Kidneys have the role of a filter to excrete extra water and wastes to make urine, balance electrolyte (salt and minerals) in the body, and control blood pressure. The kidney also makes hormones that help make the blood cell and keep your bone strong.
Chronic kidney disease is a situation where the kidney is damaged and unable to perform its role. As a result, wastes built up in the body lead to life-threatening problems such as hypertension, electrolyte imbalance, coma, seizure … It is called chronic as this damage happens slowly over years. When the symptoms are revealed, the kidney has been damaged more than 85%. Chronic kidney disease can’t be recuperated, it gets worse over time. At that time, you need substitute therapy to maintain your health such as hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, or renal transplant. However, Dialysis does not really cure kidney failure but could help improve a patient’s quality of life. Once a patient has chronic kidney disease, their lifetime is shortened quickly and quality of life reduces, even with or without treatment.
The sooner you know you have kidney disease, the sooner you can make changes to protect your kidneys.
What Causes Kidney Failure
Diabetic nephropathy: too much glucose (sugar) in your blood damage your kidneys’ filters. Diabetes is the first cause of chronic kidney disease.
Hypertensive nephrosclerosis: High blood pressure can damage blood vessels in the kidneys so they don’t work as well, kidneys can’t remove extra fluid from your body. Blood pressure could be raised by the extra fluid in the blood vessel creating a dangerous cycle.
Symptoms Of Chronic Kidney Disease
– Chest pain
– Dry skin
– Itching or numbness
– Feeling tired
– Headaches
– Confusion
– Increase or decrease urination
– Loss of appetite
– Muscle cramps
– Nausea, vomiting
– Difficulty breathing
– Body swelling
– Sleep disorder
– Trouble concentrating
– Weight loss, malnutrition
– Anemia, bone tissue deterioration
– Heart failure can occur due to excess sodium and water, especially in patients with low cardiac reserve.
How To Prevent Chronic Kidney Disease
Until the kidney is damaged by over 85%, the symptoms appear. Changing lifestyle and eating kidney- healthy food should be started as soon as possible, even when there is no symptom. Regularly checking the kidney’s function is the best to find out CKD since little lesion.
Health issues that can cause or worsen Kidney disease and seriously affect overall health should be promptly and properly addressed. conditions like;
- – Diabetes
- – High blood pressure (hypertension)
- – Urinary tract obstruction
- – Infections
- – Use of certain drugs
How To Protect Kidney
- – Choose food with less salt and sodium
- – Cook meals yourself to control salt, Sodium (a part of salt) is added to many prepared or packaged foods you buy at the supermarket or at restaurants.
- – Go for foods labeled sodium-free or salt-free; or low sodium, or no salt or sodium; or unsalted or lightly salted.
- – Eat small portions of protein foods.
- – Always choose foods that are healthy for the heart
- – Manage your blood sugar
- – Manage your blood pressure: Keep your blood pressure below 140/90, or ask your doctor what the best blood pressure target is for you.
- – Maintain a healthy weight
- – Eat a heart-healthy diet, limit alcohol
- – Reduce salt intake, choose food and drink with less phosphorus and potassium.
- – Drink enough water
- – Limit alcohol drinking too much alcohol can increase your blood pressure and add extra calories, which can lead to weight gain
- – Don’t smoke
- – Limit over-the-counter pain medication
- – Reduce stress
- – Exercising regularly such as swimming, walking, and running, can help reduce stress, manage diabetes and high blood pressure, and maintain a healthy weight. Be active for 30 minutes every day.
- – Always check the kidney function regularly by testing blood or urine, especially if you have the risk of kidney disease
- – Ensure proper use of medications (e.g. drugs to lower blood pressure)
- – Avoiding conditions or exposures that can harm the kidneys or cause a sudden drop in kidney function (called acute kidney injury), such as: Kidney infections and Medications
- – Avoid over the counter pain medicines like ibuprofen and naproxen, certain antibiotics and herbal supplements
- – Make healthy food choices
Choose foods that are healthy for your heart and your entire body: fresh fruits, fresh or frozen vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products. Eat healthy meals, and cut back on salt and added sugars. Aim for less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium each day. Try to have less than 10 percent of your daily calories come from added sugars.
Tips for making healthy food choices
• Cook with a mix of spices instead of salt.
• Choose veggie toppings such as spinach, broccoli, and peppers for your pizza.
• Try baking or broiling meat, chicken, and fish instead of frying.
• Always serve foods without gravy or added fats.
• Choose foods with little or no added sugar.
• Gradually work your way down from whole milk to 2 percent milk until you’re drinking and cooking with fat-free (skim) or low-fat milk and milk products.
• Eat foods made from whole grains—such as whole wheat, brown rice, oats, and whole-grain corn—every day. Use whole-grain bread for toast and sandwiches; substitute brown rice for white rice for home-cooked meals and when dining out.
• Read food labels. Choose foods low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.
• Slow down at snack time. Eating a bag of low-fat popcorn takes longer than eating a slice of cake. Peel and eat an orange instead of drinking orange juice.
• Try keeping a written record of what you eat for a week. It can help you see when you tend to overeat or eat foods high in fat or calories.