Young diseases

Signs & Symptoms of Kidney Disease



When kidney disease develops over a short period of time it’s called Acute Kidney Failure. This is usually caused by an acute 'insult' (damage) to the kidneys. Unlike Chronic Kidney Failure, this can usually be treated and cured. Acute kidney diseases often cause symptoms that are quite obvious, the most prominent being:
# blood in the urine
# swelling of the face, feet, ankles and legs
# new onset of high blood pressure
# shortness of breath

The above symptoms are more likely to occur in children because they are more likely to suffer acute kidney diseases. However, that does not mean adults are free of them, so if you note any combination of these symptoms, immediately seek medical attention.

Note that other diseases can also cause similar symptoms, but a simple urine test can indicate if they are due to kidney diseases. For instance, the urine test will indicate if albumin (protein) and blood are present in the urine, as they imply the presence of kidney diseases. A blood test can also show how well your kidneys are performing their main function of eliminating waste products.

In contrast, many chronic kidney diseases do not manifest clear warning signals in their early stages. There may be loss of appetite, mild swelling in the legs, and tiredness. It is not uncommon for these symptoms to be so mild or non-specific that they are ignored over long periods of time.

In fact, some people with chronic kidney disease do not have any symptoms in the initial stages. But as kidney function declines, symptoms may include:
# fatigue
# frequent headaches
# loss of appetite (anorexia)
# sleep problems (insomnia)
# itchy skin
# frequent urination or urinary retention
# nausea or vomiting
# swelling or numbness of the hands and feet
# darkening of the skin
# muscle cramps

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) means a condition that damages one’s kidneys. It decreases kidneys’ ability to keep one healthy by doing their functions.

CKD is a common, life-threatening illness that often goes undetected until very advanced.
CKD may progress slowly over a long time. A lot of people are not aware that they have
kidney disease until it’s severe. If it’s found and treated early, CKD may often be slowed down or stopped.

The risk factors for CKD include:
– Diabetes
– High blood pressure
– A family history of kidney disease, diabetes or high blood pressure
– Obesity
– Kidney stone
– Above 50 years old

Annual Health Screening is vital to check whether your kidneys are healthy.

You should visit your doctor or clinic and get tested. Your checkup should include:
o Urine test for protein
- Protein is an important building block in your body. Any filtered protein
is normally reabsorbed and kept in your body. When your kidney are
damaged, however, protein leaks into your urine.
- There are different tests to check for protein in your urine. If you have two
positive tests over several weeks, you are said to have persistent protein
in your urine. This is a sign of CKD.
o Blood pressure
o Blood test for glucose
o Blood test for creatinine
- Creatinine is a waste product that comes from muscle activity.
- Your kidneys normally remove creatinine from your blood. When your
kidneys are damaged, however, your blood creatinine may build to a high
level.
- The results of your test should be used to estimate your Glomerular
Filtration Rate, or GFR. Your GFR tells how much kidney function
you have.

Test results show CKD
Your doctor will want to pinpoint your diagnosis and check your kidney function to help plan your treatment. The doctor may do the following:

* Calculate your GFR, which is the best way to tell how much kidney function you have. You do not need to have another test to know your GFR. Your doctor can calculate it from your blood creatinine, your age, race and gender. Your GFR tells your doctor your stage of kidney disease and helps the doctor plan your treatment. (See the chart below on “5 Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease”)
* Perform an ultrasound or CT scan to get a picture of your kidneys and urinary tract. This tells your doctor whether your kidneys are too large or too small, whether you have a problem like a kidney stone or tumor and whether there are any problems in the structure of your kidneys and urinary tract.
* Perform a kidney biopsy, which is done in some cases to check for a specific type of kidney disease, see how much kidney damage has occurred and help plan treatment. To do a biopsy, the doctor removes small pieces of kidney tissue and looks at them under a microscope.

Stage Description GFR Level mL/ min
1 Kidney damage with normal or higher GFR 90 or more
2 Kidney damage and mild decrease in GFR 60 to 89
3 Moderate decrease in GFR 30 to 59
4 Severe decrease in GFR 15 to 29
5 Kidney failure
(dialysis or kidney transplant needed) Less than 15


To prevent CKD progression
Early detection and treatment can often slow or stop CKD. How well your treatment can achieve this goal depends on:

* Your stage of CKD when you start treatment. The earlier you start, the better you are likely to do.
* How carefully you follow your treatment plan. Learn all you can about CKD and its treatment, and make sure to follow all the steps of your treatment faithfully.
* The cause of your kidney disease. Some kidney diseases are more difficult to control..

Do you know that your Kidneys…?

1. Weigh less than 1% of your body weight?
2. Receive 20% of the blood that is pumped by your heart?
3. Filter 180 litres of fluids per day to produce 2 litres of urine?
4. Maintain your body’s internal environment constant?
5. Remove harmful wastes from your body via urine?
6. Produce certain essential hormones?
- Erythropoietin which stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood cells
- Renin to regulate blood pressure
- Activate Vitamin D to produce calcitriol which helps maintain calcium balance in
the bones.

The heart, a muscle about the size of a fist, is one of the hardest working organs in our bodies. Over the course of an average life span, it beats about two and a half billion times without ever taking a break. The daily choices we make about how we live our lives determine our hearts' ability to function optimally.

According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the United States. More than 2,600 people die of heart disease every day, which translates into one cardiovascular death every 33 seconds.


Despite the seriousness and prevalence of heart disease, cardiovascular problems aren't inevitable. There are steps you can take -- eating a healthy, low-fat diet and getting plenty of exercise -- to reduce your risk. On the other hand, bad habits such as smoking and drinking too much alcohol overburden our already busy hearts and cause them to break down.

"Cardiovascular disease is a real problem in the United States," said Elijah Saunders, M.D., Head of the Hypertension Section of the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Division of Cardiology. "The average American diet is high in fat, cholesterol, calories and salt, and our lifestyles are far too sedentary."

Elevated Blood Pressure: The Silent Killer
High Blood Pressure Risk Factors
It is important to keep your blood pressure under 140/90 mm Hg. Blood pressure higher than that is considered dangerous. Below is a list of high blood pressure risk factors. People with any of these risk factors should have their blood pressure checked every time they visit their doctor. For those who fall into several risk categories, experts recommend purchasing a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope and taking your own pressure reading every week.

Cigarette smoking or being exposed to secondhand smoke on a daily basis
Diabetes (a fasting glucose higher than 125 mg/dL)
Kidney disease
Family history of hypertension
Being obese or overweight
Leading a physically inactive, sedentary lifestyle
Men over the age of 45
Women over the age of 55
Taking oral contraceptives
Elevated cholesterol levels
Frequently consuming alcoholic beverages
Being African American
Hypertension or high blood pressure is often a precursor to heart disease. High blood pressure that goes undetected or isn't properly controlled can lead to heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure, stroke or premature death. Because hypertension has few early symptoms, many people aren't aware they have it.

"Only about half of the people in this country who have high blood pressure know they have it," said Saunders. "Of those who know they have it, only about half are being treated for it. And of those being treated for it, only about half actually have their blood pressure under control. Nationwide, that translates into about 25 percent of hypertensive patients who are controlling their blood pressure."

According to Saunders, many people shy away from taking the medications that could help them manage their blood pressure because they are concerned about their side effects. Treatment methods, however, have improved over the years, and some of the old fears are unfounded.

"The way drugs are being used to control high blood pressure today is much more effective than in the past," Saunders said. "Doctors are using ACE inhibitors, Calcium channel blockers, Beta-blockers, Angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), Alpha-blockers and low-dose diuretics in ways that don't cause the sexual complications and other side effects of older therapies. Also, these new drugs only need to be taken once a day, instead of two or three times a day. This is a lot easier for patients."

Saunders, who has served on the Advisory Council of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, has lectured extensively on hypertension. Throughout his career, he has focused on hypertension among the elderly and African American populations.

Statistics show that African Americans are 50 to 100 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure than their white counterparts. African Americans also develop hypertension at younger ages than whites, have a harder time keeping it under control and die from it at much higher rates.

Saunders is currently working with the National Institutes of Health to understand any possible genetic factors that increase hypertension in African Americans.

"Unlike sickle cell, I doubt that we're going to discover a single gene that predisposes African Americans to hypertension," Saunders said. "More than likely, it is a combination of environmental factors such as diet, obesity, physical inactivity and stress that contribute to the increased rates of high blood pressure we see in the African American community."

Control Your Pressure
The average adult has about five liters of blood flowing through the body via an intricate network of blood vessels called arteries, veins and capillaries. Blood is essential to life for it delivers oxygen from our lungs to our body tissues, and carries harmful waste to the kidneys to be removed. Blood also transports hormones from our glands to various parts of our bodies, as well as vitamins and nutrients from our digestive tracts.

When our blood vessels become clogged due to a plaque buildup of cholesterol and fat, our hearts must work twice as hard to pump enough blood to our vital organs. This is what causes our blood pressure to surge.

As the pressure increases inside of our arteries, veins and capillaries, our hearts become even more overworked. Over time, our hearts grow larger in an effort to compensate for the extra workload and eventually they become weaker.

When you add obesity, smoking, or diabetes to the mix, the risk of heart attack, stroke or kidney disease for those with high blood pressure increases dramatically. This is why it is important to know what your blood pressure is.


Experts recommend that you maintain a blood pressure lower than 140/90 mm Hg at rest. The higher number represents the maximum pressure exerted when the heart contracts (systole). It reflects the stiffness of the large arteries near the heart, and the volume of blood pumped into them. The lower number represents the pressure exerted when the heart begins to relax between beats (diastole), just before the next contraction. It measures the amount of constriction of the body's smaller arteries or arterioles.

Good Reasons to Exercise
A great way to lower your blood pressure and combat the corrosive effects of plaque buildup is to exercise. Studies have shown that sedentary lifestyles tend to elevate blood pressure, while regular exercise can reduce it.

According to Saunders, exercise is so effective at controlling blood pressure because it stimulates a substance within our bodies called nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is produced by our endothelial cells, which live on the inside layer of our blood vessels.


"Nitric oxide is a substance that helps to keep our blood vessels open," said Saunders. "During the early stages of plaque buildup or arteriosclerosis, one of the first things we see is a reduction in the amount of nitric oxide in the blood vessels. When we exercise, the accelerated pumping of our hearts forces more blood to flow through our vessels. As this blood pushes its way along the lining of our vessels, the endothelial cells release more nitric oxide."

You don't have to spend hours in the gym to reap the healthy benefits of exercise. Walking the dog, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, even vacuuming briskly can increase the blood flow from your heart and through blood vessels.

In addition to regular exercise, a heart-friendly diet is also important, said Saunders. Broiling foods instead of frying them and trimming the skin and fat off of meat all add up to less artery-clogging plaque in your blood vessels.

Shake That Salt Habit
So, you avoid foods high in fat and cholesterol and are exercising on a regular basis, what else can you do to stay healthy? Saunders suggests staying away from foods that contain a lot of sodium.


Sodium plays an essential role in regulating fluids in the body. Studies of diverse populations have shown that a high sodium intake is associated with higher blood pressures.

Although the human body requires only about 500 mg of sodium a day, the average American ingests between 6,900 mg and 9,000 mg of sodium a day. For people sensitive to sodium, such as those with a family history of hypertension, African Americans, diabetics and the elderly, the accumulation of too much salt in the body can be particularly risky.

Saunders recommends doing away with your salt shakers. Adding extra salt to most foods is unnecessary since many of the prepackaged, prepared foods that you buy in the grocery store already contain a lot of sodium.

"A good rule of thumb is that if you can taste the salt in your food, then there is too much of it," said Saunders. "Canned foods, snack foods, fast foods and other prepared foods are loaded with sodium. It is much better to prepare your own low-sodium meals. You may also consider using some salt substitutes (with approval by your doctor) or various condiments and seasonings that may add to the taste without excess salt. When eating out, insist that the food be prepared without sodium and you can then control the amount consumed."

If you don't have time to cook your meals from scratch, Saunders advises that you pay close attention to the amount of sodium listed on food labels. Since 1986, the Food and Drug Administration has required manufacturers to list sodium content on their products.

Say No to Smoking, Excessive Drinking

Another way to improve your overall cardiovascular health is to quit smoking and drinking a lot of alcohol.

While drinking in moderation doesn't seem to have much of an impact on your heart, having more than three drinks a day may contribute to high blood pressure. Alcohol has been shown to raise blood pressure by interfering with the flow of blood to and from the heart. When alcohol courses through your bloodstream, it pushes blood rich in nutrients away from your heart.

Studies have shown that it is much more difficult to control blood pressure if you drink heavily. Conversely, a reduction in alcohol consumption can help lower blood pressure.

Smoking also takes a heavy toll on the heart. According to the American Lung Association, over 400,000 Americans die of smoking-related illnesses each year. This figure includes those affected by secondhand smoke and babies born prematurely due to prenatal, maternal smoking.

Nicotine, one of thousands of chemicals found in cigarettes, causes the blood vessels to constrict. This narrowing of the vessels increases blood pressure.


Nicotine is an extremely addictive chemical. Studies show that nicotine activates the circuits in the brain that regulate pleasurable feelings. It does this by increasing the levels of a chemical found in our brains called dopamine. The U.S. Surgeon General warns that nicotine addiction is similar to heroine and morphine addiction. In fact, when smokers inhale, the nicotine reaches the brain faster than drugs that enter the body intravenously.

Kicking a smoking habit may not be easy, but it is worthwhile. About 1.3 million people quit smoking each year. The benefits of quitting are numerous. They include improved tolerance for exercise, and a reduction in the risk of developing lung cancer, bladder cancer and heart disease.

Three years after giving up nicotine, Saunders said that ex-smokers have a 65 percent reduction in deaths from heart disease relative to those who continue to smoke.

Make Heart-Healthy Changes
Experts urge the public to break those habits that threaten cardiovascular health. Adopting a more heart-healthy approach to life now can have a positive influence on future generations.

"We are all getting too fat in our society and we need to turn things around," said Saunders. "Physical inactivity among our youth is a real problem. We need to make sure that we eat eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and get more exercise. We need to get ourselves and our children away from the television sets and the computers, and start them exercising early in their lives."

drugs is good when you know how to handle it, but it will be killer if you use it in wrong way. any drugs can be friend and can be murderer! think yourself.

in medic instituition, drugs is an important elements, whether to save a life or to prevent diseases to keep grow very easy and fast. i dont know how you would feel if one of your family members died caused of drugs? but do you think drugs is killer?

some said yes, and some said no.

thats the answer if you poll out this question, whatever, let see current situation in malaysia, why i said malaysia? because i live there and know their people well. this is not a fact to keep down on malaysia reputation or name in the world, but it just a study case which i had go through.

now, we can see many cases of drugs, many teenagers involved in this case, even in university or college, they are addicted to drugs i.e.:syabu,heroin,pil kuda,daun ketum,etc.

many criminary cases are caused by them, when they already out of mind after taking drugs, they would be able to kill even their parents or members.

i dont know what will happen to our young generation? should we leave this matter behind? or should we forward to prevent it to parliament? think your self? or you have child, but you dont care what they want to do? or you did not put islamic education in your family spirit?

now! i ask you to check yourself first, then think did you care of your family? then think whether did you care of your race? then think what did you do to take care off your nations?.


from my opinion, malaysia would be malaysia as today if we have no chinese in our country. why? because most of chinese are businessman and successful in their business. but malay did not take initiative to success, but most of them are not care of this. how could malay success if right now malay teenagers involved with moral problems?

who should we accused? government?father?mother?encestor? think! think!. i feel sad to many youngers today. they did not care how to improve. most involved with "REMPIT" "DADAH" "ROGOL" "MAKSIAT".

Welcome back to my readers...

This time, i will expose about the student life in campus health style...firstly..my question to you all..are you student right now?...or...you are ex-student?..doesn't matter...but the important is...how you take care of your healthy..

for this article...i will expand into a fews scope that i shall discuss with you all...first is about the smoking, drugs, not enough sleep, inactive in the sport and pressure.

smoking, nowadays it not a big problem when we saw a student from the high school do smoking. even in the primary school still have the kids who have tried cigarette. but do you know the effect? by starting with smoking for fun..then they will involve their self by taking drugs and so on. and might be involved in black metal and so on.. we should think 5 years later or more about our generation, what they would become in future? if the situation is bad like now.

In malaysia, smoking are prohibited for person under age 18 years old, but, through my experience in primary and high school in early 1990's, the trend of student who is smoke is quite big, a few later..the trend of skin head came out...then the moral of our students is low on that time.

Can you imagine, about 16 to 17 years later? which is in this year, 2007 what was happened? ok, our ministry of health was come out with the solution of TAK NAK! campaign in order to combat smoking among young generation. but, it still not effective. still have person under 18 smoking.

And according to the health ministry, the increasing of new diseases are caused by smoke of ciggerate. we know that thousand of diseases are caused from smoking. so, how we can protect our young generation to stay good health?

From my opinion, the range of life of human in the future will be more short, because of the diseases. right now we can see, even 20 years old man might be able to get diabetes. in this early young? maybe they like to drink coke and other soft drink which is they don't know how to consume wisely and practicing inactive life style.

Wahh!.. its too long when i discuss about the smoking!.. for later..I'll discuss about drugs, not enough sleep, inactive in the sport and pressure. hopefully i will able to finish in one article...

What do you think abaout recently desiases that accoured among teenagers and young people??

According to the situation right now, people life are not safe more!, why? because most of our activity and our items consumed everyday contribute to the diseases.

for the example, smoking..even you are not the smoker, you might be able to get the effect because the environment among you is not health.

other than that, the platic container, or plastic holder or anything that botol or product from plastic used to store our foods actually will contribute to the disease. example, when we eaten a foods that packed in plastic botols, the sintetic of botol will plus with the foods then insert into our body after we eat that foods.

the problem occured when there is too much inorganic or unextract things in our blood that contributed to the kidney problems and also blood pressure.

so, think and eat!