Kidneys are fist-sized organs located at the lowest level of rib cage, on both sides of your spine. Kidneys perform several functions in our body.
- Remove waste products, extra water from the body
- Maintain the electrolytes balance in body
- Help in controlling blood pressure
- Control production of RBC
- Kidneys are also responsible for activating a form of vitamin D that strengthen the bones.
Tips for maintaining your kidneys healthy
It’s very important to keep your kidneys healthy to maintain a general well-being. Some ways to keep kidneys healthy
- Drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated
- Drinking plenty of fluid will help your kidneys function properly. Especially during hot weather, while travelling or when exercising, drink more water than usual to make up for the fluid lost by sweating
- Drinking Water helps clear toxins from the kidneys through urine. If color of urine is other than the normal color then it indicates kidney disease. Drinking water lowers the risk of chronic kidney disease.
- Eat healthy
- One should take balanced diet. As by taking balanced diet one can take all the vitamins and minerals that body needs. So should eat fruit and green vegetables, and grains such as whole-wheat pasta, bread and rice. Avoid to take too much salty or fatty food.
- Regular exercise
- Regular exercise is good to maintain your health. It lower the risk of many diseases including chronic kidney disease. As it reduce the risk of blood pressure and heart diseases, which are important to preventing kidney damage.
- Maintain healthy weight
- Obese people are at risk of many health conditions that can damage the kidneys. These include diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease.
- So people should try to maintain healthy weight. For weight management dietary and life style modifications should be done.
- Keep monitoring blood pressure and Blood sugar
- High blood pressure can affect kidney health. If high blood pressure occurs with other health issues like diabetes, heart disease, or high cholesterol, then impact the health.
- In Diabetes, kidneys have to do extra work to filter blood so it is important to keep check on levels.
- Proper medications and dietary advises should be follow to keep blood pressure and diabetes at level.
- Quit smoking and limit the amount of alcohol intake.
What is chronic kidney disease?
Chronic Kidney Disease is defined as a condition in which kidney function decreases and kidney abnormality like protein loss in the urine occur for three months or longer.
Who is more likely to Develop Kidney Disease?
- People with hypertension and high blood sugar are more prone to develop kidney disease. Other factors that can cause kidney disease are
- Heart disease, obesity (being overweight), having a family history of CKD. Any kind of kidney infections and a physical injury can also cause kidney disease.
What Are the Warning Signs of Kidney Disease?
- High blood pressure.
- Protein loss in the urine.
- Raised creatinine and Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) levels in blood test. BUN and creatinine are waste products that build up in the blood kidney function is reduced.
- GFR (Glomerular filtration rate) is a measure of kidney function. Reduced (GFR) i.e. less than 60 is a warning sign.
- Frequent and painful micturition.
- Puffiness around eyes, swelling of hands and feet
Diagnosis of CKD
- History taking and physical examination are important part of diagnosis. Investigations that are helpful to diagnose the condition are CBC, RFT (Renal function test) , Albumin to creatinine ratio( ACR) , Serum Electrolytes , Creatinine loss in urine .
- These investigations play important role in diagnosing the condition. With the help of these investigations one can assess the kidney function.
- It is important to go for these investigations regularly especially in that people who have an increased risk for developing chronic kidney disease.
Management of CKD
Preventing chronic kidney disease (CKD) and its complications can be done by managing risk factors and treating the disease .To keep healthy kidneys, it is important to control those risk factors for CKD that can be modified. CKD is managed by
- Take Proper medications for medical conditions for e.g. drugs to lower blood pressure, Diabetes etc.
- Avoiding conditions that can cause harm to the kidneys such as Kidney infections, medications like pain killers, certain antibiotics
- Take Herbal supplements
- Follow the diet plan properly that is advised by doctor.
- Lifestyle changes (e.g. regular exercise, breathing exercises.
End-Stage Treatment
- If condition is not improved or controlled by medications or diet then severe kidney damage occur. In this only 10-15 percent kidneys are operating.
- So at this stage only two treatment options are left that are: dialysis and kidney transplant.
- Dialysis is a system for filtering waste products and excess fluids out of your blood. In hemodialysis, blood is filtered outside of your body, in a machine. It depends upon the condition of the patient that how frequently dialysis can be done. Dialysis carries a risk of infection. Dialysis is not a permanent cure of kidney disease.
- So it is very important to understand the importance of kidneys and detection of CKD at right time and preventing kidney disease. All the risk factors should be avoided and these must be handled with the seriousness. So always follow the preventive measures to maintain the kidney healthy and to avoid dialysis.
We at Chandigarh Ayurved Centre provide effective ayurvedic treatment for kidney disease. Chandigarh Ayurveda centre provide ‘Kidney care kit’ as complete cure for the disease. Kidney care kit is a set of combinations of medicines that are made up of pure ayurvedic herbs.
Vaidya Jagjit Singh is an Ayurvedic Physician in Chandigarh and has an experience of 30 years in this field. He is founder of Chandigarh Ayurved Centre. Chandigarh Ayurvedic Centre provides best ayurvedic treatment &panchakarma therapies centre in Chandigarh. Chandigarh Ayurvedic Centre is a leading Multi specialityAyurvedic Clinic of North India.
