Kidney Damage, The First Symptom Is Not Foamy Urine, But Nocturia

An elderly friend told me that he suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes. He heard that these two diseases can cause damage to kidney function. How can we detect kidney problems in advance? Did you see how much foam there is in the urine? I replied to him that impaired renal function will indeed lead to increased foam in the urine, but foamy urine is not the initial symptom of impaired renal function, but increased nocturia.

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Patients with chronic diseases such as "three highs" should pay attention to their renal function and understand the early manifestations of impaired renal function. If abnormalities are found, early intervention can prevent further deterioration of renal function and even the development of uremia.

Both high blood pressure and diabetes can damage the kidneys

Both high blood pressure and diabetes can damage the kidneys. High blood pressure can cause increased pressure within the glomeruli, allowing proteins in the blood plasma to leak out, and causing damage to the kidney sieve system. Diabetes can cause kidney microvascular lesions, and it can also lead to increased pressure on kidney blood vessels and damage the kidneys. Moreover, both will cause renal artery stenosis, which will eventually lead to changes in the shape and structure of the kidneys, leading to renal insufficiency.

However, the damage caused by the two to the kidney is very hidden, because the kidney itself has a strong compensatory function, and the human kidney only needs to perform one-third of its function to meet the body's metabolic needs. So when the symptoms of renal insufficiency are revealed, it may mean that the kidney damage has exceeded 70%.

The initial manifestation of renal impairment is nocturia

Because the protein in the plasma leaks from the kidneys into the urine, which reduces the surface tension of the urine, resulting in a lot of foam in the urine. Many people think that foam in the urine means that the kidneys have been damaged. But, when foamy urine appears, it may not be the initial stage of renal function damage.

In the initial stage of renal function damage, it will not lead to a large amount of protein leakage, but it will affect the ability of the renal tubules to concentrate urine. The human body produces urine all the time. During sleep, the reabsorption function of the renal tubules will be maximized to concentrate the urine, which can prevent frequent urination at night from affecting sleep.

When renal function is impaired, the reabsorption function of renal tubules is usually first affected, manifested as increased nocturia, urine volume, and frequency of urination. Generally speaking, nocturia is considered to be present if there are 2 or more urinations during the night. However, it should be noted that urinary tract infection, male benign prostatic hyperplasia, or taking diuretics before going to bed can also lead to increased nocturia, which must be distinguished.

When nocturia occurs, routine normal urine examination generally does not detect protein, the blood creatinine level does not increase significantly, and kidney problems are easily overlooked. At this time, it is recommended to do a urine microalbumin test, which is more sensitive and easy to detect early kidney lesions.

What to do if you discover renal impairment?

If you find traces of protein in your urine, you need to find out the reason first. For example, inflammation of the urinary system such as urinary tract infection, prostatitis, systemic inflammation such as acute pancreatitis, or the use of certain drugs that affect kidney function may cause changes in kidney function.

At the same time, we must actively control blood pressure and blood sugar, especially paying attention to blood pressure. Choose "Pulley" or "Sartan" drugs with better renal protection to lower blood pressure. However, patients with bilateral renal artery stenosis are contraindicated, and acute renal failure may occur at the initial stage of medication, so it needs to be used safely under the guidance of a doctor.

To sum up, chronic renal impairment is difficult to reverse, but as long as timely treatment and control of kidney-damaging factors can stabilize renal function for a long time, delay disease progression, and avoid the occurrence of uremia, early detection of renal impairment is very important.

It is recommended that people with "three high" chronic diseases pay more attention to whether there is nocturia and foamy urine, and regularly test their kidney function. If you wait until serious complications of kidney disease such as edema, anemia, and malignant hypertension appear, it may be too late.

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