The role of the kidneys in the human body is difficult to overestimate. It is these organs that filter the blood, remove excess fluid from our body, which relieves the tissues of unnecessary, harmful substances, and counteracts the formation of edema. Their role is also great in metabolism (metabolism), hormone synthesis, maintaining the balance of a number of substances in the body.
From here it becomes clear that kidney diseases, the causes of which can be very different, lead to serious, and even life-threatening consequences. The main harm is that the disease of these organs is difficult to determine immediately for a non-specialist. Namely, the timely establishment of the correct diagnosis here will be the key to effective treatment.
Why does kidney disease occur? What are their main reasons? How can you guess that something is wrong with your kidneys? How to build treatment and prevention of such diseases? The answers to these questions are waiting for you in the article.
Main reasons
What are the main causes of kidney disease? Oddly enough, but on the firstplace - it is promiscuous sex life (lack of protection during sexual intercourse). Sexually transmitted infections affect the urinary system and cause inflammation in the kidneys.
Another common cause of kidney disease can be called frequent hypothermia, susceptibility to colds. Don't forget about unhe althy diet: too much junk food, fast food, junk food, sugary fizzy drinks, foods "rich" in dyes and sweeteners are bad for your kidney he alth.
What are the causes of kidney disease? It is impossible not to highlight the addiction to alcoholic beverages, smoking, drugs. Strongly hits the kidney system and uncontrolled intake of all kinds of drugs.
What are the causes of kidney disease in humans? It is impossible not to say about hereditary predisposition. Many diseases are passed on from parents to children in this way.
Provoking factors
Speaking about the causes of kidney and urinary tract diseases, it is important to highlight the factors that can provoke them:
- Alcohol. It interferes with normal blood filtration, can cause general dehydration of the body, and increase blood pressure. All this together has an extremely negative effect on the functioning of the renal system.
- Chemotherapy. In addition to such unpleasant consequences as vomiting, diarrhea leads to severe damage to the kidneys.
- Lithium. This component is often prescribed to patients suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. One of its side effects is nephropathy.
- Immunoglobulins A. Based on their deposition in the kidneys, Berger's disease can develop. This is the name of the inability of the kidney system to remove fluid from the body and filter toxins.
- Analgesics. Long-term use of painkillers is fraught with negative effects on the kidneys.
Pregnant women
Talking about the causes of kidney disease and their prevention, it is impossible not to single out special non-pathological conditions of the body when the load on the kidneys increases. First on the list is pregnancy. Especially late gestation.
The reason is that in the third semester, the kidneys of the expectant mother literally work for two (or even three, four or more). It happens that these organs cannot cope with the load - the removal of excess fluid from the body is difficult, which is why pregnant women often suffer from edema.
Often develops a condition called late toxicosis, preeclampsia. Its specific signs: periodic swelling of the face and limbs, increased blood pressure, proteinuria - the detection of protein in the urine.
To avoid such consequences of pregnancy, the expectant mother should take care of her nutrition, drink enough water, move a lot, periodically be in the fresh air, and also be constantly monitored by her gynecologist.
In children
Let's analyze separately what are the causes of kidney disease in children. Among the main ones are:
- Hereditary factor.
- Unfavorable environmental conditions.
- Infectious diseases.
- Involuntary medication.
Children over two years old can already explain what is happening to them. Therefore, you should be alert if the child began to complain about the following:
- Pain in the lower back and abdomen.
- Increased body temperature.
- Difficulty urinating.
- General deterioration of well-being.
- Fear of going to the toilet "in a small way" (may be caused by painful urination).
In babies
As for preschool children, school-age children, adolescents, kidney disease manifests itself in them in the same way as in adults. A different kind of clinical picture will be only in relation to babies of the first year of life. Parents should watch out for the following symptoms:
- Increase in the size of the tummy.
- Changes in both color and odor of urine.
- Crying for no reason.
In these cases, the manifestation of anxiety and a visit to the doctor will never be superfluous.
For diabetes and hypertension
What other causes of kidney disease can be identified? These are diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. As statistics show, they are diagnosed in every second patient with any diseases, pathologies of the kidneys.
The fact is that with these diseases, small vessels are affected, which feed the kidney system with blood. This leads to violationthe functioning of these organs and, as a result, the development of renal failure. To prevent this from happening, patients should regularly monitor their blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and not miss scheduled appointments with their doctor.
Risk factors
Kidney disease may be due to exposure to risk factors:
- Permanent hypothermia.
- Frequent genitourinary infections.
- Both obesity and subsequent drastic weight loss.
- Presence of stones in the urinary tract and the kidneys themselves.
- Gout, which directly contributes to the development of urolithiasis.
- Smoking, alcohol abuse.
- Uncontrolled intake of nutritional supplements, analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Main symptoms
We have outlined the causes of kidney disease. But how to identify them in time? Unfortunately, there are no special, specific symptoms for which you need to sound the alarm. Very often, kidney problems are confused with problems with the musculoskeletal system.
Please note the following:
- Chronic pulling, dull pain in the lumbar region. In some cases, it may radiate somewhat to the abdomen.
- Increased urination.
- The appearance of edema, which indicates a violation of the processes of removing excess fluid.
- Hypertension.
- Unnatural pallor of the skin.
Palpate the kidneys. If they are palpable, painfully responsive to touch, this indicates that they are enlarged. Maybe,an inflammatory process develops.
Worrying symptoms
Assessing the symptoms and causes of kidney disease, let's draw your attention to the signs, the presence of which requires an urgent visit to the doctor:
- Sharp pain in the lumbar region.
- Increased body temperature.
- Difficulty urinating (or not being able to pee at all).
- Admixture of blood in urine.
All this directly indicates an acute inflammatory process. Any delay here could lead to irreversible consequences.
Major diseases
In the article we consider the causes of kidney disease and their treatment. But what specific diseases? We will designate them further:
- Nephropathy diabetic. This disease is caused by a violation of the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates in the kidney tissues themselves, as well as a pathology such as diabetes. In particular, the capillaries of the kidneys are affected. A patient with nephropathy complains of headache, pruritus, chronic fatigue, swelling of the lower extremities. The disease is insidious in that it may not manifest itself for a long time.
- Kidney stones. This is the formation of growths in these organs of the mineral nature. They manifest themselves as strong, intolerable pains in the lumbar region. In case of blocking the ureter with such a stone, urination becomes impossible.
- Kidney infections. Most of them can be caused by bacteria in the bladder. From there they go to the kidneys. Such infections arefever, painful urination, severe pain in the lumbar region. Patients also note a change in the characteristics of the urine itself: it becomes a different color, with inclusions of blood. A similar disease is more typical for women.
- Hydronephrosis of the kidneys. The name can be translated as the presence of water in the kidneys. The disease is caused by the fact that urine does not leave the renal system - its outflow is disturbed. As a result, this is fraught with such a serious consequence as atrophy of the renal parenchyma. The main symptom is severe lower back pain.
- Renal failure. This is the name given to the inability of the kidney to filter out unnecessary, harmful metabolic products from the blood. One of the main causes of this type of kidney disease is injury.
- Duplication of the ureter. As a result of this disease, two ureters are formed between the kidneys, but one bladder remains. By itself, such a pathology can provoke susceptibility to infectious diseases of the urinary system.
- Jade interstitial. This is the name of the inflammation of the interstitial tissues of the kidneys and tubular apparatus of the nephron, which can be caused both by bacteria and by taking certain medications.
- Kidney tumor. Divided into benign and malignant.
- Nephrotic syndrome. This is about kidney dysfunction. As a result, the protein content in the urine increases, which leads to a general fluid retention in the body. Consequence: chronic edema, increased cholesterol levels, fluid content in the lungs, anemia.
Treatment
As far as treatment is concerned, it is difficult to single out any universal recommendations. The treatment regimen should be drawn up by your treating nephrologist. In some cases, this is taking antibiotics, in some cases - other medications. Someone will be shown following a certain diet. In some cases, surgery is required.
General recommendations
If you want to protect your kidneys from all kinds of diseases, pay attention to the following expert advice:
- Make a he althy meal plan. Give up ready-made store-bought meals, fast food, reduce the use of s alt, smoked, fried foods, sweets. Instead, make sure you drink plenty of water and diuretic fruits and vegetables.
- Give up addiction to smoking, alcohol.
- Take care of sufficient physical activity, which helps improve blood circulation in the kidneys, save you from obesity - one of the risk factors for kidney disease.
- Protect yourself from hypothermia (especially the lumbar zone).
- Treat any infection, inflammatory process in the body in time. There is a good chance it will "spread" to the kidneys.
- Do not self-medicate and do not get carried away with the uncontrolled use of drugs.
- Monitor your BP and blood sugar.
Diet as a method of prevention
We analyze the causes of kidney disease, their prevention. As for the last one, one of the most effective methods here is following a special diet:
- Exclusion from your diet of such harmful and heavy components as fats, s alts, hot spices.
- Return to fractional meals (about 4-5 times a day), eating in small portions.
- Referring to foods fortified with calcium. Of course, dairy products come to the fore here.
- Inclusion in the menu of food with a diuretic effect: apples, cucumbers, lettuce, beets, pumpkins.
- Restrict s alt intake to 4 grams per day.
- In order not to provoke the formation of edema, drink pure water no more than 1.5-2 liters per day.
- Exclude from your diet fatty, spicy, smoked, s alty, fried foods, convenience foods, fast food, all kinds of sauces and seasonings, mushrooms. Give up chocolate, coffee, strong tea, sweets.
Kidneys are one of the vital organs. Why and kidney disease can turn into serious problems. The most important thing here is to try to prevent them by resorting to simple preventive measures.
