Kidney Problems Overview
Kidney health is becoming increasingly important in today's society, because of the epidemic proportions of adult onset diabetes. It's currently estimated that one in nine Americans have some form of chronic kidney disease, and millions more are at risk. Kidney diseases and problems start slowly though, and develop over long periods of time. By taking care of your kidneys - along with the rest of your body - as early as possible in your life, you can slow or prevent the progression of many of the most common problems.
The kidneys are what filters toxins and wastes out of our bloodstream. When our body has processed the foods we eat, it sends the wastes and toxins to the blood stream. The kidneys then filter that blood. The clean blood goes back to our body, and the wastes filtered out are made into urine and sent to the bladder.
Our kidneys process about 200 quarts of blood each day, and they make approximately 2 quarts or urine from the wastes filtered each day as well. When the kidneys are not working properly, many health problems can occur. These can range from kidney infections and kidney stones, to kidney diseases which include symptoms such as as skin rashes, swelling, itching, dizziness, exhaustion, and pain.
The kidneys have tiny little blood vessels and tubes which work as the filters for our blood stream. When someone has high blood pressure, those little blood vessels can be damaged and not work properly.
When someone has diabetes, the excess glucose, or blood sugar, stays in our blood stream and can act like a poison to the rest of our body. This extra blood sugar can then damage the filtering mechanisms inside the kidneys. This condition is known as Diabetic Nephropathy.
There are other things that can cause health problems with your kidneys too, and these are often an injury, poison, or certain prescription and over the counter pain medications. Combining acetaminophen and aspirin, aleve, or ibuprofen for instance, can cause kidney disease and failure when taken over long periods of time or in high doses.
Chronic kidney diseases can also come from having chronic kidney infections and stones which injure the kidney tissues.
Caring for your body in general is important, but the kidneys are an especially important organ to keep healthy. Without their filtering functionality, the body cannot live.
There are many things you can do to help keep your kidneys healthy, and we'll review some of the easiest home, natural and herbal approaches in this series.
Note: Some statements in this article may not be approved by the FDA. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional medical advice.
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