Your kidneys are essential for your survival and they don’t just sit there “making urine”. There’s a lot more to this beautiful but highly underrated organ than just being a mere exhaust!
Click on the links below to educate yourself about one of your inbuilt natural Detox organs (kidneys), what makes them essential, ways to keep them in great health and dispell common myths surrounding kidney diseases which only end up doing more harm than good.
Being a Kidney Patient is difficult. It is not just the health challenges it poses on a day-to-day basis. It is also the “restrictions” that are suddenly “imposed” on us even with something as basic as “what we EAT”! Admittedly, the Renal Diet appears all the more challenging when it is a festive season!
But, focusing on what we CAN eat with kidney disease in tow, instead of what we CANNOT opens a whole new horizon of food options & possible food combinations which may go unnoticed otherwise.
If you are a member of the kidney community – whether as a patient, caregiver, advocate or knowledge seeker – it is likely that you have come across the term “Glomerular Filtration Rate” or more commonly, the GFR. Perhaps you are also aware that this term broadly relates to your kidney’s functional capacity.
But do you completely understand what GFR really is?
How does your medical team clinically assess the GFR for your kidneys?
How valid is it throughout your CKD journey?
And is it always indicative of the true health status of your kidneys?
All these are some very pertinent questions that each member of the Kidney Community, especially the patients & caregivers must thoroughly know the answers to. And that is exactly what we are here to help you with, today. Continue reading “Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR)”→
Who isn’t acquainted with “Baking Soda” – those tiny, white crystals used to make cakes fluffy? It has now also made its way as an effective dead-skin exfoliator (when used sparingly), a teeth whitening agent as well as a DIY solution for “unclogging” toilet pipes. For some years now, many articles have surfaced in the open-access media about how drinking Baking Soda (NOT Baking Powder) can help “flush your healthy kidneys of toxins” and promote kidney health.
“Drink adequate water to keep your kidneys healthy!” — Now that’s a piece of time-tested health advice, right? But then how does it work?
The internet and medical literature, in general, is filled with ample advice on drinking adequate water for good kidney health. Usually, you will find pearls of advice urging you to drink at least 8 glasses of water daily for optimum health benefits. To be factually correct, it is your total liquid intake throughout the day that matters. This could be in the form of water, juices, smoothies, milk or other non-alcoholic beverages or even soups and broths that you take throughout the day (We specify the term “non-alcoholic” here because although liquid, alcohol is a major dehydrator).
However, we all know how plain, drinking water always forms the mainstay of retaining an optimum hydration status.
So, what is it about plain water that makes it the “drink of choice” to quench thirst in the truest sense?
And how exactly does drinking more water keep your kidneys healthy?
Hint:It has got nothing to do with “flushing” your kidneys
Can increasing water intake slow down the progression of chronic kidney disease? What does the latest research suggest?
The leakage of Plasma Protein in urine is technically termed as “Proteinuria” (pronounced as pro-teen-you-reah). These proteins are NOT the usual nutrient that you obtain from food. These are a different class of Proteins specially made by your Liver.
Plasma Proteins normally circulate in your bloodstream & help with a range of functions essential to keep you alive. Urine samples with Protein tend to be visibly foamy / frothy akin to the kind that you get after dissolving detergents in water. The extent of foam will certainly vary with the extent of protein leakage.
Normally, Urine produced by healthy kidneys is a cocktail of toxic waste products of cellular metabolism, a host of minerals, salts, smelly organic compounds & excess water. (Find the complete normal urine composition here). These components begin to get together to form Urine once healthy kidney micro-filters “strain” our blood through themselves. These micro-filters are uber-selective with what they “let-out” into the urine. This is such that, all blood cells & “plasma” proteins remain in the bloodstream while the wastes & excesses purge themselves out.
But what makes these Kidney Micro-filters that selective against leakage of blood cells & protein in urine?
Haematuria (Red blood cells in urine) is not a disease in itself. It is a “sign” that points to an abnormality within your body.
The treatment approach towards haematuria would require a confirmed diagnosis of the underlying cause and adopting relevant medical and/or corrective surgical approaches. Whether it can be resolved completely or not would entirely depend on its root cause.
Presenting here, the general pointers that guide your treatment plan for patients with Haematuria.
But do you completely understand what GFR really is?
