To keep your body functioning properly, waste products and excess fluid must be removed on a regular basis. To do this, you have two bean-shaped kidneys… each about the size of your fist… located on either side of your spine just below your rib cage.
Your kidneys filter and return to the bloodstream about 190 litres of blood every day. In doing so they produce up to 2 litres of urine that contain the waste products your body needs to get rid of.
A kidney ache could be a symptom of a serious problem, and if left unchecked can lead to complications. If ever you or anyone you know experiences pain where the kidneys are located, you must consult a doctor immediately. You should not ignore such symptoms.
The kidneys, of which most people have two, have several functions in addition to eliminating your body of waste products and excess fluid. The kidneys produce urine, which removes excess body fluid and waste products.
Seems pretty simple, right? Well, the process by which urine is produced is actually a complex series of events necessary to keep the body’s chemicals in proper balance. Proper kidney functions are extremely necessary to your overall health and well-being.
When people think of kidney failure, they usually think of them in terms of bladder and kidney symptoms. By consuming enough water and avoiding foods that can irritate the kidneys, many people think they will be able to avoid these.
However, often this is not always the case. This is because the kidneys have many functions and therefore when things go wrong, kidney failure symptoms are much more widespread and harder to detect.
In fact sometimes the symptoms may not seem directly related to the kidneys at first glance. But here, by understanding some of the major roles of the kidneys we will see how these kidney failure symptoms occur.
When I talk to my patients about good kidney health, preventing or getting rid of kidney stones is the first thing that comes to their mind. While kidney stones may be one of the more common health concerns for your kidneys, they certainly are not the only one.