{"id":129,"date":"2020-02-19T13:11:51","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T13:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthissues24.co.za\/?p=129"},"modified":"2020-02-19T13:11:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T13:11:51","slug":"how-do-you-know-if-you-have-kidney-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/how-do-you-know-if-you-have-kidney-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you know if you have kidney pain?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Kidney pain<\/strong>\u00a0is usually a constant dull ache deep in\u00a0<strong>your<\/strong>\u00a0right or left flank, or both flanks, that often gets worse\u00a0<strong>when<\/strong>\u00a0someone gently hits the area. Only one\u00a0<strong>kidney<\/strong>\u00a0is usually affected in most conditions, so\u00a0<strong>you<\/strong>\u00a0typically feel\u00a0<strong>pain<\/strong>\u00a0on only one side of\u00a0<strong>your<\/strong>\u00a0back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>What Does Kidney Pain Feel Like?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Your kidneys are fist-sized organs shaped like beans that are located at the back of the middle of your trunk, in the area called your flank. They are under the lower part of your ribcage on the right and left sides of your backbone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their main job is to filter waste out of your blood and produce urine to remove that waste along with extra fluid from your body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When your kidney hurts, it usually means there\u2019s something wrong with it. It\u2019s important to determine whether your pain is coming from your kidney and or from somewhere else so that you receive the right treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because there are muscles, bones, and other organs around your kidney, it\u2019s sometimes hard to tell if it\u2019s your kidney or something else causing your pain. However, the type and location of the pain and other symptoms you are having can help point to your kidney as the source of your pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Symptoms of kidney pain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Kidney pain is usually a constant dull ache deep in your right or left flank, or both flanks, that often gets worse when someone gently hits the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only one kidney is usually affected in most conditions, so you typically feel pain on only one side of your back. If both kidneys are affected, the pain will be on both sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Symptoms that may accompany kidney pain include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>blood in your urine<\/li><li>fever and chills<\/li><li>frequent urination<\/li><li>nausea and vomiting<\/li><li>pain that spreads to your groin<\/li><li>pain or burning when you urinate<\/li><li>recent\u00a0urinary tract infection<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>What causes kidney pain?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Kidney pain is a sign that there is something wrong with one or both of your kidneys. Your kidney may hurt for these reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>There\u2019s an infection, which is called\u00a0pyelonephritis.<\/li><li>There\u2019s bleeding in the kidney.<\/li><li>There\u2019s a blood clot in the vein connected to your kidney, which is called\u00a0renal vein thrombosis.<\/li><li>It\u2019s swollen because your urine is backing up and filling it with water, which is called\u00a0hydronephrosis.<\/li><li>There\u2019s a mass or\u00a0cancer\u00a0in it, but this usually only becomes painful when it gets very large.<\/li><li>There\u2019s a\u00a0cyst\u00a0in your kidney that\u2019s getting bigger or has ruptured.<\/li><li>You have\u00a0polycystic kidney disease, which is an inherited condition in which many cysts grow in your kidneys and can damage them.<\/li><li>There\u2019s a\u00a0stone\u00a0in your kidney, but this usually doesn\u2019t hurt until it has passed into the tube connecting your kidney and bladder. When it does hurt, it causes severe, sharp pain.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>When to see your doctor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Kidney pain is almost always a sign that something is wrong with your kidney. You should see your doctor as soon as possible to determine what\u2019s causing your pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the condition that has caused kidney pain isn\u2019t treated promptly and appropriately, your kidneys can stop working, which is called\u00a0kidney failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s especially important to see your doctor right away if your pain is severe and started suddenly because this is often caused by a serious problem \u2014 such as\u00a0renal vein thrombosis\u00a0or bleeding into your kidney \u2014 that needs emergency treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kidney pain\u00a0is usually a constant dull ache deep in\u00a0your\u00a0right or left flank, or both flanks, that often gets worse\u00a0when\u00a0someone gently hits the area. Only one\u00a0kidney\u00a0is usually affected in most conditions, so\u00a0you\u00a0typically feel\u00a0pain\u00a0on only one side of\u00a0your\u00a0back. What Does Kidney Pain Feel Like? Your kidneys are fist-sized organs shaped like beans that are located at the\u2026 <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/how-do-you-know-if-you-have-kidney-pain\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unionline24.co.za\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}