Kidney
Concerns

When someone can read our innermost thoughts and see our most secret intentions we often say they "see into our kidney"! Not one other organ in our body has the fine regulatory abilities as our kidneys. Its most known function is to detoxify the blood but it also plays an important role in the hormonal regulation of blood cell production as well as the regulation of the chemical make-up of the tissues and organs. To perform these functions there must be adequate blood flow, and in case of improper kidney function blood flow needs to be increased, by raising blood pressure.

The functional elements of the kidney are the glomerulus and the tubules leading from the glomerulus to the kidney pelvis. The glomerulus filters the blood and removes all wastes which then move through the tubules where selective non-waste materials are taken back up, and the waste products move down to be excreted. If any part of the system is injured it stops functioning completely; these injuries can be caused by infections. In the case of the glomerulus primarily inflammation of the upper respiratory system or the autoimmune reaction to scarlatine tissues can cause severe and even permanent consequences of inhibition of the function of the kidneys. Inflammation of the efferent system occurs particularly in young women and men with enlarged prostate glands and does not have any accompanying symptoms. It is almost fortunate if this condition is accompanied by some kind of symptoms - usually fever along with lower back pain, and possibly stinging urination. Especially in young women with recurrent kidney pelvis inflammation a failing of the kidneys can arise as well as difficulties in controlling high blood pressure.

Consequently, it is understandable that there is such a strong interdependence between the functions of our kidneys and vascular system. So it is not surprising that ailments in the blood system have adverse effects on the functioning of the kidneys and efferent system. It is important to point out that diabetes, especially at older ages causes severe damages to the walls of blood vessels, and so even without explicit inflammation the function of the kidneys diminishes. It should be mentioned that cystic lesions in the kidneys are not rare occurrences and originate from discrepancies in development, but these do not need treatment unless there are functional consequences. We need to also bring up that an extended continuance of an increase in the acidic value of urea, stimulating goutiness, can lead to articular disease.

The maladies reviewed above jeopardize the functions of our kidneys. Consequences of these ailments is progressive decrease in the ability of the kidneys to detoxify the blood, anemia, or lack of blood, due to a decrease in the hormone that stimulates blood production, or an increase in blood pressure. Any of the consequences can be interpreted as a death note and therefore everything must be done to prevent the emergence of such diseases.

To prevent inflammation of the glomerulus it is beneficial to surgically remove tonsils that become infected frequently, as well as to have the teeth examined regularly. To avoid the inflammation of the kidney pelvis the two most important preventative tasks are to stay away from being cold and to drink 2 liters of fluids daily.

It is crucial to express the importance of drinking two liters of fluids especially for pregnant women, because the pregnant womb exercises persistent pressure on the efferent system, and this increases the proneness to kidney pelvis injury. For the older age group the risk for kidney diseases is also greatly increased by low amounts of fluid intake.

Furthermore, it is important for us to realize our genetic background for a possible tendency for kidney disease. If there were occurrences of kidney disease in our ancestry we should consciously protect ourselves from the cold with back-warmers, etc. If we have had previous urinary or bladder infections we should regularly check the composition of our urine especially for inflamed cells. This can be easily accomplished even at home with test strips available at the pharmacy. Make sure to drink two liters of fluids that does not contain sugar or caffeine! To further help the functions of our kidneys it is useful to drink teas of lemon-balm, horsetail, nettle, and blood-wort, which have additional beneficial effects on blood pressure.