What Causes High Creatinine Levels?
High creatinine levels are often caused by kidney damage. But high levels may have a number of other causes, including a urinary tract blockage, creatine supplements or some medications.
Read more →Kidney Function Guide: High Creatinine, BUN & Renal Health
High creatinine and BUN levels often indicate changes in renal health. Improve kidney function through diet, vitamin intake, and understanding the five stages of function.
Vitamins to Improve Kidney Function
Vitamins are needed to keep your kidneys functioning at an optimal level. Your kidneys regulate your fluid levels, stabilize your blood pressure, control your red blood cell production, balance your calcium and mineral levels and expel wastes through your urine.
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List of Foods That Don't Cause Gas
Consisting of oxygen, carbon dioxide and other substances, gas is air that moves through your digestive tract, allowing your body to release enzymes to digest food. While foods affect people differently, limiting or avoiding common dietary gas culprits and emphasizing alternatives can help minimize discomfort.
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Medications to Avoid With Only One Kidney
Medications to avoid with only one kidney include analgesics, antibiotics and contrast media used for radiographic procedures.
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How the Body Maintains Fluid & Electrolyte Balance
Cells are the basic unit of structure and function of life. A balance between fluids and electrolytes is necessary if cells are to survive and function normally. According to "Nursing Standard," approximately 60 percent of the human body is water, and body water contains electrolytes.
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Is Coffee Bad for Kidneys?
Many believe coffee causes conditions such as sleeplessness, high blood pressure and diabetes. Along with these conditions, the Centers for Disease Control reported 4.5 million new cases of kidney disease in 2009 alone, and some researchers wondered if there was a connection with coffee consumption.
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20 Percent Kidney Function
Patients whose kidney function has dropped to a mere 20 percent are likely to be facing renal failure soon. At this stage of renal disease, it becomes a life and death matter for patients to take good care of themselves.
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Urinary Formation Process in the Kidneys
Each kidney has about a million nephrons, where urine formation takes place. At any given time, about 20 percent of the blood is going through the kidneys to be filtered so that the body can eliminate waste and maintain hydration, blood pH and proper levels of blood substances.
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What Does Excess Protein in the Kidney Mean?
Excess protein in the kidney is called proteinuria. This is tested in the urine and can also be called albuminuria or urine albumin. Most proteins are too big to pass through the glomeruli, or the kidney filters. When these filters are damaged, the proteins show up in the urine.
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High Potassium Levels and Elevated BUN and Creatine
Your kidneys help maintain normal blood concentration by removing wastes, excess fluid and electrolytes such as potassium. Potassium, blood urea nitrogen, or BUN, and creatinine blood tests can monitor kidney function in patients diagnosed with kidney disease.
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Gluten Intolerance and the Kidneys
Normally your immune system protects you from disease. But if you have an autoimmune disorder, your body's immune system attacks your healthy organs and tissues thinking that they are invaders. Gluten intolerance is an autoimmune disorder that affects your digestive tract.
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Is Lemon Good for the Bladder and Kidney?
Kidney and bladder health is a complex and varied area, with many different conditions and their respective treatments. For any medical condition or problem relating to your urinary tract or kidneys, you should consult a doctor for medical advice before trying any home remedies or complementary therapies.
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Kidneys & B12
Vitamin B-12 is a large molecule involved in many bodily processes, such as blood cell production and nervous system function. Your kidneys are involved in absorbing B-12 and other vitamins, which prevents them from escaping via urination.
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Creatine and Bulging Veins
Veins are close to the surface of the skin and carry deoxygenated blood from tissues back to the heart. Although most women try to prevent bulging veins, especially varicose veins caused by damage and inflammation, men usually welcome them, for aesthetic reasons.
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What Other Systems Affect the Urinary System?
The urinary system consists of the kidneys, bladder, the ureters that connect these structures; and the urethra, which carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body. Diseases or abnormal conditions in other organ systems can disrupt normal urinary function.
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Signs of Kidney Blockage
Normally, the kidneys function as part of the excretory system and help the body filter waste out of the blood, which is then excreted as urine. The kidneys also help maintain a healthy blood pressure level within the body by removing excess salt and water from the blood.
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Iodine and Your Kidneys
Iodine is an essential mineral found in seafood, iodized salt and some fruits and vegetables. Excess iodine is normally removed from your body by your kidneys. However, if your kidneys are unhealthy, iodine may build up in your body, resulting in iodine toxicity.
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Can You Strengthen Your Kidneys?
Located on either side of your spine at the bottom of your ribcage, your kidneys are are bean-shaped organs that remove waste products from the blood. About the size of a fist, each kidney has about one million nephrons, tiny units inside the kidney where waste removal takes place.
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Two Ways That the Kidneys Maintain Homeostasis
When your body is in balance, it is said to be in homeostasis. If something becomes off, such as your blood pressure is too high or your body does not have enough fluid, your organs work to maintain balance.
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How to Improve Kidney Health
The kidneys perform two vital functions for the body: regulating body fluids and excreting toxic wastes. The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse notes that when the kidneys are healthy, they filter and clean the blood and send waste out of the body through urine.
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