While testing in a hospital is the gold standard, lack of health care and insurance coverage, or some personal reasons, make testing in a hospital or through traditional means both difficult and expensive for some people.
Kidney testing is generally performed in hospitals, and the number of companies offering at-home kidney test has since increased in order to make it more convenient for more people to test their kidney function, thus reducing some of the cost of testing. A lab for at-home kidney test may be ideal for early testing, but compared to at-home lab kidney test, at-home kidney test is better, without the need to send blood samples or wait a long time for a report. At-home kidney test is ideal for people who have difficulty leaving home or who do not have health insurance.
Why it is important to get an at-home kidney test?
Kidney disease can affect your body's ability to cleanse your blood, filter excess water from your blood, and help control your blood pressure. It can also affect the production of red blood cells and the metabolism of vitamin D, which is needed for bone health.
When your kidneys are damaged, waste and fluid can build up in your body. This can cause your ankles to swell, nausea, weakness, poor sleep and shortness of breath.
You need to understand kidney disease and treat it with at-home kidney tests. If left untreated, the damage will get worse and your kidneys may eventually stop working. This is serious and can be life-threatening.
That's why we need to understand what causes kidney disease with the at-home kidney test, which will help us diagnose and treat kidney disease faster.
The Most Common Causes of You Need an At-home Kidney Test
Chronic kidney disease: When your kidneys don't work well for longer than 3 months, doctors call it chronic kidney disease. You may not have any symptoms in the early stages, but that's when it’s simpler to treat.
Diabetes(types 1 and 2) and high blood pressure are the most common causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Your health care provider will look at your health history and may perform tests to find out why you have kidney disease. The cause of kidney disease may affect the type of treatment you receive.
Other Causes of Kidney Disease include:
- Immune system diseases (If you have kidney disease due to lupus, your doctor will call it lupus nephritis.)
- Long-lasting viral illnesses, such as HIV and AIDS, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C
- Pyelonephritis, a urinary tract infection within the kidneys, which can result in scarring as the infection heals. It can lead to kidney damage if it happens several times.
- Inflammation in the tiny filters (glomeruli) in your kidneys. This can happen after a strep infection.
- Polycystic kidney disease, a genetic condition where fluid-filled sacs form in your kidneys
Defects present at birth can block the urinary tract or affect the kidneys. One of the most common ones involves a kind of valve between the bladder and urethra. A urologist can often do surgery to repair these problems, which may be found while the baby is still in the womb.
Drugs and toxins -- such as lead poisoning, long-term use of some medications including NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like ibuprofen and naproxen, and IV street drugs -- can permanently damage your kidneys. So can being around some types of chemicals over time.
Why diabetics also need an at-home kidney test?
Diabetic nephropathy is a kidney disease caused by diabetes mellitus.
Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney disease. About 1 in 3 adults with diabetes has kidney disease.
The main job of your kidneys is to filter waste and excess water from your blood to make urine. Your kidneys also help control blood pressure and produce the hormones your body needs to stay healthy.
Too much glucose (also called sugar) in your blood can damage the filters in your kidneys. Over time, your kidneys may become so damaged that they can no longer filter waste and excess fluid from your blood as well.
Often, the first sign of diabetic nephropathy is protein in the urine. When the filter is damaged, a protein called albumin (which you need to stay healthy) is removed from your blood and enters your urine. Healthy kidneys do not allow albumin to pass from the blood into the urine.
Diabetic nephropathy is the medical term for kidney disease caused by diabetes.
Many people may purchase a blood glucose meter but neglect the at-home kidney test.
Why hypertensive patients also need an at-home kidney test?
High blood pressure constricts and narrows blood vessels, eventually damaging and weakening blood vessels throughout the body, including the kidneys. Narrowing can reduce blood flow.
If the blood vessels in your kidneys are damaged, they may no longer work properly. When this happens, the kidneys can't remove all the waste and excess fluid from your body. The extra fluid in your blood vessels can raise your blood pressure even more, creating a dangerous cycle and causing more damage that can lead to kidney failure.
If the blood vessels in your kidneys are damaged, your kidneys may not do a good job of removing waste and excess fluid from your body. The extra fluid in the blood vessels may further raise blood pressure, creating a dangerous cycle.
Other causes of kidney disease
Other causes of kidney disease include
- a genetic disorder that causes many cysts to grow in the kidneys, polycystic kidney disease (PKD).
- an infection
- a drug that is toxic to the kidneys
- a disease that affects the entire body, such as diabetes or lupus NIH external link. Lupus nephritis is the medical name for kidney disease caused by lupus
- IgA glomerulonephritis
- disorders in which the body’s immune system attacks its own cells and organs, such as Anti-GBM (Goodpasture's) disease
- heavy metal poisoning, such as lead poisoning NIH external link
- rare genetic conditions, such as Alport syndrome NIH external link
- hemolytic uremic syndrome in children
- IgA vasculitis
- renal artery stenosis
What kidney tests do you need in the hospital?
Your doctor will start by asking questions about your family medical history, which medications you're taking, and if you notice that you're peeing more or less than normal. After that, they'll do a physical exam.
You also may have:
- Blood tests, to see how much waste product is in your blood
- Urine tests, to check for kidney failure
- Imaging tests, like an ultrasound, to let the doctor see your kidneys
- A kidney biopsy, where tissue from your kidney is sent to a lab for testing to try and figure out the cause of your kidney issues.
How to treat your kidney disease?
Some forms of kidney disease are treatable. The goals of these treatments are to ease symptoms, help keep the disease from getting worse, and lessen complications. In some causes of kidney disease, your treatment may help restore some of your kidney function. There is no cure for chronic kidney disease.
The plan you and your doctor will decide on will depend on what’s your cause of kidney disease. In some causes of kidney disease, even when your cause of kidney disease condition is controlled, your kidney disease will worsen.
Once your kidneys can't keep up with waste on their own, you'll have treatment for end-stage kidney disease. This can include:
Dialysis. Waste and extra fluid are taken out of your body when your kidneys can't do it anymore. There are two types:
- Hemodialysis, where a machine removes the waste and extra fluids from your blood
- Peritoneal dialysis, which involves inserting a thin tube called a catheter into your abdomen. Then, a solution goes into your abdomen that absorbs the waste and fluids. After a while, the solution drains from your body.
Kidney transplant. A surgeon replaces your kidney with a healthy one from a donor. This donor can be living or deceased. After the procedure, you take medicine for the rest of your life to make sure that your body doesn't reject your new kidney.
So the best way for us to deal with kidney disease is prevention, using at-home kidney test to understand our health condition regularly to prevent the seriousness of kidney disease and reduce our body damage, time and money wasted.
References
1. Causes of Chronic Kidney Disease | NIDDK
2. Kidney Disease (Chronic & Acute) - Causes, Risk ... - WebMD
See also:
1. 9 Best At-Home Kidney Tests Buyers Guide In 2022
2. What's creatinine with kidney test in blood?
3. How important is a tester with kidney test function?
4. What is anemia with kidney disease?
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