Those two, small bean-shaped organs are indeed essential for a perfectly healthy life. To check if a person is dead or living, medical practitioners need to confirm response from three organs of the human body heart, brain and kidneys. Kidneys absorb impurities from the blood, thus, purifying it and lead to the production of urine. Urine is necessary to rid your system of body wastes. Kidneys play a key role in maintaining hormone balance. The presence of any factor that could impede free functioning of this organ should be diagnosed, treated and eliminated at the earliest possible. Kidney diseases and subsequent kidney failure see no age bar. It affects both young and old people. In case of younger folks, the symptoms take years to surface and thus the chances of a fatal outcome are even higher.

Causes of kidney failure at a tender age:

    Chain smoking is a trigger: Smokers suffer from a higher risk of kidney failure. Smoking is a bad habit that has engulfed almost ninety percent of young adults. Irrespective of awareness programs and warning messages, there are millions who smoke nonchalantly. Smoking is known to impair kidney function which again can have frightening implications.
    High blood pressure levels must be controlled: Since stress is a common phenomenon among most individuals high blood pressure is also prevalent among a majority of these individuals. Younger people suffer from high blood pressure due to workplace politics and familial tensions. High blood pressure should not be taken lightly. Exercising and regular medications should be opted for in order to counter the threat of kidney failure at a young age.
    If you are obese, you are stepping closer to the threat: If not optimal; being close to the optimal body weight is very necessary to keep health disorders in check. If you are obese, you are not safe; one must make efforts to lose weight or else face the alarming situation when his or her kidneys fail to function properly.
    Consumption of junk food can cause complications: Junk food is fatty. One must keep away from high-protein and high-fat diet. Food items rich in protein and fats can push you towards chronic kidney diseases.
    Genetics may discern the health of your kidneys: The incidence of kidney failure in your family history can make you prone to a similar condition. Extra care should be taken to avoid any such possibility. Regular health check-ups should be undertaken.

Why You May be at the Risk of Kidney Failure at an Early Age

You're said to suffer from the problem of acute kidney failure if your kidneys suddenly stop working and lose their ability to eliminate waste materials including excess fluids and salts from the blood. The condition usually develops quickly over a few days or even a few hours. When this happens, waste materials accumulate in your blood, disrupting the chemical balance of your bloodstream.

So, what causes this problem?

Acute kidney failure can occur because of any one of these reasons:

1. A drop or slowdown of blood flow to the kidneys - Adequate blood circulation to the kidneys is of great importance as without it the kidneys may end malfunctioning. If blood flow to the kidney is hampered, a part of or the entire kidney may die. You may suffer from acute kidney failure if blood flow to the kidneys gets impaired due to conditions like

Heavy blood loss
Sepsis (body's inflammatory reaction to an infection, which can bring about organ failure, tissue damage, and death)
Injury
Use of certain drugs
Dehydration
Burns
Heart disease
2. Urinary obstructions - A sudden blockage that hampers your kidney's ability to eliminate urine can also bring about acute kidney failure. When this happens, it leads to a build up of toxins in the body, causing an overload of the kidneys. Conditions that bring about this urinary obstruction include:

Cervical cancer
Colon cancer
Bladder cancer
Kidney stones
Enlarged prostate
Prostate cancer
3. Disease within the kidneys - Even instances of clotting within the blood vessels of the kidneys can lead to acute kidney failure. This is because if the movement of blood cells within the blood vessels gets hampered, kidneys are not able to filter out toxins from the body. The conditions and diseases that may cause clotting, and subsequently damage to the kidneys include:

Scleroderma (an autoimmune disease that affects connective tissues and skin)
Build-up of cholesterol deposits
Glomerulonephritis (an inflammatory condition of the kidney's ball-shaped structures called glomeruli)
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (a condition that occurs due to untimely death of red blood cells)
Lupus (a disorder of the body's immune system that brings about damage to the body's own organs and tissues)

3 Causes of Acute Kidney Failure!

Acute kidney failure is the kidney's inability to filter waste from the blood. As soon as the kidney loses the filtering ability, a humungous amount of body waste gets accumulated in the kidney and the chemical makeup of the body goes out of balance. Kidney or renal failure can progress tremendously from hours to days. This is a condition that is mostly witnessed in critical patients who are already hospitalized. This condition can prove to be fatal but can be reversed with treatment and medication. Here is a list of things one should do whilst suffer from kidney failure:

Lifestyle and dietary adjustments
During the phase of recovery, the medical team might assist a patient to go a special diet and limit the activity of the kidney so that they get the required time to heal. A nephrologist often routes this cases to a dietician or carefully analyses the present diet to lock up on the diet required for a speedy recovery:
Lower amount of potassium in food: Food with low potassium content is often recommended by the doctor. It ensures that kidney does not stress itself. Foods to avoid include spinach, bananas, oranges, tomato and potato. Some of the foods that need to be included in the diet are cabbage, strawberries, apples and grapes. Furthermore, food must be consumed in small quantities but in multiple servings.
Limit the amount of phosphorus in food: Phosphorus is found in abundant quantities in food items such as peanut butter, milk, dried beans, cheese and nuts. Along with skin itchiness, phosphorus can weaken the bone as well. A dietitian might share special instructions on how to cut down the amount of phosphorus and the substitute food to counter the effect of the above-mentioned ones.
Avoid salty products: It is extremely necessary to cut down food items that contain an excess amount of salt in it. Food products such as the canned soup, frozen dinner, and fast food are the major culprits in worsening the condition. Processed meats and cheese are equally bad.

Preventive measures to avoid kidney failure:

OTC pain medications: It is necessary to check the label of over the counter pain medications. Consumption of too many OTC medications can result in kidney failure. A pre-existing kidney condition can further aggravate this condition.
A healthy lifestyle: A sensible lifestyle with simple diet can do wonders for a kidney to be healthy in the long-term. Some of the other things to keep in mind include doing regular exercise, refrain from alcohol or drug abuse and remain active throughout the day.
Consult a doctor: Even a hint of a kidney problem should be discussed with a doctor to ensure that even the smallest of problems can be addressed at the earliest. 

Acute Kidney Failure - What Should You Do In Such A Case?

Most people believe kidneys to be organs solely responsible for the filtration of blood and production of urine. But the truth is that the kidneys perform a host of vital functions in the body which include regulation of blood pressure, blood volume, and blood Ph. Around half of the individuals affected by lupus suffer from kidney problems, and the most affected part is the glomerulus whose function is filtering substances from the blood.

Effects of lupus nephritis on the kidneys
Lupus itself doesn t lead to kidney infection or inflammation. But lupus nephritis, which is the Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that affects the kidneys and the medications used for treating the condition tend to suppress the immune system. It makes the person affected with lupus vulnerable to the infections of various types. It is one of the most severe conditions of that could be encountered by a person wherein the immune system starts attacking various parts of the body as they would tackle a disease.

Lupus nephritis makes the kidney unable to remove the waste materials effectively from the blood. This leads to loss of control over the amounts of fluids regulating in the body. As a result, an abnormal amount of waste can build up in the blood resulting in edema or swelling.

When left untreated, these conditions can cause scarring along with permanent damage to the kidneys and end-stage renal disease. When a person has end stage renal disease, he or she needs regular filtering of the waste products of the body with the help of a machine. In severe cases, a kidney transplant may be required to ensure that at least one kidney is working properly.

Individuals who are susceptible to developing lupus nephritis:
A person with lupus may see the symptoms of lupus nephritis within 5 years and the people aged between 20 and 40 years are most vulnerable to it. In some common instances, it is seen that lupus nephritis is leading to unexplained weight gain along with swelling and puffiness in different parts of the body such as ankles, hands, eyelids, legs, and feet. During the first stages, these symptoms are often ignored which causes worsening of the condition. The urine may also become frothy or foamy with a reddish tinge in it. It is estimated that about 40 percent of children having lupus would develop kidney complications. Lupus nephritis may also cause increased urination, blood in the urine and elevated blood pressure.

If you have lupus, it is imperative to consult with a nephrologist. Testing a sample of the urine can help in showing the problems in the functioning of the kidneys. Your doctor will advise you about the diagnostic tests that can help in determining whether the disease has progressed to severe levels and start with the treatment process accordingly.

How Does Lupus Nephritis Affect Your Kidneys?

Nephropathy is also known as renal disease. It is any type of damage or disease relating to the kidneys. Though not everyone with diabetes has nephropathy, however, diabetic nephropathy can cause kidney failure.

How does diabetes affect the kidney?
Kidneys are responsible for taking waste out from your blood. They have a lot of tiny blood vessels to do this. High blood sugar may kill such blood vessels. Once these blood vessels are destroyed, the kidneys may not function as well or it may even lead to kidney failure.

What increases your risk of getting diabetic nephropathy?
There are several factors which increase your risk of getting diabetic nephropathy including: \
1. High blood pressure
2. High cholesterol
3. Smoking
4. Being native american, african american or of hispanic origin, for whom risk factors have proved to be magnified
5. If you have family history of diabetic nephropathy

Symptoms and diagnosis:
There are very few noticeable symptoms, which appear when you have diabetic nephropathy, except swelling in your arms and legs. The diagnosis is done by checking for a type of protein in your urine known as albumin, which is not supposed to be there. Getting the diagnosis done early is crucial.

Preventive measures
You can prevent kidney damage by doing the following:
1. Keeping your blood sugar levels under control - keep hba1c &lt; 6-7%
2. Keeping your blood pressure under control in the range of 130/80
3. Eating healthy food
4. Exercising regularly
5. Not eating too much protein
6. Not eating too much salt
7. Reducing smoke or excessive tobacco usage

Medicines for treatment
If you do get diabetic nephropathy, here are some medicines, which can help cure it
1. Ace inhibitors which are also called angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors
2. Angiotensin ii receptor blockers (arbs)

Possible complications
1. Blood pressure may rise
2. Triglyceride levels and cholesterol levels may rise.

All About Diabetic Nephropathy

A kidney transplant is a procedure that employs an operation to transplant properly functioning kidney in the body. The main job of the kidneys is to remove the excess waste from a person s body with the help of a filtration process. When the kidneys stop filtering the toxins properly, they become diseased as harmful waste products and toxins begin to accumulate in the body. Following this, the patient has to go through treatment measures like dialysis or kidney transplant.

Read on to know the five things you should keep in mind about a kidney transplant.

Treatment: Transplant is one of the best ways to treat chronic kidney disease stage-V, until unless it is contraindicated. Life becomes near normal after transplant, though there is a possibility of rejection of transplant kidney. Patient has to take immunosuppressive medication life long. 
Medication: Medications are mainly for:
To prevent rejection: Patient takes immunosuppressive medications life long. 
Prevention of infection: Patient has to take care all the measures to prevent infections as they are more prone to infections. 
Other medication: To control diabetes, HTN etc. 
Family Only: The donors are from family or emotionally related or cadavers (after brain death). HLA-matched donors are better because of less chances of rejections and first reduction of immunosuppressive. 
Doing Your Part: Once transplant is done - patient becomes normal and he/she lives a normal life. However, they have to take regular medications and to protect themselves from various infection. 
End Stage Renal Diseases: These diseases includes diabetes mellitus, HTN, polycystic kidney disease, chronic glomerulonephritis or interstitial nephritis etc.
Consult your Nephrologist before going for renal transplant for detailed check up or line of action.

Kidney Transplant - 5 Things About it !

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