Signs Your Kidney is in Bad Shape

Kidney plays an important role in our body. The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist. They are located just below the rib cage, one on each side of your spine.

Healthy kidneys filter about a half cup of blood every minute, removing wastes and extra water to make urine. The urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder through two thin tubes of muscle called ureters, one on each side of your bladder. Your bladder stores urine. Your kidneys, ureters, and bladder are part of your urinary tract.

There are signs or symptoms that you may have kidney disease. And these are as follows;

1. Swelling in your arms, legs, around your eyes.

2. Changes in how much you urinate.

3. Pee that is foamy, bloody, discolored.

4. Skin rashes

5. Metallic taste, bad breath

6. Being tired all the time.

7. Back pain or joint pain

It is very important that we take good care of our kidney. As I mentioned above, it plays an important role in our body system. Kidneys produce hormones called erythropoietin. Erythropoietin is responsible for giving signals to the bone to produce blood. If our kidneys do not function very well, it will not produce enough erythropoietin to give signal to the bones, bones would not produce blood, which would lead to disease such as anemia.

If you have been experiencing these signs, seek medical attention. It is better that we have to immediately ask medical help in order to prevent more damage in our kidneys. If left unattended, it could lead to kidney failure or worst, death.

When I was in third year high school, I had a classmate named Olga. But before being a classmate, she was a neighbor and a friend. I met her through a friend. We get along very well maybe because we both came from a broken family. She was sweet and kind-hearted girl. She was also good in our class. It was around August when we found out that she was being hospitalized because of kidney failure. As far as I could remember, her Lola was crying when she told us that both Olga's kidneys collapsed, and she only had 5 months to live. We were all crying upon hearing the sad news, especially me, I feel like I am losing a sister. Her Lola told us not to tell Olga about her true condition. Despite all the hardship fighting her disease, she never lose hope. She underwent several dialysis and kidney transplant was being consider. 5 months had passed and Olga is still doing fine. She even attended our JS Prom that year. Though her body was slowly deteriorating, you can still see a smile on her face. Then one day, her Tita told me that she was again brought to hospital because she collapsed. We immediately went to hospital, me and my classmates. I cannot forget the time when Olga talked to us saying "Ayoko pang mamatay, madami pa ko gustong gawin." We were all crying but we cannot do anything for her. After weeks of battling the disease, Olga died.

Prevention is Better than Cure

There are ways to prevent kidney diseases, these are;

• Reduce salt intake

• Maintain a healthy weight

• Limit alcohol

• Drink at least 8 glasses of water or more

• Eat a heat-healthy diet, foods that are low in sugar and cholesterol and high in fiber, whole grains, and fruits which helps prevent weight gain.

• Do not smoke

• Exercise regularly

• Avoid stress

• Limit over-the-counter medication

• Manage your blood sugar

• Manage your blood pressure

Let us not ignore these signs. Again, immediately seek medical help.

photo and information source; Google