What are the Main Causes of Kidney Disease?

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Every human is born with a pair of kidneys. These are fist-sized organ but is considered as the third-most important organ. But why? Kidneys perform different functions inside our body, including:

1. Removing waste compounds through Urine
2. Producing life-saving hormones
3. Producing red blood cells
4. Controlling Blood Pressure
5. Producing Vitamin D
6. Making Immune System stronger
7. Making bones and teeth stronger
8. Producing proteins that make cells and tissues stronger
9. Filtering blood from toxins and other compounds, etc.

However, when a patient suffers from kidney disease, it hampers all kinds of kidney functions mentioned above. Damaged kidneys do not filter out and remove the waste compounds from the body. Hence, several fluids can start accumulating inside your body. Once the level of fluids rises, it doesn’t just affect the kidneys, but other organs inside the body, including lungs, heart, etc.

Once other parts inside your body are affected, you can experience complications like:

1. Inflammation in hands or legs
2. Nausea
3. Tiredness
4. Weakness
5. Insomnia (lack of sleep)
6. Breathing difficulties
7. Pain in abdomen
8. Rashes on the skin
9. Itchy skin
10. Impaired vision
11. Irregular heartbeats, etc.

Though many of these symptoms might not affect severely, some complications could be life-threatening quickly. Hence, it is essential to get proper treatment for kidney disease before it gets too late. However, it is essential to understand and know the exact cause of kidney disease for the perfect treatment. Since there are various causes, in this article, we have discussed some of the major causes that affect the kidneys, resulting in Kidney Disease.

Causes of Kidney Disease and Their Effect on the Kidneys

Before we begin with the causes, it is essential to understand the types of kidney diseases. Though there are various types of Kidney Diseases, all of them are clubbed into two major types. These are:

1. Acute Kidney Disease — Acute Kidney Disease is the case when the kidneys stop working suddenly. It might lead to kidney failure if proper treatment is not taken in due time.
2. Chronic Kidney Disease — Chronic Kidney Disease is when the kidneys are working well for more than three months. Usually, it is difficult to notice its signs earlier, it could lead to permanent kidney damage if you fail to get its treatment in due time.

Now that we know the types of Kidney Diseases, let us discuss their significant causes.

Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)

In 80 percent of the total number of kidney disease cases, Hypertension or High Blood Pressure has been considered one of the major causes of Kidney Disease. Whenever a person is under stress or depression, he overthinks. As a result, the heartbeats increase rapidly, which increases the blood pressure in the arteries.

The increased blood flow in the arteries exerts heavy pressure on the arteries or blood vessels that carry the blood to all body parts. Since the kidneys have blood vessels within them that filter the blood from toxins, High Blood Pressure causes severe damage to these blood vessels. Once these blood vessels become damaged, kidneys are unable to receive enough quantity of clean blood that affects their functioning. It thus leads to kidney disease.

Diabetes

Just like Hypertension (High Blood Pressure), both Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes are also considered significant reasons behind kidney disease. If you have a habit of consuming sweets or sugar drinks, you consume excessive amounts of sugar content that get dissolved in the blood. Whenever the level of sugar content increases in the blood vessels or arteries, it ends up damaging them.

High Sugar Levels hampers these blood vessels to carry and clean the blood throughout the body. As a result, the kidneys cannot receive enough clean blood that is very required for their functioning. It thus leads to various kidney diseases. Moreover, Diabetes is also known to cause High Blood Pressure that can further deteriorate the condition.

Glomerulonephritis

Glomerulonephritis is the third major cause of kidney diseases. In most cases, it has been observed that patients with Glomerulonephritis suffer from End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), also referred to as CKD Stage 5 is the stage when the kidneys get permanently damaged, and patients are advised for kidney dialysis or kidney transplant.

Kidneys have tiny filtering units within them, known as Glomeruli. These filtering units filter the blood coming to the kidneys by removing toxins and other waste compounds from the blood. However, when these Gloemruli or Filtering units get damaged, they do not perform their functions, making it very hard to carry forward their functions. The exact cause of Glomerulonephritis is still unknown.

Genetic Disorder

In many cases, people become a victim of kidney disease because of a genetic disorder. They either get kidney disease from one of their parents or both of them. Kidney Disease like Polycystic Kidney Disease (CKD) is the best example of kidney disease caused by a Genetic Disorder. The patients who have defective genes either suffer the symptoms during birth or after reaching 40–50 years of age.

Hence, it does not necessarily mean that a patient with High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, or Glomerulonephritis can only get affected by kidney disease. If your parents have a history of kidney disease, there are chances that you will also suffer from such disease in the near time. Also, it must be noted that in some cases, patients get defective genes from their parents that also result in damaging the kidneys.

Wrapping Up!

These were some of the significant causes of kidney disease. Though some of them might be asymptomatic, there are many that result in severe symptoms. Hence, it is better to take a treatment for such symptoms before the problem becomes severe and results in Kidney Failure. I hope that this article must have explained to you everything about the major causes of kidney disease.