Kidney Disease

Published in

Medicine Encompassed

3 min readSep 6, 2020

Written By: Felicia Chen

The human body has two kidneys that are located near the middle of the back, just below the rib cage. Each of those kidneys is small, almost the size of a human’s fist, but they have an important role in the body. They work hard to remove any toxins, waste, and excess fluid that’s contained in the body. In addition to this, they help control blood pressure, stimulate the production of red blood cells, keep bones healthy, and regulate blood chemicals that are essential for survival. Kidneys are the key to properly maintaining the body in good health. Despite this, many people are estimated to have chronic kidney disease (CDK).

Inside each kidney, there are millions of tiny structures called nephrons. Most kidney diseases attack the nephrons and damages the kidney to not be able to do its job for the body, which is filtering blood. This causes excess fluid and toxins to remain in the body and may create other health problems including heart disease, diabetes, and passing it on to future family generations. These health issues are normally caused by high blood pressure, type 1 or 2 diabetes, glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the kidney’s filtering units called glomeruli), interstitial nephritis (an inflammation of the kidney’s tubules and surrounding structures, prolonged obstruction of the urinary tract (from conditions such as enlarged prostates, kidney stones, and some cancers) etc. However, diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease; the high blood sugar from diabetes can damage the blood vessels in the kidneys.

If someone has early CDK, symptoms may not show up, allowing the person to feel fine. This is because the human’s kidneys have a greater capacity to do their job than is needed in keeping the body healthy. To really check if a person has it is through a blood and urine test. As the kidney disease gets worse, a person may experience swelling called edema. This occurs when the kidney is no longer able to remove the extra fluid and salt that is in the body. Other symptoms of advanced chronic kidney disease are chest pain, nausea, shortness of breath, etc.

Chances of having kidney disease increase with age. The longer a person has diabetes, heart disease, or high blood pressure, the more likely to have kidney disease. Chronic disease has various levels of seriousness. Over time, as the kidney disease is left untreated, it can cause the kidney to be no longer working as well as early cardiovascular disease. Thus, dialysis or kidney transplant will be needed. However, not all patients that have CKD will progress to kidney failure if they do the following: get tested every year, make changes to lifestyle (do not intake alcohol or smoke), take prescription medication as needed, and see the health care provider regularly.

Sources

Kidney Disease

Written by Julia Zacharski