What Do Our Kidney’s Do?

Kidney’s play a very important part in the human body.

Most people are born with two kidneys and some are born with one, which they can carry on and live a normal healthy life.
Your kidneys main function is to clean your blood. Unfiltered blood in your body will enter your kidney. These will be “filtered” by the nephrons in your kidney (which are approximately a million per kidney). The waste product will then drain out into your bladder and the clean filtered blood will go back into your body.

Your kidneys have many other functions, such as:

1. Regulate water balance to ensure we never have too much or too little water in body
2. Regulated acid-base balance to ensure blood is never too acidic or alkaline
3. Controls blood pressure through different mechanisms to ensure blood pressure is not too high or low – along with your Heart
4. Help your bones by activating vitamin D
5. Makes blood by releasing other hormones which tell the bone marrow to make red blood cells.

A nephrologist specialises in kidneys, and regular testing can monitor your kidney functions, particularly if you are at risk of kidney diseases, such as if you suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease or a family history of kidney disease.

Your primary care doctor can help prevent and treat the early stages of kidney disease. However, sometimes these early stages may not have any symptoms or may have nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue, sleep problems, and changes in the amount you urinate.

If you or a loved one has experienced a delayed diagnosis of kidney disease and would like to pursue a medical negligence claim please contact our specialist team for initial advice. Call 0800 088 6004.

Useful Links
https://kidneyresearchuk.org/