Whether the kidneys are good or not can be judged from these indicators? Reminder: 5 types of symptoms or signs of kidney disease

Ms. Liu found that there were many bubbles in the toilet after urinating recently, and she often felt edema in her body in the morning. She remembered that a relative and friend at home had similar symptoms, so she hurried to the hospital for examination, only to find out that she had chronic Kidney disease, fortunately, was found early, and active treatment began.

When there is a problem with the kidneys, because the kidneys have a strong compensatory ability, they are often ignored because they have no pain sensation, and the disease will occur unconsciously. In fact, knowing in advance how to check the renal function test and paying close attention to the physical condition still has the opportunity to detect and prevent it as soon as possible.

So, let’s take a look at common kidney function tests, what indicators are problematic, and the symptoms that may appear after kidney function is damaged!

What is kidney function?

To give an inappropriate but easy-to-understand example, we can imagine that the kidneys are the sewer of the human body, and their main job is to expel metabolic waste from the body. Normally, the blood in the whole body will pass through the kidneys at a rate of 1200ml per minute. The kidneys will filter the blood, separate the excess waste from water, and make urine to expel the waste to the bladder and finally excreted from the body. To maintain the body’s water and fluid balance, to avoid the accumulation of metabolites in the body.

In addition, the kidneys can regulate blood pressure, electrolytes (such as sodium, potassium, calcium, etc.), and stimulate the bone marrow to make red blood cells and activate vitamin D to maintain calcium in the bones and balance in the body.

These are the functions of the kidneys, and the renal function test is also based on the need to check the characteristics of the indicators to understand the kidney function.

What are the kidney function tests? Knowing normal values ​​for kidney function tests

Since the kidneys are indispensable in the body, they can metabolize waste and maintain normal physiological functions. Therefore, the indicators for evaluating kidney function are also related to the wastes that will be metabolized, such as blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and urine protein.

Urine protein

In fact, the urine protein index is an item of urine examination, but because urine protein is the main method to detect early kidney problems, and this index can also reflect the severity of the disease, we can also regard it as a kind of renal function.

Generally, the albuminuria of an adult is less than 30mg per day. When the renal function is diseased, the albumin in the urine cannot be filtered smoothly, so the value will increase. At present, different medical institutions have different indicators of urine protein, but basically It will be less than 150mg per day. If you go to the hospital to check the urine for continuous urine protein +, it is recommended to do a 24-hour urine protein quantification. If it is higher than 150mg, you may need to find the cause.

In addition to evaluating renal function, urinary protein is also an important indicator for judging diabetes, nephropathy and cardiovascular disease. In addition, people with lupus erythematosus can also pay special attention to urinary protein, because lupus erythematosus is also one of the high risk factors for kidney disease.

Creatinine

This is a metabolite of creatine that is broken down by muscles. More than 90% of creatinine is filtered by the kidneys, so creatinine is also an important indicator for determining renal function; when renal function deteriorates, creatinine in the blood will increase due to accumulation. The normal value of creatinine varies in different medical institutions, women and men, but the average value is between 50-90umol/L. In addition, if you exercise for a long time, people with strong muscles may have higher creatinine, but both is normal.

There are several reasons for the increase in creatinine:

kidney function decline

kidney inflammation

Urinary tract obstruction

Uremia

acute muscle injury

Causes of decreased creatinine:

chronic muscle damage

thin

Pregnant

Deterioration of renal function will reduce the ability to filter creatinine, but the renal tubules of the kidney can still excrete a small amount of creatinine. In addition, the renal compensatory ability is enhanced in the early stage of kidney disease, so it is difficult to detect the decline of renal function in the early stage, and it must be carefully detected; Beyond normal values, kidney function may have been severely compromised and further investigation is needed.

Urea

Usually, the protein we eat will be metabolized into the more toxic ammonia, which is converted into the less toxic urea through the liver, and finally filtered by the kidneys and excreted in the urine. The normal value of urea in blood is between 3.2-7.1 μmol/L on average.

Causes of increased urea:

Long-term intake of high-protein foods

use of steroid drugs

body dehydration

heart failure

Reasons for the decrease in urea nitrogen:

Insufficient protein intake

malnutrition

chronic liver disease

From the above reasons, we can know that when the urea value changes, it is not necessarily a kidney problem, and it needs to be observed and diagnosed with other indexes.

uric acid

Uric acid is produced after the metabolism of purines ingested by the human body, and it is also metabolized by the kidneys, so checking uric acid can also understand kidney function.

However, it should be understood that high uric acid may not necessarily be caused by kidney disease, it may also be hyperuricemia or gout, but gout will inevitably cause kidney damage.

Causes of elevated uric acid include:

gout, severe pain

Kidney disease, such as acute or chronic nephritis, pyelonephritis, renal tuberculosis, etc.

Malignant tumors, various malignant tumors can lead to elevated serum uric acid.

Glomerular filtration rate

This indicator is not available in some medical institutions. It can be converted into a formula based on blood creatinine, age, gender, etc. The unit is ml/min/1.73m2. The lower the value, the worse the kidney function, which can help diagnose chronic kidney disease.

Generally speaking: 90-100 is basically normal, the first stage of kidney disease, but there may be proteinuria; the second-stage filtration rate is 60-89, the disease begins to be serious; the third-stage filtration rate is 30-59, moderate renal failure ; The fourth stage is 15-29, severe renal failure, the condition is particularly serious, decompensated; the fifth stage is lower than 15, end-stage renal failure, uremia stage.

Common symptoms of impaired kidney function

Generally, we only see the above renal function values ​​in the physical examination report. Is there any simple way to know the current renal function? Here is a summary of the symptoms in five aspects, so that everyone can pay attention to the condition of the kidneys in daily life, and help them to detect and treat them early.

bubble urine

If you find that the urine is cloudy in color, or there are thick and dense bubbles that do not disappear after a long time, it may be proteinuria, and you need to pay more attention. However, not all bubble urine is urine protein, and it still needs a urine test to determine.

edema

The normal skin is elastic, it will sag after pressing, and it will return to its original shape when released; however, if the skin with edema is released after 5 seconds of pressing, the skin will continue to sag, and the body may also be accompanied by decreased urination, nighttime Urine, unable to wear shoes, and puffy eyelids when you wake up in the morning.

hypertension

The occurrence of high blood pressure is also closely related to kidney function: when kidney function is not good, the body will not be able to regulate the level of salt and water, resulting in increased blood vessel pressure; and renin, which regulates blood pressure in the body, will also be out of balance, causing blood pressure to rise. Therefore, once you find that blood pressure is abnormally elevated and difficult to control, remember to check to see if there is any problem with kidney function.

anemia

In addition to metabolizing waste products, the kidneys also secrete erythropoietin, which helps the bone marrow make red blood cells. Anemia can occur when the kidneys are damaged and cannot produce enough erythropoietin. The common symptoms of renal anemia are easy headache, dizziness, palpitations, angina pectoris, pale complexion, limb weakness, fear of cold, fatigue, decreased exercise capacity, poor concentration, poor sleep, poor appetite, etc.

fatigue

Poor kidney function may also have symptoms of fatigue. If you often feel that your physical strength is getting worse, and you are fatigued and tired for no reason, you can also pay attention to whether there is a problem with your kidney function.

Chronic kidney disease often appears silently, and it may be difficult to detect without special inspection. It is a common invisible killer. Therefore, regular health examinations are very important for the prevention of kidney disease, especially if you are high-risk groups such as diabetes, hypertension, lupus erythematosus, etc., you should also remember to have regular physical examinations to reduce the risk of diseases and complications!