What Is the Right Diet for People with PKD

Diet plays an important role in people with illness. It is much more essential to kidney disease patients. PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease) is, of course, one of the most serious genetic kidney diseases. So many patients would ask about the diet. If you are a truth digger, then read on.

In view of diet for Polycystic Kidney Disease, it is much more like a lifestyle choice rather than a diet. Due to the specificity of the disease, the diet suggestions are greatly different from other kind of kidney disease. Before realizing how and why, we’d better take a quick glance at the definition of PKD.
PKD, the abbreviation of Polycystic Kidney Disease, is a genetic disorder affecting 1 in 500 people regardless of age, gender and race. Due to the clusters of cysts grow in the kidneys, account for the size and weight increase. If you have diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease, then you’d better convince your family members to run some tests in order to rule out their chances of suffering from the very same disease.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, there’s no specific diet to prevent the cysts from developing. But general diet rules have been drawn. A low protein diet is helpful more often than not; what’s more, diet low in salt or sodium contribute to boost your kidney function. The upper limit of animal foods per day is 3 oz. To those who live with high blood pressure, the restriction of salt or sodium should be carried on. This is especially true for those who have already get hypertension induced by PKD. While for those who didn’t yet, don’t indulge yourself and burden your damaged kidneys anymore. Because people with this disease are more prone to develop elevated blood pressure and then aggravate the medical condition the other way round. For the specific amount, let’s say, no more than 2,000mg per day is just right.

There can be more, but I won’t list them one by one here. I just give you a brief introduction and if you want to know more,email me: kidneyfailurecn@hotmail.com

Foamy Urine and Kidney Disease: Causes and Treatments

Foamy urine, also called frothy urine, bubbly urine, appears in everybody’s urine every day, if you notice. We don’t care much about the urine because it is a way behind commonplace. However, from the urine we do find something useful. Kidney Disease can be found too.

After realizing the importance of urine, then what are the causes of foamy urine?
Dehydration is one cause accounting for the bubbly urine. Due to the dehydration, one’s urine becomes highly concentrated. Consequently, the frothy urine occurs as one urinates. Please note that dehydration is serious condition if left untreated, also, it is responsible for the occurrence of Acute Renal Failure.
Urinary tract infection is another cause of frothy urine; this is especially common in women because they are more prone to suffer from urinary tract infection.

Last but not the least, massive protein (called proteinuria) leaks to urine as a result of some kind of Kidney Disease, for example, Nephrotic Syndrome or Diabetic Nephropathy. Kidney Disease causes proteinuria (albuminuria) due to the close relationship between kidneys and urine. Kidneys are in charge of secreting and excreting urine, so any changes or damages in your kidneys, especially in glomeruli, urine changes would occur. It requires timely treatment if one develops proteinuria. Otherwise, serious consequences or even Renal Failure would occur.

How to treat proteinuria?

To correct frothy urine, one should treat the underlying causes. But before doing anything, tests and correct diagnosis should be conducted. When the frothy urine induced by dehydration, then supplement water or other fluids. If the bubbly urine is induced by some kind of Kidney Disease, then dealing with the disease from root cause is helpful to stop the leakage of protein and then correct the foamy urine. Besides, different kidney diseases have different treatment plan.

Foamy urine and swelling in kidney disease

Foamy urine, also called albuminuria, often appears in people with kidney disease. Meanwhile, swelling develops as a result of albuminuria. Usually, they come together as one. Whatever the foamy urine or swelling, they can be used to indicate some kind of kidney disease, if there do have some.

What are the causes of albuminuria and swelling?

Albuminuria results from massive protein leakage in urine.

As for swelling, two reasons account for its occurrence.

One is the massive loss of protein in human body. Massive protein leaks into the urine resulting in hypoproteinemia (low levels of albumin in blood). Hypoproteinemia refers to the decrease of albumin concentration in the blood, so does the blood volume. Consequently, your brain will signal the body to retain salt. Excessive salt retention leads to Swelling.

Another cause is the malfunctioned kidney function. Swelling forms because the impaired kidneys fail to remove sodium from the body. That’s why people with Kidney Failure will develop swelling anyway.

After knowing the causes of swelling, the treatments are easily to be realized.
For the first illness condition, protecting protein from leaking is the key point. But how?

Taking tests and get diagnosis

This is the first principle. Before making any moves, you should always make your illness condition clear, and then the right treatments can be given.

Limit the patients’ salt intake

Eating too much salt is anything but making things worse. Restriction of salt consumption is pretty necessary.

Taking certain medications to treat the edema, those drugs can be ACE inhibitor drugs or angiotension receptors.

As for the second condition, repairing the damaged kidney function is a priority for all. Only the impaired function has been restored and regained, the edema subsides accordingly.

Just for your information, swelling or foamy urine is just the symptoms of some Kidney Disease. They are able to send you signal and urge to go for an early detection as well as timely treatment. Please notice your urine and physical changes so as to detect the disease in the very early stage.