Kidney trouble: what to do and to whom to turn?

People who have kidney problems can be identified by their appearance. Any changes in the urinary system lead to the formation of edema. Swelling is most pronounced in the morning, but during the day it does not decrease significantly. Urination is difficult. To eliminate puffiness and restore normal urination, it is necessary to use diuretics and special therapy.

The urinary system consists of a number of organs, some of which are paired, and it would be wrong to assume that edema is the only sign of the development of urinary pathology. How is it arranged and for what purpose? What happens in the body when the kidneys are aching? What measures need to be taken if the kidneys are aching and how to avoid this condition? We will answer these questions in order of priority.

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What are the kidneys hurt from?

Diseases in which the barrels hurt are not so many, but they all give a rather painful picture of the course. Pathological changes in these organs are manifested as: 

• nephritis of different localization (most often pyelonephritis and glomerulonephritis); 
• renal failure; 
• nephrolithiasis; 
• renal polycystic; 
• nephroptosis (pathological mobility); 
• tuberculosis; 
• tumor neoplasms.

How are kidneys affected by glomerulonephritis?

The main structural unit of renal tissue is nephron. It contains a large number of small blood vessels, which intertwine, form a lump. It is with this vascular bundle associated with a disease called glomerulonephritis, which leads to the pain of the kidneys. Defeat of kidney lumps is due to serious immune disorders after complex infectious, viral or combined attacks on the body. Such provokers can serve as angina and influenza, foci of chronic tonsillitis and pneumonia, rubella, hepatitis or herpes.

Kidneys are affected in this disease, for a long time, although the original source remains unrecognized until a full recovery. According to the nature of the leakage, acute and chronic form is isolated, and in appearance - primary and secondary.

The acute form of the disease is a rather rare case. The symptomatology appears after the transferred inflammatory process, for example, angina, in a week or two. Against the backdrop of healthy health there are difficulties with urination, the color of urine changes, getting reddish color, blood pressure rises, headaches and dizziness join, patients start to note that they have kidneys. Due to the fact that urine is excreted poorly, in small doses, edema formation becomes inevitable. Swelling is mainly on the face. The liquid accumulates inside the body, for example, in the pericardium or pleural space of the lungs, sometimes resulting in a significant increase in body weight. Skin covers have a pronounced pallor. A little above the lumbar region, along the sides of the spine, there is a heaviness and pain, which increases with a slight tapping.

Sometimes a person may not suspect that his kidneys are hurting, because the acute form can proceed with a lubricated symptom, without changing the color of urine and with minor external swelling. To detect this diagnosis is possible only by conducting clinical tests of urine. Thus, the acute stage very often passes into the chronic stage. The disease can go to a chronic and with the wrong treatment in time diagnosed acute form. In any case, it must be remembered that the viral and infectious nature of any disease can lead to a feeling that the kidneys are aching. After the "meeting" with another disease, it is absolutely necessary to conduct a laboratory urine test before the treatment and two weeks after it to make sure that the kidney structures are not affected.

There is a chronic form of the disease with mild symptomatic indices, sometimes the kidneys are aching. Swelling may or may not appear visually, urinary disorders may not be permanent and minor, but nonetheless, permanent negative changes will occur at the level of internal manifestation, such as wrinkling of organs, one or two at once, poisoning with blood products urination, due to malfunction, which ultimately leads to the development of renal failure and complete cessation of urination. But all this develops for many years, with periods of exacerbation or without them.

How are kidneys affected by pyelonephritis?

Unfortunately, the cases when the kidneys are sore are not as rare as we would like. Pyelonephritis occurs as often as any disease of an infectious and inflammatory nature. A pathogenic zone, after which pyelonephritis develops, can be any transferred inflammation, including tonsillitis and sinusitis, sexual infection and inflammation of the internal organs. In the presence of chronic foci of inflammation in the organs of the genitourinary system, the probability of development of the pathological process on an ascending principle is great, when the infection, rising upwards, spreads right up to the organs of urination.

The defeat begins with cups and pelvis, quickly passing to the renal tubules, vessels and vascular glomeruli, thus completely damaging the structure of the kidney structures. Both organs can suffer immediately, in this case they speak of a bilateral disease, in which case the kidneys ache from two sides, or there is a one-sided defeat. According to the form of manifestation can be acute and chronic. By the nature of the disease is divided into the primary, which is based on the problem in the urinary system, and secondary, the development of which was preceded by physiological changes.

The disease develops with lightning speed, with bright signs of intoxication of the body and attacks of pain. Here is an indicative list of symptoms that will help to suspect the onset of pyelonephritis:

• high body temperature values up to 40 and above degrees;
• strong sweating with chills, quickly turning into heat and back;
• nausea with a chance of vomiting;
• rapid and very painful urination in small portions;
• sensation of pain throughout the body, with the main localization in the lumbar region and large joints;
• the kidneys ache, and a slight tapping of the fingers along the area of their projection, coughing and sharp movements are given a strong pain in them;
• because of the loss of water with urine, then vomiting, there is a strong dryness in the mouth.

How are kidneys affected by kidney failure?

The disease, in which the kidneys are sore slightly, at first in part, and if you do not take timely measures, then completely refuse to work. Purification of the blood passes badly or does not pass at all, because of what begins the poisoning of the body with the products of disintegration, for example urea, creatine, uric acid and many other poisonous substances that had to be excreted from the body with urine. Together with this there is a strong shift in the water-salt balance of the body, which again leads to problems in the form of puffiness, lack of urine.

With kidney failure, the kidneys ache from two sides, even in the case when the insufficiency begins its development with only one organ, the second, not withstanding a heavy load, eventually becomes involved in the pathological process.

Symptom series is not numerous, but very severe:

• a sharp decrease in the release of urine, until complete cessation;
• dryness of mucous membranes and lethargy of the skin;
• increased mental activity, expressed in severe anxiety;
• manifestation of uremia (poisoning with primary urine products) in the form of irritation followed by depression of the central nervous system;
• disturbances of parameters from the side of cardiovascular system in the form of changes in arterial pressure to high indices, rapid pulse and rapid development of complete heart failure.

Correct diagnosis and timely initiation of treatment allow the body to recover within 10, depending on the severity of the disease and the patient's age, although it does not say full recovery, just that the urinary function will be restored.

How are kidneys affected by urolithiasis?

As practice shows, in most cases, a person knows that his kidneys are aching and, turning to specialists, already has experience of independent treatment of his own illness. The formation of stones occurs without any symptoms, signs of the stone appear after the process of formation has already completed and the stone began to move. Stones are rarely formed one by one, often by a group and with a small or large number of fine particles, which are called sand.

The reasons for the formation of sand are many, the most common are poor quality drinking water, which is used for a long time, a violation in the diet, the wrong way of life, which gives priority to passive timing, disruption of metabolic processes in the body and pathology of the endocrine system. These are basic, but far from all factors that lead to the formation of urolithiasis. Until now, studies are being conducted, in the medical environment, on this topic, and all the new factors that contribute to the appearance of stones are being discovered.

In the presence of nephrolithiasis, the kidneys ache only during the period of exacerbation, as already mentioned above, when the stone began to move. Stones can be found in the pelvis, as in any of the departments of the urinary system, for many years, without showing any pathological sign. And can have a long and painful effect on a person quite a long time. There is no reason to tolerate the presence of stones in the body. Treatment of nephrolithiasis has long ceased to be time-consuming and time-consuming. There are medicines that allow you to eliminate even the largest stones in a short time and without surgical intervention.

The device and basic functions of the genitourinary system

However strange it may sound, our body is an oven in which the main components are burned, leaving behind slags, ashes, liquids, gases, alloys and other impurities. If there were no natural self-cleaning systems in the body, then, in the course of time, from the products of combustion, an early stop of vital activity would occur. One of the systems for self-purification of the body, from the products of vital activity, is the urinary system, which is represented by: 

• renal structures
• ureters 
• urinary bladder 
• the urethra.

The main functions for which this device is responsible are the removal of substances used by the body, maintaining a balance of the water-salt ratio in the blood at the desired level. He "drives" through him the entire volume of blood without interruption, playing the role of a separator. In other words, he releases pure blood back into the circulatory system, and everything harmful and unnecessary for the organism directs outward as part of the urine. Some harmful substances are unable to leave the urinary system, settling in it in the form of sand or stones.

When the kidneys are aching, there is a shift in the functions they perform to one side. In one case, this shift leads to the appearance of edema, which means that there are more salts in the body, and they trap the fluid inside the organs and tissues. With a different vector of pathology development, dehydration develops with minimal urine output, strongly pronounced dry skin and all mucous membranes. In the presence of deposits in the renal pelvis of sand and stones, sooner or later, pain syndrome develops.

Speaking about the device of the urinary system, it must be mentioned that the organs entering it are divided into urine-forming and urinary. It is clear that the main burden lies on the kidney formations, which, being a pair body, perform an incredible amount of work per day in terms of the number of liters. Just imagine, the daily volume of blood passing through them reaches two thousand liters, of which about 150-170 liters of primary urine are filtered out. When the kidneys are hurt, the load distribution between the organs goes unevenly and leads to a decrease in the volume of both primary and secondary urine.

The liquid that is excreted from the body, at a daily rate of about 1-1.5 liters, is called secondary urine and is a concentrated residue from a carefully processed primary urine. Urinary organs - ureters, bladder and urethra, can only serve as a mediator between the organs of urine and the external environment.

How to understand that kidneys are aching?

The most effective methods of diagnosis are ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, in some cases the use of X-rays with contrast media is possible. Of the laboratory methods, the most common blood and urine analysis is considered, the analysis of urine by Nechiporenko (the average urine sample is taken for the study), the average urine sample rate is calculated by collecting the Zimnitsky analysis (in eight specially selected jars). Special attention is paid to the presence in the urine of red blood cells and leukocytes, the number of which is judged on the degree of severity of the process or on its cessation.

What if my kidneys hurt?

If you have kidney problems, only a professional approach to diagnosis and treatment can give you a 100% recovery. Timely appeal to a doctor at the slightest suspicion that the kidneys are aching, allows to avoid many complications and physiological changes on the part of not only the kidney structures, but also many other organs.

In acute stages of diseases are carried out in a hospital, under the supervision of medical staff. Chronic processes can be treated through a dispensary route, but certainly with a visit to the doctor, including for laboratory and diagnostic control. To say in a nutshell, how the treatment of this or that disease will be treated is impossible. Each disease is caused by a number of factors. Many patients, these days, have a number of chronic processes that become an excellent testing ground for further adherence and kidney problems.

One can only assume that with pyelonephritis, antibacterial therapy will be prescribed with a set of intravenous drip procedures aimed at removing the pain attack and signs of intoxication, the administration of analgesics, antispasmodics. All this is appropriate in the acute phase, then add the drugs and procedures that have a general strengthening effect.

With glomerulonephritis, a strict salt-free diet, antibiotics and diuretics are prescribed to remove fluid from the body, which will not only relieve swelling, but also reduce blood pressure. In some cases, the use of drugs from a number of corticosteroids is indicated.

Kidney stone disease, again, can be treated in two ways - conservative and operative. Which of these two treatment options will be given preference, will show the diagnosis, the nature of the pathological process and individual patient indicators.

How to prevent diseases in which the kidneys are sore?

Speaking about preventive measures that will avoid the appearance and development of kidney diseases, it is worth considering that they are not very different from any preventive measures. Caring for your body should be comprehensive and permanent, not just occasionally, and when the kidneys are already aching.

It is necessary to ensure that the body does not have foci of the most common chronic infection, such as:

• carious teeth;
• tonsillitis and pharyngitis;
• bronchitis, especially in smokers;

Know your predisposition to certain infectious, viral diseases and avoid the occurrence of relapses. Pay attention to food and liquids. Drink more pure water, include in the diet of vitamin complexes and do not forget about tempering the body and playing sports, especially in the fresh air.

When kidneys are ill, it is natural to connect the abovementioned prevention measures gradually and only after consulting a doctor.