10 Common Habits That Damage the Kidneys

10 Common Habits That Damage the Kidneys

Kidney disease is one of the costliest illnesses in the world and managing kidney disease is very expensive.

Each year, lots of people die of kidney disease all over the world, and the number of people suffering from chronic renal failure, and need dialysis or kidney transplantation to stay alive keep increasing.

Statistics have it that, worldwide, more than millions patients are waiting for kidney transplants, but only a few thousands will receive transplants because of shortage of suitable organ donors.

Patients usually felt surprised when they are diagnosed of Kidney Failure.

Experts have found the explanation from your daily life habits.

Here are the top habits which lead to your kidney failure:

1. Not emptying your bladder early: Maintaining a full bladder for a long time is a quick way of causing bladder damage. That the urine stays in the bladder for a long time can cause the bacteria breeding in urine to multiply quickly. Once the urine refluxes back to ureter and kidneys, the bacteria can result in kidney infections, then urinary tract infection, and then nephritis, even Uremia.
So, no matter how busy you are, remember to drink a lot of water and urinate regularly. Once you form the habit of holding back urine, it will ultimately damage your kidneys.

2. Not drinking enough water: The main functions of the kidneys are to regulate erythrocyte balances and eliminate metabolic wastes in urine. If we do not drink enough water, the blood will be concentrated and the blood flow to the kidney will not be adequate, thus the function of eliminating toxins in from blood will be impaired.

3. Taking too much salt: 95% sodium we consume through food is metabolized by the kidneys. Exceeding the salt intake will make the kidneys work harder to excrete the excess salt and can lead to decreased kidney function. This excess sodium will cause water retention, causing edema. Edema usually elevates blood pressure and increases the risk of developing kidney disease. The daily salt intake should be controlled within 6g per day.

4. Not treating common infections quickly and properly: Common infections, such as pharyngitis, tonsillitis, common cold etc, usually triggers or aggravates kidney damage. They do this by causing an acute attack of acute glomerulonephritis or chronic nephritis. So, you will see that people who get kidney disease for the first time or whose illness condition becomes worse usually present in hospitals with a history of cold or sore throat.

If after having cold, symptoms like blood in urine, swelling, headache, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, poor appetite appear, you should consult your doctor immediately, to assess your kidney functions, and start treatment if compromised.

5. Eating too much meat: Eating too much meat and protein can increase the metabolic load of the kidney. For those suffering from proteinuria, meat consumption too may aggravate protein leakage, worsening renal pathological lesion.

It is suggested that protein intake should be 0.8g/kg per day. This means that a person with 50 kg should consume 40g of protein per day. Meat consumption per day should be limited within 300g.

6. Not eating enough: This is equally as dangerous as eating too much, both of them will lead damages to your digestive organs where is full of mucosal tissues. Mucosal tissues relates closely to your immune system. This is why many kidney failure patients are diagnosed with “autoimmune kidney damages”.

7. Painkiller abuse: The use of analgesics for a prolonged duration may reduce the flow blood and greatly affect kidney function. In addition, patients with analgesic-induced renal failure are more likely to suffer from bladder cancer.

Use analgesics only when it's absolutely necessary, learn to rest instead of taking to the bottles. If you have been on pain killers for a long term, it's about time you had a test to access you renal function done.

8. Missing your drugs: Hypertension and diabetes have been shown to precipitate or accelerate kidney damage, so if you are diagnosed as having any of these disease don't live your life in denial, USE YOUR DRUGS.

This will ultimately help control your condition while also helping to preserve your kidneys.

9. Drinking too much alcohol: Drinking alcohol without limitation may cause the deposition of uric acid in renal tubules, causing tubular obstruction and increasing risks of kidney failure.

10. Not resting enough: In our society, hypertension as a severe threat to life is largely due to stress. A common symptom of stress is insomnia. Blood pressure may increase by an average of 2-5mg/Hg because of insomnia. Chronically elevated blood pressure can cause damage to kidney capillaries giving rise to kidney problems. Thus, we need to develop a good attitude to life and strike a good balance between work and rest to protect your kidneys and live a healthy life.

At the early stage of kidney diseases, there are usually no the special symptoms, so lots of patients are not diagnosed until the acute attack appears or the illness condition develops into the late stage. So you should endeavor to do kidney function test from time to time to assess how healthy your kidneys are.

Never ignore the soreness of waist, swelling of the feet, changes in urine color or volume, increase in night urination, palor, high blood pressure and other such symptoms. Once found, you should go and see your doctor immediately.