MY KIDNEY

Your kidney is a very vital organ for a safe, healthy and optimized life.

              

Renal functions

What is role of the kidney in regulating body health?

By Fedaey Abbas (M. D.)

Kidney diseases is crucial disorders

Your kidney is a very vital organ for a safe, healthy and optimized life. It has many functions that is unique for your healthy life. One of these functions is to eliminate extra water as well as waste products from your body. Not all the elements in your food can be considered safe. The job of your kidney is to choose what is useful and beneficial to your body   and what is harmful and should be eliminated outside, so that only the safe and beneficial to various body functions. Furthermore, extra water can be also removed from your body, otherwise many problems will be accumulated, I will explain later. Another fundamental function that is performed by your kidney, it is the endocrine function. Renal (kidney) tissues have the ability to produce vital hormone called EPO (erythropoietin) as well as vitamin D. Erythropoietin (EPO) is an essential hormone for the process of your blood manufacturing (erythropoiesis). Red blood corpuscles (RBCs) cannot be made with the help of this hormone. So, one of the essential findings for kidney disease diagnosis is the presence of anemia (low hemoglobin, HB). Vitamin D, on the other hand, is necessary for your bone and connective tissue health. Bone mineralization cannot be performed promptly in the absence of vitamin D. Furthermore, removal of the toxin from your body allows normal metabolic functions with good appetite.

What are the most common manifestations of kidney disease?

Now, let us have a look for the earliest body changes that inform you about an impending kidney disease. One of the earliest changes in your health is the gradual loss in your appetite. If this problem did not treat properly, vomiting and other gastrointestinal symptoms start to appear. Next important is the appearance of anemia that mean drop of your hemoglobin levels. This usually appears as a pallor in the face with systemic symptoms like weakness, easily fatigability, poor concentration and sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, with more decline in kidney function, water starts to accumulate in your body, mostly in your legs and around your lungs. With less water excretion, blood pressure starts to be higher than normal and the heart cannot accommodate extra water retention as well as the elevated blood pressure that will result in heart failure. Some neurological manifestations can also be observed like tremors, convulsions and coma in non-treated patients. Bone and muscle involvement can be also involved, but these complications are usually seen with patients with chronic disease with less response to therapy. Sexual dysfunction is also a troublesome problem due to hormonal imbalance. Other manifestation of kidney disease may include psychological disorder like depression, anxiety and denial of disease symptoms.

What are the available tools of therapy?

Before the choice of therapeutic option, you have to proceed with your physician in the necessary diagnostic profiles. This include laboratory blood and urine tests like kidney function tests, urine analysis, complete blood picture, urine analysis and 24 hours proteins. Another group of imaging techniques have been very helpful like abdominal ultrasound, plain x-ray on the urinary tract, CT scan examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, certain serological tests may be asked for diagnosis of autoimmune diseases.

N.B. This Blogger is created to declare the real function of the human kidney.