Your health care provider might want you to have a urine test to check for signs of an infection. You may also need to have imaging tests, such as an ultrasound or CT scan, to help figure out what is causing your pain. When your health care provider knows what is causing your pain, he or she can prescribe the right treatment for you. Donate Now. Treating high blood pressure with special medications called angiotensin converting enzyme ACE inhibitors often helps to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease.
A great deal of research is being done to find more effective treatment for all conditions that can cause chronic kidney disease. Kidney failure may be treated with hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis or kidney transplantation. Treatment with hemodialysis the artificial kidney may be performed at a dialysis unit or at home.
Hemodialysis treatments are usually performed three times a week. Peritoneal dialysis is generally done daily at home. A kidney specialist can explain the different approaches and help individual patients make the best treatment choices for themselves and their families. Kidney transplants have high success rates. The kidney may come from someone who died or from a living donor who may be a relative, friend or possibly a stranger, who donates a kidney to anyone in need of a transplant.
Kidney disease usually affects both kidneys. If the kidneys' ability to filter the blood is seriously damaged by disease, wastes and excess fluid may build up in the body. Although many forms of kidney disease do not produce symptoms until late in the course of the disease, there are six warning signs of kidney disease:.
Skip to main content. How Your Kidneys Work. Why Are the Kidneys So Important? The kidneys are powerful chemical factories that perform the following functions: remove waste products from the body remove drugs from the body balance the body's fluids release hormones that regulate blood pressure produce an active form of vitamin D that promotes strong, healthy bones control the production of red blood cells Below you will find more information about the kidneys and the vital role they play in keeping your body functioning.
Where are the kidneys and how do they function? Kidney disease causes Kidney disease diagnosis Kidney disease treatment Kidney failure treatment What are the warning signs of kidney disease? How is your kidney health? Use our online curriculum to get individualized information for your stage of kidney disease. Their main job is to filter waste out of your blood and produce urine to remove that waste along with extra fluid from your body.
However, the type and location of the pain and other symptoms you are having can help point to your kidney as the source of your pain. Kidney pain is usually a constant dull ache deep in your right or left flank, or both flanks, that often gets worse when someone gently hits the area.
Only one kidney is usually affected in most conditions, so you typically feel pain on only one side of your back. If both kidneys are affected, the pain will be on both sides. Kidney pain is a sign that there is something wrong with one or both of your kidneys.
Your kidney may hurt for these reasons:. Kidney pain is almost always a sign that something is wrong with your kidney. A bladder infection is a bacterial infection and a type of UTI, which refers to infection in the bladder, kidneys, ureters, or urethra. Most bladder…. In a single day, your kidneys filter about quarts of blood. Most of the water and other substances that filter through your glomeruli are returned to your blood by the tubules.
Only 1 to 2 quarts become urine. Clinical trials are part of clinical research and at the heart of all medical advances. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease. Researchers also use clinical trials to look at other aspects of care, such as improving the quality of life for people with chronic illnesses.
Find out if clinical trials are right for you. Clinical trials that are currently open and are recruiting can be viewed at www. The NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public.
How do my kidneys work? How does blood flow through my kidneys?
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