When Should I See My Doctor About Kidney Pain
You should see your doctor immediately if you are experiencing the following symptoms:
- Worsening, dull pain in one side of your back or flank
- Body aches, fatigue, fever
- Recent urinary tract infection
If you suddenly experience severe kidney pain, with or without blood in your urine, you should seek emergency medical care. Sudden, severe pain can often be a sign of a blood clot or hemorrhage, and you should be evaluated immediately.
Dr. Rondon says if you notice symptoms like a change in your urines color, a fever, or if your pain doesnt improve, seek a doctor. For emergency situations, you should go to the emergency department. For other situations, contact your primary care physician for a referral to a nephrologist or urologist.
For more information on kidney pain, talk to your doctor or visit the UPMC kidney disease webpage. Do you have flank pain? Check out our article on the 3 Common Causes of Flank Pain to learn more.
American Kidney Fund, Kidney Pain
Anton J. Bueschen, Clinical Methods: The History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations, 3rd Edition, Flank Pain
National Kidney Foundation, 3 Early Signs of Kidney Disease
National Kidney Foundation, How Your Kidneys Work
Causes Of Bilateral And Unilateral Kidney Pains
Flank pains experienced in either one side otherwise known as unilateral, or both sides, which is referred to as bilateral is caused by various reasons .
Food Tastes Like Metal
Why this happens:
A build-up of wastes in the blood can make food taste different and cause bad breath. You may also notice that you stop liking to eat meat, or that you are losing weight because you just don’t feel like eating.
What patients said:
Foul taste in your mouth. Almost like you’re drinking iron.
I don’t have the appetite I had before I started dialysis, I must have lost about 10 pounds.
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How To Tell If Its Kidney Pain Or Back Pain
Your kidneys are located just below the ribcage, with each kidney positioned on either side of your spine. Kidneys help to filter toxins and extra fluids from the body to ensure the rest of your body works normally. Common causes of kidney pain include UTIs, kidney infections, and kidney stones. Because your kidneys rest against your back muscles, it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate kidney pain from back pain. To help you distinguish between the two, were breaking down the signs and symptoms of how to tell if its back pain or kidney pain.
Where Are Your Kidneys
Your kidneys are located below your ribs, which is why a problem with these organs can often be felt in your upper back or flank, or side area.
The kidneys perform several important functions for your body, including:
- Removing waste products, excess fluid, and drugs
- Regulating salt, potassium, and acid content
- Producing hormones that control red blood cell production, blood pressure, and more
- Providing vitamin D for bone health
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Pain Typically Comes And Goes In Waves Which Is Intensified By The Ureters Contracting As They Try To Push The Kidney Stone Out
Kidney stones are understood to cause extreme pain that usually comes and goes several times a day. Symptoms of kidney stones may not appear till the stone begins to move down the ureters.
What are the kidneys? The kidneys are two organs whose significant functions are to remove waste products and excess fluid from the body and to produce hormones that manage blood pressure, red cell production, acid policy and to influence calcium, salt, potassium and other electrolyte metabolic process.
Where are the kidneys located? The kidneys are bean-shaped organs that are found versus the back muscles in the upper abdominal area. They sit opposite each other on both the left and right side of the body the right kidney, nevertheless, sits a bit lower than the delegated accommodate the size of the liver.
Feeling that your kidney pain comes and goes cannot be ignored. Kidney stones prevail urinary tract disorders. Kidney stones can form in your kidneys when normal substances in your urine end up being too concentrated.
When this takes place, solid product can stay in your kidney or may move down your urinary tract, ultimately losing consciousness of your body.
What Is The Function Of The Kidneys
The excess waste products and excess fluid are removed when the kidneys produce urine that is excreted from the body. Moreover, the kidneys play an important role in the regulation of the body’s salt, potassium, and acid content.
The kidneys also produce hormones that stimulate the production of red blood cells that help regulate blood pressure and help control calcium and electrolyte metabolism in the body.
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Why Do Doctors Examine The Contents Of The Stone
There are four types of stones. Studying the stone can help understand why you have it and how to reduce the risk of further stones. The most common type of stone contains calcium. Calcium is a normal part of a healthy diet. The kidney usually removes extra calcium that the body doesnât need. Often people with stones keep too much calcium. This calcium combines with waste products like oxalate to form a stone. The most common combination is called calcium oxalate.
Less common types of stones are: Infection-related stones, containing magnesium and ammonia called struvite stones and stones formed from monosodium urate crystals, called uric acid stones, which might be related to obesity and dietary factors. The rarest type of stone is a cvstine stone that tends to run in families.
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Does Kidney Failure Cause Pain
A progressive of kidney ailments causes kidney failure . Often irreversible, kidney failure is detectable through symptomatic causes that can be treated early but if progressed, the only remedy for kidney failures is transplants and dialysis. Owing to the fact that there may just be one kidney malfunction, the obvious symptoms may not be present and thus will go undetected. You will know it is chronic when both kidneys are affected .
References
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Are Home Remedies Effective For Kidney Stones
For some people who have had many kidney stones, home care may be appropriate. When passing a kidney stone, drinking lots of fluid is important. In fact, this is the most important home care measure. Medications may help control the pain . However, if it is the first time one has had symptoms suggestive of a kidney stone, it is important to see a doctor right away.
What Is The Fastest Way To Relieve Gallbladder Pain
If you are struggling with gallbladder pain due to gallstones, the most common solution is the removal of the gallbladder. Today, this can be done laparoscopically, with only a small incision. Once the gallbladder is removed, gallstones have no place to form thus eliminating the risk of pain caused by the hardening of bile. Before the operation, many doctors prescribe morphine to treat a patients acute pain.
There are a couple of non-surgical options that patients experiencing gallbladder pain can try. Some have found relief using these methods, but they are not considered as effective as removing the gallbladder:
- Oral bile acid pills: The active agents contained in these pills are ursodiol and chenodiol which can help desaturate the bile of cholesterol and gradually dissolve the stone.
- Bile salts: These are naturally produced by your liver and secreted into your bile ducts and gallbladder to make it easier for your body to absorb and digest fats youve eaten. Bile salts can also be taken in pill form.
- Extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy : Although usually used as a treatment for kidney stones, ECSWL can also be used to break up gallstones by sending shock waves through the soft tissues of a patients body. However, its generally considered only effective for gallstones less than two centimeters in diameter.
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How To Prevent A Kidney Infection
Preventing a kidney infection is really all about preventing urinary tract infections and getting prompt treatment if you ever get one. Sorry, but dont rely on cranberry juice or supplements for thisthe science is far too mixed to consider either of these a definitive UTI-prevention method. Instead, whenever you feel a bladder infection coming on, make it a habit to drink enough water every day to stay hydrated. That will ensure youre peeing often enough to help flush out bacteria that could lead to an infection. The NIDDK recommends peeing as often as you get the urge, but definitely at least every three to four hours, since urine hanging out in your bladder for too long may help bacteria to grow, the organization says.
Kaufman also stresses the importance of urinating like a fire hose after sex. It might even be helpful to skip peeing before sex as long as that doesnt make you uncomfortable, he says. This allows you to build up a forceful stream that may better help remove any bacteria that might have been pushed up there during sex.
Also, we referenced this above, but its important to reiterate: After you pee , you should be sure to wipe from front to back, as wiping back to front can spread harmful bacteria from your rectum to your urethra, where it can cause an infection.
How Is A Kidney Infection Diagnosed
Your doctor will ask about your symptoms, do a physical exam, and likely run some diagnostic tests. Those include a urinalysis, to check your pee under a microscope for bacteria and white blood cells, which your body makes to fight infection, and a urine culture to help find out what kind of bacteria is causing the infection, the NIDDK says. Your doctor may even take a blood sample to check for bacteria or other organisms in your blood, the Mayo Clinic says.
Other tests that might come up include an ultrasound, a CT scan, or a form of X-ray called a voiding cystourethrogram, which involves injecting a contrast dye to take X-rays of your bladder when its full and while youre peeing, per the Mayo Clinic.
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Prevention Of Future Stones
Once your health care provider finds out why you are forming stones, he or she will give you tips on how to prevent them. This may include changing your diet and taking certain medications. There is no âone-size-fits-allâ diet for preventing kidney stones. Everyone is different. Your diet may not be causing your stones to form. But there are dietary changes that you can make to stop stones from continuing to form.
Diet Changes
Drink enough fluids each day.
If you are not producing enough urine, your health care provider will recommend you drink at least 3 liters of liquid each day. This equals about 3 quarts . This is a great way to lower your risk of forming new stones. Remember to drink more to replace fluids lost when you sweat from exercise or in hot weather. All fluids count toward your fluid intake. But itâs best to drink mostly no-calorie or low-calorie drinks. This may mean limiting sugar-sweetened or alcoholic drinks.
Knowing how much you drink during the day can help you understand how much you need to drink to produce 2.5 liters of urine. Use a household measuring cup to measure how much liquid you drink for a day or two. Drink from bottles or cans with the fluid ounces listed on the label. Keep a log, and add up the ounces at the end of the day or 24-hour period. Use this total to be sure you are reaching your daily target urine amount of at least 85 ounces of urine daily.
Reduce the amount of salt in your diet.
Eat the recommended amount of calcium.
Causes And Risk Factors For Liver Disease
Liver disease has several different causes, including:
- infection
Many conditions can cause liver pain, so it is important to find out which one is present.
A doctor will carry out a physical examination and look at the personâs health history.
Other testing options may include:
- blood tests to assess liver function or identify specific liver problems or genetic conditions
- imaging tests, such as CT scans, MRIs, and ultrasounds to assess for liver damage
- tissue analysis, which involves taking a tissue sample from the liver for a lab test
Sometimes, liver pain will go away after making some lifestyle changes, such as abstaining from alcohol, losing weight, or following a healthful diet.
Other problems may require medication or surgery. If there is liver failure, a liver transplant may be needed.
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What Side Do You Lay On For Kidney Stones
Using patients as their own internal controls, it was demonstrated that 80% of patients lying in a lateral decubitus position with the left side down had demonstrably increased renal perfusion in the dependent kidney and 90% of patients who lay with their right side down had similar increased perfusion.
Where Is Kidney Stone Pain Located
The sharp pain associated with a kidney stone moves as the stone progresses through your urinary tract. The most common places to feel pain are in your:
- Lower abdomen or groin
- Along one side of your body, below your ribs
- Lower back
However, while pain is certainly the most noticeable symptoms of kidney stones, it’s not always the earliest sign or even the most telling sign, for that matter.
“The pain associated with a kidney stone typically isn’t felt until after its already formed and is passing through your urinary tract,” explains Dr. Kannady. “In addition, due to differences in anatomy, men and women describe kidney stone pain slightly differently. Not to mention that pain itself is relative and everyone has a different threshold for it.”
Plus, the intensity of the pain isn’t necessarily a measure of how problematic the kidney stone might be or become. Smaller stones that are likely to pass on their own can still be very painful. And not every kidney stone that requires medical intervention comes with gut-wrenching pain.
“Any time you’re experiencing pain, it’s important to see your doctor. But if you’re experiencing pain, even if it’s only mind, in combination with the kidney stone symptoms above and, in particular, if you have a fever or severe trouble urinating it’s definitely important to see your doctor,” warns Dr. Kannady.
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Swollen Or Puffy Face
Why this happens:
Failing kidneys don’t remove extra fluid, which builds up in your body causing swelling in the face.
What patients said:
My sister, her hair started to fall out, she was losing weight, but her face was really puffy, you know, and everything like that, before she found out what was going on with her.
My checks were always puffy and tight. Sometimes they would even hurt.
How Common Is Flank Pain
Flank pain is very common. Nearly everyone gets flank pain at some point.
Kidney stones are one of the most common causes of flank pain. Every year in the United States, more than half a million people receive treatment for kidney stones. One in 10 people will get a kidney stone during their lifetime.
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Kidney Pain Vs Back Pain: How To Differentiate
According to various data banks, the overall prevalence of low back pain was found to be 42% in India. Kidney problems too result in back pain which may be a little different from musculoskeletal back pain. In todays write up we will find out how to differentiate between the two.
Each person has got a pair of kidneys located posteriorly on the lower side of the abdomen. The kidney purifies blood for nutrients and discharges urine.
How to differentiate kidney pain from general backache:
Musculoskeletal back pain is usually felt around the lumbar region, it may pain while muscles are touched. However musculoskeletal back pain can be felt all through the back as well.
Musculoskeletal back pain due to disc or nerve impingement may radiate to buttocks, back of the thigh, laterally to leg and ankles too.
The musculoskeletal back pain is mostly coming and going, peaking after high-intensity work and better with rest. Pain here too is dull aching.
The musculoskeletal back pain is not very severe.