About 37 million people have kidney disease, according to the CDC, and one million of them will die from it this year.
Most people don’t experience any symptoms so they don’t know what things can cause it. Depending on your lifestyle, you could be damaging your kidneys without knowing it.
Barry white … Gary Coleman … Bobby Fischer … have what in common? They all passed from kidney disease. It’s a silent disease, so symptoms may never show up ... Or not until it’s too late.
Jeanie Park, MD, MS, Associate Prof. of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine explains, “The symptoms of kidney failure can include, usually, very vague things like some nausea, decreased appetite. Patients may have some fatigue, or changes in memory. In terms of urination, they may notice they are getting up at night more often to urinate.”
If kidney disease is not found or treated in a reasonable time frame, it could result in death. But most people don’t know the common habits that cause the deadly disease. Eating processed food or fast food can have long-lasting effects on your kidneys, so can dying your hair – the dye contains lead acetate and bismuth, taking blood pressure medications or NSAIDs.
“Things that my doctor and I discuss a lot is, what medications I’m taking, and what kind of impact they have, you know, pro and con, on my kidneys.”
Being aware of these common habits could keep your kidneys healthy and you alive much longer.
If the kidney damage goes unchecked for too long, some signs might eventually show up, such as, sleep problems, loss of appetite, swelling of ankles and feet, and dry, itchy skin.