Alcoholism and Drug Addiction: Effect on the kidneys
Taking care of your kidneys should be among your health priorities. After all, healthy kidneys will ensure that all waste products in your body are removed. In addition, they also work to balance the fluid in your body, regulate blood pressure by releasing certain hormones and control red blood cell production.
So what happens when you abuse alcohol or drugs? When someone has alcoholism or drug addiction problem?
Not surprisingly, your kidneys are among the organs that will be greatly affected by excessive consumption of alcohol and use of recreational drugs like cocaine. To better give you a clear picture of the extent of kidney damage alcoholism and drug addiction can result to, consider the following:
Alcohol Effects on Kidneys
As mentioned, your kidneys work to maintain the balance of electrolytes and fluid in your body. Having enough fluid will make it easy for the kidney to rid your body of harmful waste products. If the acid-base balance is upset, metabolic function of the kidneys is compromised.
Basically, this is what happens when you consume alcohol. For starters, urine flow will be disrupted which cause increase in the electrolyte concentration in the blood. If the level is kept high because of the alcohol, the body will not take in more water, leading to dehydration and kidney damage.
With the kidneys damage, the risk for diseases like hypertension and diabetes is high. If your kidneys continue to be abused with unhealthy lifestyle, you are likely to end up with chronic kidney disease.
Cocaine Effects on Kidneys
In the United States, there are about 19.5 million individuals, 12 years old and above, who were found to have taken illicit drug in the past 30 days. Among the many recreational drugs in the market, cocaine was the preferred choice. The damage of this drug to the kidneys is not entirely known but since cocaine can cause spasm of the arteries and blood vessels, it could lead to extremely high blood pressure. Aside from this, cocaine is also capable of hardening your arteries which can cause heart attack or stroke.
Suffering from any form of kidney disease is something that you would not want to experience. But it can happen with alcoholism and drug addiction. One of the treatments for kidney failure is dialysis, which is not only painful, but also expensive in the long run. Another is kidney transplant, which is not always 100 percent successful. If you are serious about protecting your kidneys, putting down that drink in your hand is the first step that you need to take.
References:
http://www.ehow.com/facts_4854934_effects-alcohol-kidneys.html
http://www.aakp.org/aakp-library/Cocaine/