Millions of people around the globe are affected by kidney disease, but most of them are unaware of the disease in progression, but why? Because kidney disease is presented to us when the disease is in an advanced stage. Early signs and symptoms are initially ignored because of their nonspecific nature. That is why kidney disease is also known as a silent killer.
We spoke to Dr Rakesh Kumar, Resident, RBTB Hospital, New Delhi on kidney diseases. Here are the excerpts –
Question 1. What are the top symptoms that indicate the all is not well with kidneys?
Early morning signs and symptoms are edema over the ankle, lower limb protect particularly over feet which beats while applying pressure over shinbone which indicates retention of water in short periorbital edema that is puffiness around the eyes which indicates protein leakage or nephrotic range of proteinuria that is excretion of more than three grams of protein over 24 hour of time. Other symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, decreased appetite.
A static metallic test of early morning nausea and vomiting could be anemia. Low hemoglobin level increases urinary frequency especially during the night, which is known as nocturia. It could be an early sign of chronic to bloat intestinal sorry interstitial disease when the kidney disease progresses, there is retention of fluid while which lead to decrease in urine output. So, either an increase or decrease in urine frequency could be a sign of kidney disease.
One important indication is also the frothiness of urine. What does it mean? While urinating, it is difficult to flush out. Urine analysis should be done to look for proteinuria. Some color changes in urine are also indicators of kidney disease in progression. It may be due to blood in the urine, which is called hematuria. Due to renal stones and pus, which is called pyuria, which is classically present with fever and TEALS generally associated with pyelonephritis.
Question 2. Is is true that one can have issues with kidneys without any apparent signs such as pain in lower abdomen?
One other important symptom is abdominal pain. Flank pain could be a sign of renal stones or infact this is true that one can have issues with kidneys without any apparent signs such as pain in lower abdomen. Itching is also called as to write us that is dry or itchy skin could be a sign of uremic toxicity. Other symptoms like restless legs, numbness, cramping legs, these all signs and symptoms of renal disease.
Question 3. What are the common causes of kidney disease?
There are various causes of renal disease or renal damage like dehydration. If you are living in a place where excess hot climate is there, daily water intake is less more consumption of cold drinks and high fat diet frequent urinary tract infection. These are all the causes of renal stones. If the kidneys are at an abnormal location, some structural abnormality in the kidney, maybe their metabolic disorders. Hormonal disorders can lead to renal disease.
A person is obese or has a stagnant living pattern. These are all the causes of renal disease. Also, keep away from red meat, oxalate containing food like spinach, that is palak, chocolate and avoid smoking because these all are the causes of renal disease. There may be conditions which might be apparently silent or sometimes ignored. That can lead to chronic kidney disease, which is CKD, or in stage renal disease, which is also known as silent kidney disease. So, what are the causes? The important causes may be diabetes, which is the most common cause of hypertension, and hypertension is the second most common cause of silent kidney disease.
Other causes are cardiovascular disease, glomerulus patties, medical medications like over-the-counter painkillers in Sai DS and some metabolic syndromes, repeated kidney infections, urinary tract infections and some inherited disease which can lead to chronic kidney disease. So, there may be some associated risk factor like smoking, obesity, family history of kidney disease, dyslipidemia, or alcohol intake and if a patient ages more than 60, this all may progress to silent kidney disease. So, patients should go for a kidney health check and screening by urine dipstick test and blood creatinine test.
Question 4. What is the correlations between high blood pressure and kidney?
One of the very important correlations is whether there is any correlation any relation between kidney disease and some cardiovascular disease and some metabolic disease? Yes, there is a very strong association with diabetes mellitus hypertension. These hypertension and diabetes mellitus are more commonly associated with kidney disease as compared with other cardiovascular diseases. If a hypertensive patient has symptoms like headache, dizziness, pain, abdominal blackouts must be evaluated through a kidney function test and other imaging modalities. Remember, one out of three patients with diabetes and one out of five patients with hypertension is a potential risk factor for chronic kidney disease.
Question 5. How can we keep our kidneys healthy. Top 5 tips?
So, it is our responsibility to keep our kidneys healthy by becoming aware of kidney health. So, my tip for keeping your kidney health updated first is, as we know, everyone should take at least two to three liters of water. Take green vegetables and fruits, mainly citrus fruits like lemon, orange etc. Keep away from red meat, avoid oxalate containing foods like spinach, that is palak and chocolate, particularly if recurrent kidney stone is there. Second is to avoid over-the-counter painkillers like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. That is called NSE IDs. Avoid smoking. Limit the intake of salt, which is not more than one tablespoon, grams per day. Third is to keep under control of diabetes and hypertension. Take regular medication. Keep Mazer diabetes and hypertension. The fourth advice is do not take advice from unprofessional people. It is very important at last to remember, awareness and identification of aforesaid warning signs and timely intervention can prevent kidney failure, dialysis or kidney transplant and even death. Thank you.
