The fist-sized kidney filters and cleanses 200 liters of blood every day, which is equivalent to 10 buckets of drinking water! If we compare the human body to a functioning factory, kidneys are definitely good employees who work quietly and tirelessly. However, the symptoms of kidney lesions are often hidden and not easily detected, and when they deteriorate to the end stage, people are in pain.
There are still some signs that the kidneys need to be “overhauled”, do not ignore these distress signals.
1.Change in urine volume
Normal people urinate 1000-2000ml every day, an average of 1500ml, whether the volume of urine becomes more or less, may be the performance of kidney disease. In particular, normal people urinate very little at night, if you find that you have to get up several times during the night, and you do not drink much water before going to bed, you should be more alert to kidney disease.
2.Change of urine traits
Normal people’s urine color is clear light yellow, if you drink little water or urinate for the first time early in the morning, the color is slightly darker. If the color of urine is red, or if there is a lot of foam in the urine, you should pay attention to go for kidney examination.
3.Oedema
The kidney is the body’s organ for metabolizing water, and when the kidney is bad, water will accumulate. Some people get up in the morning and find that their eyelids are swollen, or their feet and legs are swollen, they should consider the kidney problem.
4, nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal symptoms
Kidney disease developed to the end stage will affect the function of the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and other symptoms, so with these manifestations, in addition to seeing the gastroenterology department, attention should be paid to exclude kidney disease.
5.Itchy skin
Patients with end-stage kidney disease, because the urea in the body can not be excreted through the urine, will be excreted through the skin thus irritating the skin. In addition, the accumulated toxins in the body will lead to peripheral neuropathy, which will also cause itchy skin.
How to protect your kidney health
1, only focus on kidney supplementation, ignoring kidney health
Kidney supplementation is a health care concept that many people advocate. The “kidney” referred to in Chinese medicine is a functional concept, including the modern medical function of the reproductive system, endocrine function and urinary system function of the integrated function. The “kidney” in modern medicine refers to the actual kidneys. It is responsible for removing toxins, waste and excess water from the body. It also assists the body in controlling blood pressure, regulating electrolyte concentration, and producing red blood cells. Once kidney function is damaged, most of them are irreversible. Therefore, it is dangerous to focus only on kidney supplementation and neglect kidney health. Rather than often supplementing the kidneys, it is better to protect them well.
2.Large fish and meat, too much protein intake
Protein is an essential nutrient for the human body, but it does not mean that “the more protein food you eat, the better”. Healthy people through a balanced diet is enough to supplement the daily protein needs. But nowadays, many people in the workplace often entertain and eat a lot of meat and fish, resulting in excessive protein intake. Protein is not limited to eggs and milk, but various meats, seafood and beans are all high in protein. When you are keen to eat high-protein food, or blindly supplement high-protein nutrition will increase the burden on the kidneys, or even make the kidneys in a long-term “overload” state. People who have kidney function damage, protein intake should be strictly controlled, be sure to consult a nephrologist and develop recipes under the guidance of a nutritionist.
3.Insufficient drinking water and holding urine for too long
Holding urine for too long can easily lead to elevated bladder pressure, bladder pressure reflex disorder and decreased function of the forced urinary muscle, or affect the ureter-bladder anti-reflux mechanism, leading to urine reflux and complications of pyelonephritis and renal function damage. Therefore, even if you are busy at work, don’t forget to go to the toilet on time. In addition, many people are too busy at work to drink water. Insufficient drinking water will naturally reduce the volume of urine, and the concentration of waste and toxins carried in urine will increase. Kidney stones, which are common in clinical practice, are closely related to the lack of drinking water for a long time. To develop the habit of drinking more water, ensure at least 8 large glasses of boiled water every day. Drinking more water can dilute the urine, so that the urine is quickly discharged, helping to prevent stones.
4, the diet is salty water is not easy to discharge
95% of the salt in our diet is metabolized by the kidneys, eat too salty, the burden on the kidneys naturally increased, and the sodium in the salt will make the body’s water is not easy to discharge, further increasing the burden on the kidneys, which leads to the decline in kidney function. At the same time, too salty diet will lead to increased blood pressure, the kidney blood can not maintain the normal flow, thus inducing kidney disease. It is recommended that the daily intake of salt be controlled within 6 grams.
5, drug abuse makes the kidneys very injured
Do not abuse analgesics, long-term use of some anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs are likely to cause irreversible damage to the kidneys. In addition, many people think that herbal medicines do not have toxic side effects, which is a great misunderstanding. There are more and more reports about kidney damage caused by herbal medicines, among which the nephrotoxicity of Aristolochia, Zanthoxylum, Leigong Vine, Hookwort, Mountain Cigarette, Guanmu Tong, Shan Dougen, Fish Gall, and Zexia is the greatest, and the dosage and indications of these drugs should be strictly controlled and used according to medical advice.
Measures: People with many social meals or heavy tastes should eat more fruits and vegetables and ensure sweating exercise twice a week because sweating can excrete salt. Eat less snacks with high salt content, such as fried potato chips, instant noodles, etc.
In addition, black food is the golden food for kidney, for example, black sesame, black rice, walnuts, gravy, fungus, mulberry, lychee, kelp, nori, uggs, mushrooms, tempeh are all black food for kidney, so in the usual diet, you can choose more of these black foods to add points to your kidney health!