Often people think they have “kidney deficiency” and go to the nephrology clinic, but the relevant tests show that they do not have kidney disease. There are also some patients who have “kidney disease”, but they have been treated as “kidney deficiency”, thus delaying the treatment of “kidney disease”. What exactly is the relationship between “kidney disease” and “kidney deficiency”? To solve this problem, the first choice is to clarify that there is a difference between what Chinese medicine calls “kidney” and what Western medicine calls “kidney”. In Western medicine, “kidney” is just an organ, while in Chinese medicine, “kidney” does not exactly refer to the kidney organ, but is a generalization of a category of physiological functions, which almost covers many aspects of the endocrine system, reproductive system, urinary system, motor-skeletal system and respiratory system in Western medicine. The “kidney deficiency” in TCM The term “kidney deficiency” in Chinese medicine and “kidney disease” in Western medicine are also two completely different concepts. “The term “kidney deficiency” is a concept derived from the identification of symptoms in Chinese medicine, not a name for a disease. In Western medicine, “kidney disease” only refers to diseases and injuries of kidney organs, including nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, tubulointerstitial disease, renal vascular disease, renal failure and other medical kidney diseases, but also includes kidney stones, infections, tumors, trauma and other surgical diseases. From the perspective of clinical symptoms, “kidney deficiency” commonly manifests as soreness in the waist and knees, coldness in the limbs, insomnia and dreaminess, hot flashes and night sweats, impotence, infertility, swelling, frequent urination, incontinence, loss of hair and teeth, forgetfulness and deafness, and slowness of movement. The most common clinical manifestations of “kidney disease” are abnormal urine (including hematuria and proteinuria), edema, abnormal urine volume, increased nocturia, with or without hypertension, and decreased renal function. The most common manifestation of “kidney disease” is abnormal urine. The routine urinalysis can easily detect hematuria and proteinuria through the standardized retention of clean middle urine. Therefore, it is recommended that routine urine tests should be done during medical examinations. Another most common symptom of “kidney disease” is edema, which mostly occurs in the eyelid area, mainly in the morning; it can also be seen in the lower extremities, and in patients who are bedridden for a long time, it can also be seen in the lumbosacral area and other drooping areas, and it is mostly concave edema (i.e. skin depressions that do not recover easily after pressing with fingers), mainly at night. Most of the patients with abnormal urine output mainly have reduced urine output, or even oliguria (urine output <400ml in 24 hours) or anuria (urine output <100ml in 24 hours). Changes in urine output in "kidney disease" also include an increase in nocturia, which is defined as a nighttime urine output greater than 750 ml or a nighttime urine output greater than a daytime urine output, rather than an increase in the frequency of urination. Patients with "kidney disease" are prone to combined hypertension, and all new hypertensive patients should undergo urine and kidney function tests to rule out hypertension caused by kidney disease. This is especially true in patients who have no family history of hypertension and who develop hypertension too early (<40 years) or too late (>60 years). The progression of various renal diseases can lead to renal failure, including laboratory tests showing elevated blood creatinine and urea and a decrease in glomerular filtration rate. Patients may not have any conscious symptoms in the early stage, but as the blood creatinine level increases and the glomerular filtration rate decreases, they will gradually develop digestive system symptoms such as poor appetite, nausea and vomiting; anemia symptoms such as weakness, pallor, panic and shortness of breath; cardiovascular system symptoms such as chest tightness, breath-holding, wheezing, inability to lie down and progressive increase in blood pressure; they may also develop itchy skin, abnormal sensation in hands and feet, bone pain, susceptibility to fracture Itchy skin, abnormal sensation of hands and feet, bone pain, susceptibility to fracture, infection, etc. Through the above introduction, we can see that the “kidney” in Chinese medicine is different from the “kidney” in Western medicine, and “kidney deficiency” is not equal to “kidney disease”. “But there is a crossover between the two. “Kidney disease” may or may not be a manifestation of “kidney deficiency” in Chinese medicine. Likewise, a person with “kidney deficiency” may have “kidney disease”, but more often than not, it is not “kidney disease”. Therefore, we hope that you can correctly understand the concepts of “kidney deficiency” and “kidney disease”, and seek medical consultation when the above-mentioned symptoms of “kidney disease” appear, so that early detection, early diagnosis In order to reduce the occurrence of kidney failure, it is important not to take “kidney supplement” at will. At the same time, for the so-called “kidney deficiency” people who do not have the symptoms of “kidney disease”, there is no need to always suspect that they have “kidney disease” and bring unnecessary material and mental burden to individuals and families.