Where Is Kidney Pain In The Body

Due To Kidney Laceration

A traumatic injury to the lower back in the past may cause kidney pain. The traumatic event may vary from an auto accident, blunt trauma, to workplace injury. So, you may have lacerated kidney, causing the pain. The trauma can leave you will issue to the kidney. Hence, to confirm the issue, the doctor may perform the following tests:

• Ultrasound
• CT Scans
• Voiding Cystourethrogram

What Is The Best Treatment For Kidney Pain Or Back Pain

When either your kidneys or your back hurt, you could either experience mild discomfort or a crippling pain. Since the actual problem might not be clear yet, consulting with a physician is imperative to determine the cause before they can administer treatment.

Issues with the kidney could either be a minor problem or a big one. If youre battling a kidney infection, your doctor would most likely prescribe antibiotics for you. A tiny kidney stone will require no treatment at all and pass naturally. In some cases, you many need a short hospital visit so they can get the stones out of your system smoothly. Drinking plenty of water can help with this problem. A larger kidney stone, on the other hand, would require surgery.

As for the back, various causes means many different cures are available. For non-serious back problems, you only need some rest, muscle relaxants, and a heating pad to relieve the pain. If the pain lasts for over two weeks, it may indicate a more severe problem that could require intensive care, physical rehabilitation, or minor surgery.

When To See Your Doctor

Kidney pain is almost always a sign that something is wrong with your kidney. You should see your doctor as soon as possible to determine whats causing your pain.

If the condition that has caused kidney pain isnt treated promptly and appropriately, your kidneys can stop working, which is called kidney failure.

Its especially important to see your doctor right away if your pain is severe and started suddenly because this is often caused by a serious problem such as renal vein thrombosis or bleeding into your kidney that needs emergency treatment.

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What Procedures And Tests Diagnose Kidney Diseases

The doctor usually will do a history and physical examination. Initial tests usually consist of a complete blood count , kidney function , and urine test, and when appropriate, a pregnancy test. A lacerated kidney may be suspected if the person has experienced a traumatic injury to the lower back.

If kidney stones are suspected, a CT exam or renal ultrasound is done an abdominal X-ray may be ordered but has been replaced in general by ultrasound and CT. As patients with kidney stones often need repeat X-ray studies or have repeat episodes of kidney stones, ultrasound with its lack of radiation is a good study to consider. Abdominal/pelvic CTs with contrast or magnetic resonance imaging and aortogram may be ordered to further define or differentiate underlying kidney and nonrenal causes of flank pain. Such studies are routinely performed if a kidney is suspected to be damaged by a traumatic event .

Urinary Problems And Kidney

Urinary problems form a major part of kidney diseases. Are you suffering from problems in passing urine along with a pain in the flanks? You are most likely to be suffering from a kidney problem in that case. Frequent urination or excessive urination is a condition that is often associated with kidney problems. Both men and women suffer from this problem, even though women suffer more. If you are passing excessive urine lately, you may be suffering from

• Urinary tract disease

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Dietary Calcium And Kidney Stones

Only lower your calcium intake below that of a normal diet if instructed by your doctor. Decreased calcium intake is only necessary in some cases where absorption of calcium from the bowel is high.

A low-calcium diet has not been shown to be useful in preventing the recurrence of kidney stones and may worsen the problem of weak bones. People with calcium-containing stones may be at greater risk of developing weak bones and osteoporosis. Discuss this risk with your doctor.

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.

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Signs And Symptoms Related To Kidney Pain

Many causes of kidney pain may not be accompanied by other signs and symptoms. However, pain in the mid back or flanks with one or more of the following signs and symptoms may be related to a disorder of the kidney or other organs of the urinary system . In men, the prostate may also be responsible for some of these signs and symptoms.

• Pain, burning during or eased by urination.
• Blood in the urine.
• Difficulty with urinating .
• Diminished flow of urine. If swelling of the abdomen, limbs or entire body is also present, immediate medical attention is required.
• Erratic flow, hesitating during urination
• Dribbling drops/trickle of urine after urinating.
• Significant changes in urine color for no known reason .
• Sediments in the urine.

When Should Call A Doctor For Kidney Pain

Individuals should not postpone seeing a doctor about kidney pain or flank pain. Although flank pain is often seen in underlying problems with the kidney, there are many other diseases that can mimic kidney pain, and a physician can help with an accurate diagnosis of underlying problems that result in kidney or flank pain. Any acute onset of intense kidney or flank pain should be evaluated immediately.

Warning signs that kidney disease is present and may result in kidney pain or flank pain are the following:

• High blood pressure
• Swelling of the hands and feet and/or puffiness around the eyes
• Testing that shows an abnormal creatinine, blood urea nitrogen , or glomerular filtration rate less than 60

In addition, if an individual has diabetes or any of the congenital problems that lead to kidney dysfunction, the individual should be routinely checked for the onset of kidney dysfunction or kidney failure by their physician.

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Medication For Kidney Stones

For most people with recurrent calcium stones, a combination of drinking enough fluids, avoiding urinary infections, and specific treatment with medications will significantly reduce or stop new stone formation.

Certain medications such as thiazide diuretics or indapamide reduce calcium excretion and decrease the chance of another calcium stone. Potassium citrate or citric juices are used to supplement thiazide treatment and are used by themselves for some conditions where the urine is too acidic.

For people who have a high level of uric acid in their urine, or who make uric acid stones, the medication allopurinol will usually stop the formation of new stones.

Symptoms Of Kidney Stones

Kidney stones cause sudden, severe flank pain that can come in waves. The pain may also radiate down through the groin. The pain continues as the stone travels through the ureters, the bladder, and out the urethra if its small enough.

You may also experience:

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Causes Of Kidney Stones

A kidney stone can form when substances such as calcium, oxalate, cystine or uric acid are at high levels in the urine, although stones can form even if these chemicals are at normal levels.

Medications used for treating some medical conditions such as kidney disease, cancer or HIV can also increase your risk of developing kidney stones.

A small number of people get kidney stones because of certain medical conditions that lead to high levels of calcium, oxalate, cystine or uric acid in the body.

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.

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Questions To Ask Your Doctor About Adpkd

• How will this disease make me feel?
• Do I need any more tests?
• Do I need to see a specialist?
• What are my treatment options?
• Do the treatments have side effects?
• What do you expect for my case?
• What can I do to keep my kidneys working?
• If I have children, will they get the disease?
• Do my children need to get a genetic test?

Specific Symptoms Of Kidney Stones:

Kidney stones are created by extra salts and minerals getting stuck together in the process of making urine. They can be tiny and not even noticeable but when they are large they can cause a lot of pain.

If the stone is small enough the stone can be passed at home. If the pain is too intense you should seek out your doctor.

Specific treatment:

• Water
• Pain medications
• Shock wave treatment- the idea of this treatment is to break up larger stones so they will pass easier.
• Ureteroscopy- This is when they enter the urethra with a tube containing a clamp which will grab and remove the stones.

Specific Symptoms are:

• Pain during urination in the back.
• Severe back or groin pain
• Vomiting
• Nausea

You can help prevent kidney stones by not eating excessive amounts of protein or sodium. Also chocolate and dark green vegetables can cause issues. Lastly always be sure to drink plenty of water.

Picture 5 : Where the kidney stone is created and how far it has to pass.Image Source : images.medicinenet.com

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Specific Symptoms And Causes Of Kidney Infection:

A kidney infection is when a urinary tract infection has gone on too long and begins to enter the kidneys. This is called pyelonephritis.

Bacteria enter the urethra from the skin and then climb up into the bladder causing the initial infection. Because the urethra is shorter in women this is much more common in females than males.

This infection can be very serious because it has the possibility to spread into the blood stream.

Symptoms consist of all those mentioned above plus:

• Fever and chills

Kidney Pain Vs Back Pain

It’s easy to confuse kidney pain for just back pain. How do you know the difference?

Location. It could be your kidney and not your back if you feel it higher on your back. Back problems usually affect your lower back.

Kidney pain is felt higher and deeper in your body than back pain. You may feel it in the upper half of your back, not the lower part. Unlike back discomfort, it’s felt on one or both sides, usually under your rib cage.

It’s often constant. It probably won’t go away when you shift your body. With your back, it might lessen when you adjust your position.

Signs that it’s your back

Back pain:

• Shoots down one leg
• Is more likely to be stabbing than dull and constant
• Gets worse or flares up when you do certain activities, like lifting a box or bending over
• When you rest or lie down, back pain may ease up
• Might also be muscle aches

Other symptoms to watch for

Depending on the cause of the pain, you could have other symptoms too. If you have these signs, contact your doctor. You could have a serious kidney problem:

• Fever
• Body aches
• Tiredness

Also, if you recently had a urinary tract infection , call your doctor. If you have blood in your urine, or if your pain is sudden and unbearable even without signs of blood in your pee, get medical care right away.

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Shortness Of Breath After Very Little Effort

Why this happens:

Being short of breath can be related to the kidneys in two ways. First, extra fluid in the body can build up in the lungs. And second, anemia can leave your body oxygen-starved and short of breath.

What patients said:

At the times when I get the shortness of breath, it’s alarming to me. It just fears me. I think maybe I might fall or something so I usually go sit down for awhile.

I couldn’t sleep at night. I couldn’t catch my breath, like I was drowning or something. And, the bloating, can’t breathe, can’t walk anywhere. It was bad.

When To See A Doctor For Kidney Pain

Kidney pain that you feel in your middle back or that radiates to your abdomen or groin is usually an indicator of a serious health condition.

According to Dr. Charles Patrick Davis, you should visit your doctor promptly if you suspect kidney pain. Some of the warning signs of kidney disease or problems are:

• Sharp flank pain that comes on suddenly
• A dull, constant one-sided pain in your back or side
• Blood in your urine

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How To Relieve Kidney Pain

This article was medically reviewed by Victor Catania, MD. Dr. Catania is a board certified Family Medicine Physician in Pennsylvania. He received his MD from the Medical University of the Americas in 2012 and completed his residency in Family Medicine at the Robert Packer Hospital. He is a member of the American Board of Family Medicine.There are 21 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 20 testimonials and 80% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 273,263 times.

Research suggests that if you experience pain in your back between your ribs and your buttocks, or even down your sides into your groin area, you may be having kidney pain.XResearch source Although back pain is not always caused by your kidneys, you should talk to your doctor to make sure you don’t have any serious medical conditions. Experts note that treating your kidney pain will depend on its cause, and your doctor can make the best recommendations for your situation.XResearch source

Specific Symptoms Of Kidney Cyst:

A cyst is a pouch of skin filled with liquid. Cysts may form in the kidneys and sometimes do not cause any symptoms. Some of the symptoms that it can cause:

• Side or back pain
• If they get infected you will have fever and chills.
• You may have kidney function issues.

If there are no symptoms you will not need treatment, but if the cyst is causing issues you will need to have the cyst drained. This is done with ultrasound guidance and only done by medical professionals.

Image 7 : Here you can clearly see the liquid filled pouches on the kidney surface.Picture Source : www.mayoclinic.org

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Causes: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Benign prostatic hyperplasia is the medical name for an enlarged prostate gland. In most cases, the prostate continues to grow throughout a man’s entire life. As a result, BPH is common in older males. The enlarged prostate blocks the flow of urine, causing an inability to urinate, UTIs, bladder damage, and kidney damage. The cause of enlarged prostates is not clear, but experts believe it could be a result of unbalanced sex hormones. Family history, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity increase the risk.

Diagnosis Of Chronic Kidney Disease

• Blood and urine tests

• Sometimes biopsy

Blood and urine tests are essential. They confirm the decline in kidney function.

When loss of kidney function reaches a certain level in chronic kidney disease, the levels of chemicals in the blood typically become abnormal.

• Urea and creatinine, metabolic waste products that are normally filtered out by the kidneys, are increased.

• Blood becomes moderately acidic.

• Potassium in the blood is often normal or only slightly increased but can become dangerously high.

• Calcium and calcitriol in the blood decrease.

• Phosphate and parathyroid hormone levels increase.

• Hemoglobin is usually lower .

Potassium can become dangerously high when kidney failure reaches an advanced stage or if people ingest large amounts of potassium or take a drug that prevents the kidneys from excreting the potassium.

Analysis of the urine may detect many abnormalities, including protein and abnormal cells.

Ultrasonography is often done to rule out obstruction and check the size of the kidneys. Small, scarred kidneys often indicate that loss of kidney function is chronic. Determining a precise cause becomes increasingly difficult as chronic kidney disease reaches an advanced stage.

Removing a sample of tissue from a kidney for examination may be the most accurate test, but it is not recommended if results of an ultrasound examination show that the kidneys are small and scarred.

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Kidney Location Where Are Your Kidneys Located

As mentioned above most people have one kidney on each side of the posterior abdominal area. The specific location of the kidneys sometimes causes the pain sensation to be confused with other types of pain such as liver or back pain. It is very important to understand the exact location and sensation of kidney pain.

The picture below shows a drawing each kidney in the area where they are located. Flank pain is specifically found in this area. If movement of the muscle or massage does not relieve pain in this area you may be experiencing kidney pain.

Flank pain which is sharp or doesnt change upon movement is most likely kidney pain and not muscular pain.

Picture 1 : Surface of the kidney location Image source : meded.ucsd.edu