Chin-chin! Choosing alcohol wisely

Drinking heavily over a long period of time negatively impacts both your kidneys and liver. Most people that are dependent upon alcohol have both liver disease and kidney dysfunction. According to the National Institutes of Health, two main causes of kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure. We just discussed the connection between heavy drinking and high blood pressure. A common idiom among urologists is, “Dilution is the solution to the pollution”, meaning that increasing water (not alcohol!) intake is the best way to make sure your kidneys are getting flushed out regularly and staying healthy.

What are the first signs of kidney damage from alcohol?

  • fatigue.
  • swelling of the legs, ankles, and feet due to fluid retention.
  • loss of appetite.
  • change in urine.
  • kidney pain.

Heavy drinking is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as 15 or more drinks a week for a man and 8 or more drinks in a week for a woman. In addition to the kidneys’ ability alcohol and kidneys to filter toxins, they also help maintain the right amount of fluid in the body. Alcohol has a dehydrating effect, one that markedly impairs the kidneys’ capacity to maintain fluid balance.

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Seeing a doctor as soon as possible helps ensure appropriate treatment and can reduce the risk of complications. For example, a person with a UTI that spreads to the kidneys can develop sepsis, a dangerous infection of the blood. Sustaining a physical injury to the kidneys, such as by falling from a height, may also cause kidney pain. A person may feel intense back pain or pain in their genitals or stomach as the body attempts to pass the stone.

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  • For every alcoholic beverage consumed, it takes the body approximately one hour to process it.
  • Alcoholics are more likely to have hypertension than those who drink moderately or not at all.
  • The findings of the present study, as well as those of a previous study [17], suggest that avoiding excess alcohol consumption might be an important lifestyle modification to prevent kidney dysfunction, especially in women.
  • Excessive alcohol use can also cause liver disease, which in turn puts more stress on the kidneys.

We performed a multiple imputation analysis as a sensitivity analysis for missing data regarding alcohol consumption and clinical outcomes. The results of this analysis were similar to https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/alcoholism-treatment-program-and-options/ those of the original analysis (Additional files 1 and 2). The baseline characteristics of 19,902 men and 7086 women according to alcohol consumption categories are listed in Tables 1.

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This proves that even if you’re not a chronic drinker, alcohol, even in small amounts, can have a negative impact on the kidneys. So next time you think, “Man, my liver is going to hate me for this,” remember that your kidneys are working hard to keep you healthy too. If you experience any symptoms of kidney disease, kidney stones, or pain in your upper back after a night of drinking, please don’t hesitate to call our office. We would be more than happy to perform diagnostic tests to see if the kidneys have been impaired. In fact, over 2 million Americans per year are diagnosed with liver disease as a direct result of alcohol. When liver disease throws the body off-balance, the kidneys have to work harder to do their job.

  • Loss or retention of any one of these substances can influence the body’s handling of the others.
  • “What causes kidney stones (and what to do).” Harvard Health Blog, May 2019.
  • Medical testing by a doctor will be necessary to determine if kidney damage has occurred.
  • If an acute alcoholic binge induces extensive vomiting, potentially severe alkalosis may result from losses of fluid, salt, and stomach acid.
  • If the body does not pass the stone, a person can develop a severe infection or blockage.
  • Alcohol can worsen the side effects of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments, such as nausea, dehydration, diarrhea, and mouth sores.

Second, in the present study, proteinuria was measured using a dipstick, but dipstick tests are more likely to yield false-positive and false-negative results than specific laboratory methods. Third, because of the retrospective nature of the present study, confounding factors such as excess alcohol consumption, unhealthy behaviors, and calorie-dense and hypersaline foods could not be evaluated [37]. Fourth, herein, we had no data regarding death, income level, or education, which may be related to alcohol consumption; therefore, further studies should include these data during evaluation. Aside from urinating often, excessive alcohol in one night may lead to vomiting. When we vomit, we expel a lot of fluid and stomach acid, so this can dramatically throw the pH balance off.

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