Symptoms

hematuria

proteinuria

High Creatinine Level

high BUN level

Back Pain

What is hematuria?

Hematuria refers to the presence of red blood cells in urine. It includes two types: gross hematuria and microscopic hematuria. Blood can be seen with naked eyes in gross hematuria. Blood t6hat cannot be seen in urine, except when examined with a microscope, is called microscopic hematuria.

What are the symptoms of hematuria?

Usually, most people with microscopic hematuria do not develop symptoms. In gross hematuria, as there is a large amount of red blood cells in urine, it can cause urine to become pink, red or cola-colored. Also, if blood clots occur in gross hematuria, it may lead to pain.

What are the causes of hematuria?

Hematuria can be attributable to various kinds of causes. It can be caused by menstruation, intense exercise, trauma, infection, sexual activity. Meanwhile, hematuria may be due to the following serious conditions.

1. Inflammation of kidneys is a common cause of hematuria. It can impair the filters in kidneys leading to red blood cells in urine.

2. Inflammation of the urethra, bladder or prostate

3. Kidney or bladder cancer

4. Polycystic kidney disease— it is a genetic disorder featured with numerous cysts growing in both kidneys. As they grow bigger over age, the growing cysts can compress the adjacent kidney tissues, leading to hematuria

5. Blood clots and blood clotting disorders, such as hemophilia

What to do with hematuria?

Generally, if hematuria is caused by physiological reaction like menstruation or if no serious condition is causing hematuria, no treatment is required. If hematuria is caused by infection, antibiotics should be used to control it. In other cases, hematuria is treated by treating its underlying causes.

What is proteinuria?

Proteinuria refers to the presence of excess proteins in urine. Excess proteins in urine can cause foamy urine.

In right condition, your kidneys filter waste products from blood which retaining useful components in body including proteins. However, in some cases, proteins are filtered out of kidneys and end up in urine when the filters of the kidney, called glomeruli are damaged.

Proteinuria is a common sign of chronic kidney disease (CKD). If CKD progresses, it can lead to end stage renal disease (ESRD) eventually.

What are the symptoms of proteinuria?

In the early stage, proteinuria has no symptoms. However, if left untreated, it may increase in amount gradually. Large amount of protein in urine may cause it to look foamy in the toilet. Additionally, as proteins can sock up fluids from blood, large amount of protein loss from blood can cause swelling in the hands, feet, abdomen or even every part of body.

Who is at risk of developing proteinuria?

Diabetes, high blood pressure and certain family backgrounds can increase the risk of proteinuria. Diabetes is one of most common causes of CKD. Proteinuria is one of the first signs of kidney impairment in diabetes.

People with high blood pressure also are risk of developing high blood pressure. Proteinuria in a person with high blood pressure is an indicator of declining kidney function.

What is the treatment for proteinuria?

The treatment for proteinuria varies from the cause of the condition. If proteinuria is due to diabetes or high blood pressure, the first goal of the treatment is to control blood sugar and blood pressure. Taking medications for blood sugar and rejecting insulin on time as well as eating healthy can help control blood sugar. ACE and ARBs can help to control high blood pressure effectively and are also good to preserve the residual renal function. As there are many other possible causes of proteinuria, the treatment should firstly focus on eliminating its underlying causes.

Creatinine is the metabolic product of muscle and is secreted into the blood stream. Normally, the creatinine is filtered out of body so the serum creatinine levels remain constant in healthy people. High creatinine level mainly due to the following causes.

Kidney disease

High creatinine is an important index of kidney disease. As diseased kidneys fail to filter creatinine from the blood effectively. Therefore, high levels of creatinine build up in blood, resulting in high creatinine level. High creatinine level is not an early sign of kidney disease. For powerful compensatory capacity of kidneys, it does not begin to rise until more than half of kidney function has already been lost.

Strenuous exercise

As creatinine is the metabolic product of muscular activity, strenuous exercise can increase the muscular activity, thus resulting in transient high creatinine level. In this case, high creatinine level is not harmful to body.

Dehydration

Transient increases in creatinine can be caused by dehydration. This condition is more likely to affect transplant recipients or kidney donors. It is very important to rule out dehydration as a possible cause of high creatinine in this population because they may mistakenly believe that their remaining kidney is failing.

Too much meat supplement

After meat is metabolized, it can produce creatinine, thus leading to transient high creatinine. It is not harmful to body at all. If the diet is changed, the creatinine level will recover normal gradually.

Heart disease

High creatinine level is associated with atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Meanwhile, some heart surgeries also can cause transient high levels of creatinine.

As there are various causes of high creatinine level including physiological factors and pathological factors, it is important for you to rule out its cause at the first time and then take relative treatment timely.

What does high BUN level mean?

BUN or blood urea nitrogen is a component found in the blood. Urea is a waste product of proteins and is usually removed from bloodstream by kidneys. When kidneys can not function well, high levels of urea will build up in the blood, thus leading to high BUN level. Levels of BUN and creatine along are often used to give some indications as to how well the kidneys are functioning.

What can cause high BUN level?

High BUN level is an important indication of kidney disease, but it does not always a sign of kidney problem. There are other reasons for elevating BUN level. Dehydration or not drinking enough fluid is a common cause of high BUN ln this case, usually creatinine and the other indications of renal function will be normal or even low.

Additionally, some medications can cause high BUN level including antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications,and gout medications. So if you have elevated BUN level, you should firstly found out if it is associated with medications.

In rare cases, high BUN level can be associated with a heart attack or heart failure. If it is due to heart problems, you will also experience other problems.

As urea is the metabolic products of proteins, high intake of foods loaded in proteins also can result in high BUN level.

Treatment and drugs

High BUN leve may be due to physiological and pathological factors. If it is caused by physiological factors, no treatment is needed. When the inducing factors are removed, the BUN level will recover normal. If elevated BUN level is related to other diseases, the treatment goal should firstly be treating the diseases like kidney disease.

Definition

Back pain is a common condition. It is not an independent disease, but only a sign of some diseases. Back pain is usually one of common symptoms of kidney disease.

Symptoms

1. Constant aching or stiffness anywhere along the spine, from the base of the neck to the tail bone.

2. Inability to stand up straight

3. Sharp, localized pain in the neck, upper back, or low back--especially after lifting heavy objects or enlarging other strenuous activity.

4. Muscle ache

5. Shooting or stabbing pain

Causes

As mentioned above, there are various causes of back pain. Conditions commonly associated with back pain include:

Lumbar muscle strain

If people stand too long over time, it can weaken the stretch ability of muscle tendon and ligament of back, thus leading to lumbar muscle strain. Also, repeated heavy lifting or a sudden awkward movement may strain back muscles and spinal ligaments. The above conditions can cause back pain.

Urinary system infection

Urinary system infection is a common cause of back pain and it is more common among women. For physiological characteristics of women, colon bacillus is very susceptible to pollute urethra, thus leading to urinary tract infection.

Arthritis

Osteoarthritis can affect the lower back. In some cases, arthritis in the spine can lead to narrowing of the space around the spinal cord.

Kidney disease

Kidney disease is a common cause of back pain. If it is caused by kidney disease, the patients usually also experience other symptoms like foamy urine, blood in urine and high blood pressure, etc.

Skeletal irregularities

If spine curves in an abnormal way, back pain can occur.

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis can cause bones to become porous and brittle. As a result, compression fractures of your spine's vertebrae can lead to back pain.

Treatments and drugs

As there are various causes of back pain, the therapy should be designed to eliminate the underlying causes of the condition.