How To Measure Your Kidney Health

Some organs get all the attention. The heart is so glamorous. The liver is known for its detoxification superpowers. And the lungs! So…breathtaking.

But the kidneys? No respect.

It’s too bad–our kidneys are truly remarkable little organs. Their primary job is to filter the waste products from the blood and get rid of them through urination, but the kidneys do oh-s0-much more, working to balance electrolytes and water, and regulate blood pressure. They even help make our red blood cells!

These two little organs reside on either side of your body–if you rest on your back, they sit at about the level of your belly button. Every day your kidneys quietly do their job without complaint, filtering about 120-150 quarts of blood everyday to produce about 1-2 quarts of urine.

That is, until they do start complaining.

Slow and Sneaky Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease is a slow moving, long-term, decrease in kidney function. The kidney filter can be damaged by sugar in the blood (diabetes), increased pressure in the arteries (high blood pressure), immune system complexes (autoimmune disease) or toxic chemicals (lead or cadmium exposure from the environment).

Some 25% of north Americans over 65 years old are dealing with chronic kidney disease, and 3% of those will go on to kidney failure, requiring dialysis or kidney transplant. A sad fate for the hardworking and under-appreciated kidneys…and their owners.

Here’s the trouble: just like the kidney hides from the limelight, its symptoms do, too. Most people don’t even know they are experiencing chronic kidney disease because most of the time there are no symptoms at all. When symptoms do exist, they are generally not specific or severe. Weakness, fatigue, swelling in the ankles–that’s happening just because I’m getting older, right?

Even those people who do have some idea that their kidneys are not working well usually don’t truly understand their long-term risk.

It’s time to change and give the kidney the recognition and care it deserves!

The Kidney Failure Risk Equation

Now there is a great little tool that anyone can use to determine kidney risk. To use it, you need three things:

  1. Your age, gender and region (whether you are north American or not)
  2. A blood test called eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate, which measures how much waste is still left in the blood. (More equals bad.)
  3. A urine test called urine albumin to creatinine ratio. This urine test measures how much albumin and creatinine are in your urine. (These are proteins that should be in the blood, so if they’re in the urine this is also bad news for the kidneys.)

The first thing on the list you have. The second two are easily done and not expensive.

We take those numbers, enter them into the Kidney Failure Risk Equation, and presto! You get some great insight into your kidney health, and your kidneys get some long-overdue love.

Your kidneys can heal, and future damage can be prevented, but not if you don’t know there’s something wrong. Love your kidneys!

If you’re interested in assessing your kidney risk, you can contact the clinic at 705-444-5331.