Kidney diseases

Imagine a road that leads out of a town, and then becomes a motorway. This is where police officer Nephron works. He makes sure that only the vehicles that are supposed to be on the motorway, can drive on it and that others take a different route. His job is quite similar to what the kidneys do in our body. They remove waste from the blood, make sure that water and minerals are in balance, and that the blood pressure is right.

But police officer Nephron is not feeling well today, so he went home to rest. And now there is chaos on the roads! Does something similar happen, if the kidneys stop working as they should? When a person’s kidneys can’t do their job, we say the person has a KIDNEY DISEASE. There are things we do, that increase the chance of getting a kidney disease.

We call these RISK FACTORS. These include eating an unbalanced diet, eating too much salt and red meat, and drinking too much alcohol. Imagine sugar that sticks together in lumps. There are waste molecules in the kidneys that can stick together in a similar way. These lumps are called KIDNEY STONES, and they are quite common.

If the kidney stones start moving in the kidneys, or even move into the ureters, it can be very painful. If the kidney stones are small they are not that dangerous. Drinking lots of water will help dissolve and flush them out. But if they are big, that can lead to complications and a doctor will have to remove them. Sometimes bacteria from the intestines get to the bladder through the urethra and the bladder becomes infected.

This type of infection is a URINARY TRACT INFECTION. It’s really dangerous if the infection spreads and reaches the kidneys. If the infection isn’t treated, it might lead to long-term or CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE. Instead of sending waste to the bladder the kidneys will send the waste back to the blood. If one kidney stops working, that won’t have a big impact on the body because the other kidney can take over the work.

But if both kidneys stop working, that becomes a really dangerous condition called KIDNEY FAILURE. Physical damage or lack of blood flow to the kidneys, can cause a very quick or ACUTE kidney failure. This can be treated and sometimes kidneys start functioning again. But some long-term diseases, like chronic kidney disease or diabetes, can cause CHRONIC kidney failure. After that, kidneys will never work properly again.

People with chronic kidney failure will have to visit the hospital regularly and filter their blood through a machine version of kidneys. This process is called DIALYSIS. If you want to help your kidneys work, drink a lot of water, eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and don’t eat too much salt. This will create perfect conditions for your kidneys and help keep them healthy!