option for kidney failure. It is the medical word for filtering waste products and removing fluids from the body which the kidneys are not able to remove

Common causes:

• diabetes
• hypertension
• inflammation of kidneys
• kidney stones
• medications – particularly pain killers
• congenital and hereditary diseases can also be the cause

Symptoms:

Usually symptoms of kidney failure appear late in the disease process. The common symptoms are:

• change in urinary habits like increase in urine frequency & volume particularly at night
• nausea, vomiting, headaches, dizziness (due to accumulation of toxic wastes in the body)
• swelling in body parts due to accumulation of fluid
• high BP
• bone pains and anaemia due to deficiency of certain hormones produced and regulated by the kidneys

Dialysis treatment:

It is the major treatment option for kidney failure. It is the medical word for filtering waste products and removing fluids from the body which the kidneys are not able to remove.

There are two types of dialysis:

1. Haemodialysis
2. Peritoneal dialysis. Both HD and PD are equally effective depending on the patient’s condition and doctor’s evaluation.

A patient needs few supplements to support the dialysis function viz, calcium, vitamin-D, haemoglobin increasing injections.