World kidney day

World kidney day is celebrated every year on 2nd Thursday of March all over the world. This year World kidney day is on 12th March,2015.

Kidneys are very important organs. They clean the waste from the body and produce urine.Did you know that 1 out of 8 Indians has kidney disease. Patients with kidney failure may suffer from vomiting, loss of appetite, anemia, fractures, decreased urine output and swelling of the body. Patients may develop heart attacks, strokes etc. Some patients do not have any symptoms hence kidney failure is called a silent killer. Hence regular testing is important.

Most common causes of kidney failure in India are diabetes, high blood pressure, infections and stones. Diabetes is the most important cause of kidney failure in India. As the number of diabetic patients are increasing, the kidney failure is on the rise.The treatment of kidney failure includes dialysis or transplant. The treatment is very costly,

Kidney failure may be prevented if 8 golden rules are followed.

(i) Regular physical exercise (walk for 45 minutes daily)
(ii) Drink plenty of water
(iii) Eat balanced diet (avoid fat foods, high salt intake, excess non vegetarian diet)
(iv) Control blood pressure
(v) Avoid abuse of over the counter drugs (painkillers)
(vi) Control your blood sugar
(vii) Do not smoke
(vii) Get your kidney tests done if you have high risk for kidney disease ( if your have diabetes, high blood pressure or family history of kidney disease). Kidney tests means blood test for creatinine and GFR and urine test for protein every year.

Let us all pledge to save our kidneys.