Our kidneys are valuable and fascinating organs that work silently 24 hours a day, cleaning our blood of the toxins that are generated at all times, keeping many functions and elements of the body regulated. However, these can be damaged quickly and silently, presenting symptoms only when more than 50% of kidney function has already been lost. Therefore, it is important to prevent damage and detect it early. This time, Dr. Augusto Saavedra, a nephrologist at Clinica Ricardo Palma, will give us more information on the matter.

Main symptoms

The symptoms that will be presented as the function of the kidneys decreases are:

• Arterial hypertension
• Anemia
• Decrease or loss of appetite
• Fluid retention

On the other hand, in more advanced stages the following is observed:

• Weight loss
• Muscular weakness
• Uremic breath due to high retention of toxins
• In some cases, an altered state of consciousness may be observed: confusion, increased sleep (hypersomnia) or seizures if there has been no control or early diagnosis and the affected person has a lot of kidney damage and intoxication

Risk factors for developing chronic kidney disease

Among the main risk factors, we have:

1. Poor diet: Includes excessive consumption of salt in food, use of refined sugars, processed foods, excess calories, consumption of flour and fat, among others
2. Sedentary activity: Not exercising regularly can trigger overweight and obesity, very important factors that lead to the potential development of diseases that harm the kidneys
3. Diabetes Mellitus: Approximately 40% to 50% of diabetic patients will develop some degree of chronic kidney disease, leading to kidney failure requiring permanent dialysis support
4. Arterial Hypertension: This condition is recognized as the second cause of chronic kidney disease with different frequency ranges
5. Age: The older you are, the greater the risk of kidney function compromise, even more so if the older adult already has some of the factors mentioned

On the other hand, there are risk factors such as high cholesterol, heavy smokers, carriers of vasculitis, lupus erythematosus, neoplasms and therefore chemotherapy, misuse and abuse of medications (anti-inflammatories, some antibiotics, among others), all these are risk factors for silent and progressive kidney damage.

Tips to take care of the health of our kidneys

• Maintain healthy lifestyles; adequate nutrition and regular physical activity to avoid overweight and obesity
• Hydrate enough throughout the day
• Avoid excess protein; should not consume more than 1 g of effective protein per kilo of ideal weight (according to height) speaking of adults; in the case of growing children and adolescents they can go up to 1.5 grams. per kilo
• Early detection and adequate control of the diseases mentioned above
• Avoid medication misuse

Dr. Augusto Saavedra
Nephrologist at Clinica Ricardo Palma