How Do You Know If You Have a Kidney Problem?
Kidney problems should never be taken lightly because a kidney problem can potentially be fatal when not treated. Your kidneys can become so damaged from a kidney infection or kidney cancer that they don’t work anymore. When such kidney failure occurs, the only alternatives for survival are a transplant or dialysis.
Symptoms of Kidney Problems
Most problems related to the kidneys have similar symptoms
Pain in the lower middle back occurs in some cases. This pain may range from mild to severe, and it may come and go. This kind of pain is typical of kidney stones. Discomfort can occur on either side of the back.
Urinating less often than usual could be a sign of trouble.
You may detect a reddish tint, which could be a sign that blood is present.
You may feel pain or discomfort while urinating. This also happens if you have a bladder infection, but might be that the infection is higher up in the urinary tract – like the kidneys.
You may sometimes pass very little urine, even though you felt an urgent need to urinate moments before.
Here are some other possible symptoms:
- a fever, often accompanied by chills,
- your blood pressure will rise,
- you may become fatigued easily and may also feel weak or “drained”,
- weakness in your muscles,
- the feeling that you’re bloated. This could be a sign that your kidneys aren’t filtering fluids as they normally would.
- swelling in the ankles, feet or hands,
- swollen or puffy eyes, especially just after you wake up,
- nausea and vomiting, along with a loss of appetite,
- Behavior that’s out of the ordinary, incuding seizures and convulsions. This is more likely to occur in the later stages of kidney disease.
Clinical Diagnosis of Kidney Problems
A number of clinical procedures are available that can be useful in diagnosing kidney problem symptoms.
- a blood analysis
- blood pressure checks
- a thorough health examination
- a sonogram of your abdomen
- an analysis of your urine,
Tests that are typically performed when a woman is pregnant can also help determine if kidney disease is developing.
Conclusion
Symptoms of kidney trouble are often difficult to diagnose because they don’t appear until the problem is serious. Your kidneys can be damaged beyond repair by the time you realize there’s a problem.
