Taking care of your kidneys is the best possible way to treat your body right and extending your life for several years. See, the kidneys are organs that generally have one of the most critical functions in the body. They balance body fluids, making sure that they preserve the body’s internal environment by keeping or excreting different elements or substances based on your body needs. Significance of urine production and removal as a life-supporting function is emphasized in events or situations when kidney function is abruptly lost.
You can protect your kidneys by living a healthy lifestyle and get routine checkups as necessary especially when you have predisposing risk or at the age of having kidney diseases. Your physician will definitely ask for test that can check how well and how healthy your organ functioning is. One of the early markers of kidney health is the estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR). It is normally 100 ml/min so the result roughly indicates the percentage of normal kidney functioning or how well the kidneys can essentially eliminate waste elements from the bloodstream. For instance, an eGFR of 55 ml/min suggests the renal system is about 50% normal. Usually, your physician in hospitals or other medical clinics will check your blood for creatinine. Then, your physician or the hospital laboratory will place the result from the test into a math solution and use your gender, age, and race to figure out your organ’s filtration rate. The result that has a eGFR that is below 60 indicates some potential kidney damage so that should tell you to verify the result with other kidney tests that your physician can look further into. For sure, the sooner kidney abnormality is discovered, the higher the possibility that you can do something about it.
Our kidneys perform important functions in our body system. They filter our blood and turn the filtrate into urine. The kidneys regulate blood pressure and body fluids. They also get rid of wastes produced by our body. And when our kidneys fail to function, this is certainly a cause for alarm. We should definitely take good care of our kidneys. Nowadays, there are a lot of tests that can detect early kidney damage and monitor the kidneys’ condition. The eGFR or estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate blood test is ordered to check whether our kidneys are functioning well. This measures if the kidneys are properly filtering a waste product called creatinine. If creatinine is not properly filtered, then it accumulates in the blood and is very dangerous.
How the Test is Performed
Before starting the test, you should inform your doctor if you are currently taking any medication because some drugs can interfere with the test results. A blood sample is drawn and taken to the lab for testing. A formula will then be used which considers the patient’s age, height, weight and race along with the creatinine levels obtained. Normal results range from 90-120 ml/min. As you grow older, you will have lower normal values as GFR decreases with age. A person with a result lower than the normal would signify chronic kidney disease and is a sign that immediate medical attention is required.
People with chronic kidney disease should take the test especially if they have diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, family history of kidney disease and also if they experience frequent urinary tract infections. A person with kidney disease may experience problems in urinating, mid-back pain, swelling around the eyes or in the face and may observe foamy and bloody urine.
We should be aware of the different tests that you can take in order to detect kidney disease. We should also take the necessary precautions in taking good care of our kidneys. Early detection can save lives.
Human kidney is responsible for the removal of excess fluid, wastes, and minerals. It also produce hormones that is responsible for keeping your bones healthy and strong. However, failure of this organ usually lead to increase blood pressure level, water retention to the body, waste build up and decrease production of red blood cells. Kidney failure also compromised the functions of other organs of the body which can result to death.
Overall, physicians advised each and everyone to have their annual check up to detect abnormalities and malfunction of certain body organs to acquire prevention treatment to alleviate the probability of aggravation of the condition. In an executive check up, estimated glomerular filtration rate (EGFR) blood test together with creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) laboratory work up are usually ordered to know the condition of one’s kidney. More so, it is also ordered if a patient manifests symptoms such as frothy urine, blood stained urine, decreased unrination, nurning sensation after urination, itchiness, flank pain, hypertension and so on. From these tests, the extent of the damage on the kidneys will determine the mode of treatment that a specific patient will undergo. Also, patients with hypertension and diabetes undergo EGFR blood test periodically to monitor the status of the kidney as both contribute to kidney damage.
As the famous line that most medical practitioner always advised their clients, prevention is better than cure. If you think that you are not living a healthy lifestyle, you might as well consider a change. As early as now, you can start treating yourself into something that will definitely benefit yourself at the end. A balance diet, a regular exercise, elimination of vices and health education can give you a bigger chance of avoiding such conditions that can contribute to your sufferings and eventually, an early demise.
