Kidneys work aggressively day and night - this pair is responsible for all the cleaning - Waste Removal from your body.

Check out how you can keep your pair of kidneys functional right until you need them:

1) Increase Fluid Intake: No.1 reason for kidney stones/problems is not drinking enough water. When your fluid intake is low, it puts extra work load on the kidneys to pass toxins. Similarly excessive alcohol intake leads to dehydration and puts pressure on your kidneys making them age earlier.

2) Cut Back On Salt: Salt is anti-kidneys. If you have any chronic problem, try to aim for less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium each day.

3) Empty Your Bladder: Do not keep urine stored in bladder for too long. It majorly affects the functioning of kidneys.

4) Check On Chronic Problems: Manage your diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease well. These have direct impact on Kidneys, esp. Your cholesterol levels, sugar levels and blood pressure. Having high cholesterol, especially if you have diabetes, puts you more at risk for kidney disease, heart disease and stroke.

5) Balance your Physical Health: Keep your body active to keep organs such as kidneys in good functioning. Do at least 15 min of cardio exercises daily. Also, get sufficient rest for your body.

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5 Ways to Keep Your Kidneys Active

The kidneys make urine, which is a fluid through which wastes from the body including urea are eliminated from the body. There are two kidneys on the right and left side, which make urine, and pass it down to the bladder through tubes known as ureter. The bladder acts as a reservoir of the urine that is formed in the kidneys. It is stored temporarily there before being excreted out of the body through the urethra. The urinary bladder is a highly muscular organ and has a rich connective tissue. 

Interstitial cystitis (IC) or painful bladder syndrome (PBS) is a very common condition, which affects females more than males. While the exact etiology is not known, it could be age-related and also lifestyle related. People who are used to controlling the urge to pass urine are highly likely to develop this condition. The simple logic is that there is additional pressure on the bladder from the urine that is contained for longer period of time. As such, the muscular wall stretches and begins to feel stressed.

When this habit continues over a period of time, the bladder wall may become irritated or inflamed or even scarred in severe cases. There is no role of bacteria in this condition, and antibiotics are of no help in managing this condition (though the name cystitis usually indicates infection).

The following symptoms are seen as a result of this constant irritation and inflammation.

One may suffer from pain and pressure in the bladder as it continues to collect more and more urine.
This pressure in the bladder also puts pressure on the surrounding tissues in the abdomen including the pelvis, urethra, abdominal organs, uterus, etc.
Women may experience pain in the vaginal tract including vulva and behind the vagina.
Men may experience pain in the area of the scrotum, testicles, prostate, and penis.
There is an increased urge to urinate, which may be as much as 9 to 10 times a day. As the condition progresses, there could be more visits, as many as 40 to 50 visits a day.
This tendency and urge to urinate increases during nighttime.
For women, this urge to urinate and other symptoms including pain are worse during menstruation.
There could be pain during intercourse for both men and women.
There could be pain even otherwise, which can range from a mild dull ache to a piercing pain.
At a structural level, this constant pressure leads to pinpoint bleeding (glomerulations) and sometimes even ulcers in the bladder wall.
There is no definitive treatment for IC or PBS. However, bladder distention and instillation are proven methods of increasing bladder capacity, which therefore helps in relieving symptoms.

Painful Bladder Syndrome - Know The Signs!

What is diabetic kidney disease?
Diabetic nephropathy, also known as Diabetic Kidney Disease is a type of complication that occurs in people who are a victim to diabetes. That does not mean every individual with diabetes will have this disease, but if the necessary precautions are not taken, then it can lead to this disease. Diabetic Kidney Disease is characterised by excessive amounts of albumin as well as protein in the urine. In diabetics, certain chemicals in the kidneys shoot up and hamper the function of the glomeruli.

The glomeruli are the main units of kidneys that are responsible for the filtration. Diabetic kidney diseases result in the leakage of essential products like albumin and protein into the urine. When this happens, the protein levels in the blood reduce. If proper precautions are not taken and treatment is not done, then the disease may worsen and the condition will progress to  end-stage renal failure .

How to avoid diabetic kidney disease?
The best way to treat diabetic kidney disease is to prevent it in the first place. Foremost, you should prevent the risk factors in order to avoid coming down with Diabetic Nephropathy. The risk factors include high blood pressure, high levels of blood sugar, dyslipidemia and smoking. Avoid excess of following 5S Sugar, Salt, smoke, stress and sedentary life.

Intensive control over blood sugar
According to certain clinical trials, maintaining and keeping a good control over your blood sugar levels drastically reduces the risk of developing diabetic kidney disease. If you are diabetic, make it a point to get your regular checkups and maintain your diet to prevent the levels of sugar in your blood to shoot up. Other things that you must keep in your mind are to take proper medication that has been prescribed to you. You must adhere to your treatment plans and follow the guidelines that have been given to you.

Intensive control over blood pressure
Hypertension is common in patients who are diabetic. Hypertension alone can result in end-organ damage due to excess pressure build up in the blood vessels. Hypertension associated with hyperglycaemia (diabetes) is a ticking bomb for your kidneys. Hence it is advised to keep your blood pressure under control as well to prevent diabetic kidney disease.

Diabetic nephropathy is not something that happens to every individual with diabetes, so if you follow the above simple tips, the chances of the same reduce, and thus the quality of your life goes up. Many diabetics will get kidney failure due to causes other than diabetes and that may be treatable. Hence early consult with nephrologist is a must.

Diabetic Kidney Disease - How It Can Be Prevented?

The bean-shaped organ kidneys in our body is one of the most important parts that helps in eliminating waste products from the body and also for maintaining the hormonal balance. But due to various reasons such as stress or wrong diet, often the kidneys may face irregular working disorder.

Of course, there are a number of medicines today and also medical treatments to cure various kidney diseases. But if you are not pretty sure of taking such treatments and wish to have something much secure, then trying the home remedies can be the best thing. Ayurveda has a list of remedies that help in curing such kidney issues.

Things To Avoid

Reducing Salt Intake: When the condition of the kidney is not feasible, consuming salt over it can make the situation even worse. If you are urinating, again and again, this means that your body already have an excess amount of potassium and the kidney failure is may be due to an abnormal balance of hormones in the body fluid. Hence, it is the best thing to take a low salt diet. Consuming frozen food items may also add extra salt to the body and hence an ideal practice is to go for fresh fruits, vegetables and meat items.
Lowering Protein Intake: Now, this is a tricky thing and you need to cross check this. There are many times when kidney problems take place due to the high amount of protein intake while some other times it takes place due to lack of protein in the body. So, lowering the protein intake can be done to cross check whether the condition is improving or not.
Remedies To Follow

Herbal Tea: Among various natural remedies that can be started to cure kidney ailments, one of the best one is to include herbal tea in the diet. There are a number of herbal tea options that can be included in your daily diets such as dandelion tea, blueberry tea and marshmallow tea, but the one that is said to affect the most is the green tea. Green tea is said to be high in antioxidant properties and hence they are great in curing kidney ailments.
Aloe Vera Juice: This one plant helps in curing a number of issues both externally as well as internally. Whether it is skin issue or intestine issue, aloe vera juice can be of great help. Aloe Vera has an anti-oxidant property and hence it is great in treating kidney infection and then curing the diseases of the kidney completely.
Water: This can be the simplest way to treat any kind of kidney problem. If you are in the initial stage of any kidney ailment, then the best way is to treat it with water. Drink at least about 6-8 glasses of water each day that will allow you to urinate more and hence the problem may get cured.
Yoga: Pranayam, suryanamaskar and meditation should be followed everyday. 
There are different medicines and also herbs available to treat kidney dysfunction. But these above mentioned can be the easiest methods of all.

Kidney Dysfunction - Ayurvedic Remedies For It!

If you are experiencing pain in urination along with a burning sensation, a health condition known as dysuria is indicated. This condition is usually common in women and men alike. However, older men are more prone to face this problem. Pain during urination may occur because of various reasons. The most common causes are as follows:
Infections

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common cause of painful urination. Infections may occur in any part of your urinary tract, such as in the kidneys, bladder, and the ureters. These infections occur due to bacteria, which gets into the urinary tract via the urethra. There are several factors, which increase your chances of being affected by UTI. They include diabetes, an enlarged prostate, old age, pregnancy, and kidney stones. UTI is signified by other symptoms such as fever, bloody urines, flank pain, stronger smelling urine, and an increased urge for urination.
At times, painful urination may also be associated with vaginal infections in women, like yeast infection. Vaginal discharge and foul odor are indicated in the case of vaginal infections.
Painful urination is also caused because of certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as gonorrhea, genital herpes and Chlamydia.
Inflammation and irritation
There are several problems, which can cause inflammation of your urinary tract and genital region. This further results in painful urination. Inflammation and irritations also occur because of other factors such as urinary tract stones, vaginal changes associated with menopause, certain physical activities and the side effects of several medicines, treatment procedures and health supplements.

Consulting a doctor for painful urination
Your doctor will suggest you to undertake certain laboratory tests for the proper diagnosis of the cause of your painful urination. After this, a suitable treatment method is sought and undertaken. Before this, an overall physical examination is also carried out. Your doctor is likely to ask you some important questions regarding your painful irritation, how the condition worsens, and is felt during the onset of urination. It is also likely for your doctor to know about any other symptoms, which you might be experiencing such as fever, flank pain and vaginal discharge. You must tell your doctor about any changes observed in your urine flow, such as difficulty in initiating flow, an increased urge to urinate, and dribbling.

Apart from these, your doctor may also ask whether you experienced any character in urine after painful urination. These may include colour, amount, cloudiness, presence of pus in the urine and so on. 

Pain in Urination - Common Reasons Behind it!

Causes and symptoms of acute tubular necrosis

Damage or destruction to tube-like structures known as tubules in the kidneys can bring about the development of acute tubular necrosis (ATN) and subsequently, acute kidney failure.

What causes acute tubular necrosis (ATN)?

A lack of supply of oxygen to the cells in the kidney is the most common cause of this condition. The reason as to why oxygen may not reach the cells and tissues of this organ could be restriction or blockage of the pathways. When this happens, the kidneys get damaged. Dehydration is the most important cause of ATN which may be because of loose motions, vomitings, heat stroke etc.

Health conditions such as diabetes, heart attack, and stroke can bring about a decrease in blood flow to the organs resulting in ATN and death of cells. Similarly, the presence of toxic substances in the blood can also lead to tubules damage and change the way the cells function in the tubules.

Other causes that may lead you to develop ATN may be medications, radiology dyes, anesthetics and chemicals that cause your body to react adversely.

In addition to these causes, a number of factors can put you at risk of ATN and there are:

- An injury to the body, more specifically your kidneys can cause clotting of the blood vessels
- An adverse response to blood transfusion
- Instances of septic shock can slow down blood flow to the organs
- A major surgery that can interrupt blood supply to the organs

What are the symptoms of the condition?

The symptoms associated with the condition can vary depending on the severity of the problem.

You may experience:

- Troubles in waking up
- Drowsy feeling even during daytime
- Feelings of lethargy
- Feelings of excessive thirstiness
- Problems with urination
- Fluid retention problems
- Instances of confusion
- Feelings of nausea



Can Acute Tubular Necrosis Cause Kidney Failure?

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