Dr. P. Vijayan

I’m Dr  Ashok Sarin, a senior consultant nephrologist at Apollo Hospital New Delhi. I trained in Kidney Diseases at the Belfast City and Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, UK, which is in Northern Ireland. And besides having an MBA I’m also FRCP, Edenborough, fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edenborough.

We see a lot of kidney diseases today, and people are very aware. But they get very worried as to what is happening, and there is going to be kidney failure, or kidney damage, and we are going to go on dialysis and transplant. And I want to say here, that there is a lot of prevention we can do so that we do not develop serious kidney diseases. Now the most important is that we must have a good, proper lifestyle. Like,

• We should not be obese.
• We should not have a diet which is rich in saturated fats or very rich in carbohydrate.
• We should maintain our weight, we should maintain our BMI at about 30, and we should also indulge in regular exercise.

This will keep us in a healthy situation and we will not develop serious diseases like diabetes and hypertension. But once we develop diabetes and hypertension, then we must take our treatment for diabetes very regularly, and keep our HPE1C at 6 percent, a fasting sugar of 100 milligrams percent. We should also control our hypertension, and make sure that our blood pressure is 120 by 80 millimetres of mercury. Then we should avoid smoking. As I said we should indulge in exercise.

And there are other conditions which can also cause kidney damage, which is kidney stones, urine tract infection.

So if we treat our kidney stones adequately, and avoid urinary tract infection from developing, or we treat it properly, then we are unlikely to have kidney damage, and that is how we prevent kidney disease. As I said, smoking is a complete no-no, and we should not indulge socially sometimes, but over indulgence of alcohol is forbidden. And when I said that regular medical checkups, say once a year, we will come to know if there is any indication of kidney disease, and if that happens, then we can take prompt action. For example, somebody is excreting a lot of protein, then remedial actions or further tests can be done. And kidney disease, if detected early, we have a wide range of medication at the moment, it can be treated very promptly. And we do not have to go into the stage where we say kidney failure or kidney damage, or dialysis or transplant. Now this is avoidable to a great extent. I will not say completely, but to a great extent it is possible, and that is why I am emphasizing over and over again, that this can be prevented. If we are very aware of kidney disease, and we make sure that we don’t develop kidney diseases at all.

Thank you, and in case you want to consult me, you could get in touch with Lybrate

. Thank you very much indeed.

The kidney is the organ that helps to filter out the waste from the blood. It also helps in maintaining blood pressure. Kidney disease is the condition when the kidney fails to filter out the waste mixed with blood. These causes buildup of waste in the body. Kidney diseases can be classified into:

1. Acute Kidney Injury – Acute kidney disease is the damage to the kidneys. It may be short term, but in some patients, it may lead to kidney disease. The main causes are:
   1. Acute kidney injury can occur due to a drug, severe infection, or radioactive dye.
   2. Obstruction to the urine caused by kidney stones or enlarged kidney can also lead to acute kidney injury.
2. Chronic Kidney Disease – Kidney function may worsen over years and can lead to chronic kidney disease. Sometimes it can lead to end-stage kidney diseases, which requires dialysis or even transplants.

Causes

1. Cyst in the kidneys.
2. Acute Renal Injury: In gastroenteritis or even in case of high fever, severe dehydration results and the uncorrected dehydration can cause acute renal injury, Chronic renal injury.
3. Overuse of medicines for pain like diclofenac, ibuprofen etc damage kidneys.
4. Some antibiotics also cause kidney damage.
5. Certain ayurvedic medication may have heavy metals as contents which can cause severe damage to kidney.
6. Certain Chemicals through its vapors or ingestion in chemical factories can cause kidney damage, hence periodic kidney function tests are required in such cases.
7. Damaged blood vessels of the kidney due diabetes or high blood pressure.
8. Attacks on the tissues of the kidney or the immune system.
9. Congenital abnormalities of the urinary tract or of the kidney.

What are the symptoms of kidney disease?

1. The person may feel nausea or vomiting.
2. The passing of urine may become lesser.
3. Persistent fatigue and shortness of breath.
4. You may have a loss of appetite.
5. Swelling around the ankles and puffiness of eyes are common symptoms of kidney disease.
6. The individual has pale, dry and itchy skin.
7. Muscle cramps, particularly in the legs may also be a symptom of kidney disease.

What can you do to prevent kidney disease?

The best thing to do to prevent kidney disease is early detection and treatment to slow down the progression to kidney failure. Diabetes and high blood pressure can put you at high risk of having kidney diseases. People suffering from these should be extra cautious regarding their kidney’s health. Some of the common prevention techniques are:

1. If you have hypertension, you have to undergo regular checks and take preventative measures such as medications and a low salt diet to keep these in check. Blood pressure must be kept around than 130/80 at most times.
2. If you are suffering from diabetes then always check your and blood sugar levels and also perform regular urine tests to ensure that the kidneys are functioning normally. Control of diabetes is very important to prevent yourself from kidney disease.
3. Cholesterol levels should also be under control. Ensure a healthy diet and regular exercise so that the body can flush out or stop the buildup of bad cholesterol within the body.
4. Smoking and alcohol should be avoided as these can add to hypertension as well as blood sugar. Smoking should be stopped completely while alcohol can be consumed in very limited quantities once on a while. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a homeopath.