The kidneys are one of the most important organs in the human body. Besides excreting metabolic waste and toxins produced in our bodies daily, they also play a crucial role in maintaining our body's fluid balance, bone marrow hematopoiesis, and bone development. Since the early symptoms of most kidney diseases are often not obvious or typical and can be easily confused with other conditions, we should keep in mind the following eight tips to protect our kidneys in our daily lives.
1. When suffering from streptococcal infections such as pharyngitis or tonsillitis, it is essential to seek a complete cure immediately. Anti-inflammatory treatment must be thorough, especially for children, otherwise, streptococcus can easily lead to nephritis.
2. Drink an appropriate amount of water and do not hold in your urine.
3. Control high blood pressure.
Hypertension's damage to the kidneys: Due to spasms, hardening, degeneration, and degeneration of the small arteries in the kidneys, it leads to ischemia, hypoxia, and renal parenchymal fibrosis, resulting in proteinuria. Consequently, renal function progressively deteriorates, leading to diseases such as uremia.
4. Control diabetes.
The mechanism of kidney damage caused by diabetes is not yet clear. It is generally believed that long-term high blood sugar entering cells increases the activity of relevant enzymes, thereby promoting the formation of complexes between enzymes and proteins, which deposit in the glomeruli and cause severe damage to the glomeruli. On the other hand, due to excessively high blood sugar, the biochemical composition of the glomeruli becomes abnormal, causing an increase in vascular permeability and leakage of plasma proteins, which contributes to the formation of glomerulosclerosis. The plasma growth hormone levels in juvenile diabetic patients are higher, which, together with high blood sugar, participates in the formation of sugar-protein complexes, thus aggravating the damage of diabetic nephropathy. Changes such as degeneration of renal tubules and hardening of the afferent and efferent arterioles are also directly related to increased blood sugar. In addition, diabetic patients are prone to secondary infections, and recurrent severe urinary tract infections can cause renal cortical necrosis. As far as is currently known, the damage to the kidneys from diabetes is not only due to high blood sugar but is a complex process closely related to factors such as genetic defects, abnormalities in glucose, protein, and fat metabolism, blood stasis and coagulation, and endocrine disorders. In the early stages of diabetes, kidney damage progresses insidiously. As the course of the disease lengthens, the glomerulosclerosis becomes more obvious, more and more glomeruli are affected, and the progression accelerates later on, eventually leading to symptoms such as proteinuria and ultimately progressing to renal failure.
5. Do not overeat. Because the large amount of waste produced after eating a large amount of food is excreted by the kidneys, it will increase the burden on the kidneys.
6. Women should have a kidney function check-up before pregnancy, as pregnancy加重 the burden on the kidneys.
7. For kidney diseases, please consult a specialist doctor and do not blindly take medications such as anti-inflammatory drugs, painkillers, or Chinese patent medicines, so as not to accelerate the worsening of the condition.
8. Since kidney damage mostly occurs unknowingly, it is important to develop the habit of regular kidney function checks.