What is GFR?
Glomerular Filtration Rate, is a crucial indicator of how well your kidneys are functioning. It measures the amount of blood filtered by the tiny filters in your kidneys, known as glomeruli. This filtration process helps remove waste products and excess fluids from your blood, maintaining a healthy balance in your body.
Why does GFR matter?
But the question here is why you should care about this. Does GFR cause kidney damage? Is understanding the same worth your time? Well, it definitely is.
The renals play a significant role in keeping your body in balance. If your GFR is low, it could be a sign of the reduced ability of your kidneys to filter blood effectively. This might indicate underlying kidney problems or diseases. Monitoring the GFR levels can help detect kidney issues early, allowing timely interventions and treatments.
Additionally, several medical conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney diseases can affect the levels. Lifestyle choices such as diet, hydration, and medications can also play a pivotal role.
Wondering how is GFR calculated?
A kidney specialist performs gfr calculation using a formula that takes into account your blood creatinine levels, age, gender, and other factors. The kidneys filter creatinine, a waste product created during muscle metabolism. A GFR test can help determine how well your kidneys are clearing creatinine from your blood.
What level of GFR is dangerous?
Understanding the values is important.
- GFR>90 are generally considered normal GFR levels, indicating healthy kidney function
- GFR values between 60 and 89 indicate mild kidney dysfunction
- GFR< 60 indicate moderate to severe kidney problems
What will happen if GFR is too low or high?
The glomerular filtration rate represents how well the glomeruli filter waste and extra fluid. The condition of a higher-than-normal glomerular filtration rate(high GFR levels) is called renal hyperfiltration. This condition develops because of increased tensile stress placed on the capillary wall structures by an increased glomerular capillary pressure. It is a significant sign of kidney dysfunction in people with diabetes and obesity.
On the other hand, extremely low renal functionality is observed when GFR scores are less than 15. This indicates that the kidneys’ ability to filter waste and excess fluid from the blood is severely compromised. As a result, symptoms like protein in the urine, high blood pressure, bone damage, swelling of hands and feet, lower back aches, low or no urine formation, skin colour changes, and a loss of ability to regulate blood pressure are experienced by a person. This condition of severe kidney damage, sometimes referred to as complete kidney failure, requires a kidney transplant.
How do I get my GFR back to normal?
As you age, it’s usual for your GFR to decrease. Additionally, there is no way to reverse the harm done to your kidneys if you have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that the levels will ever rise again. Therefore, focus more on maximizing your healthy behaviours and enhancing kidney health rather than obsessing over your score.
Dr Kanchan, a kidney specialist at Bharat Homeopathy, says, “taking action now can help prevent or delay the progression of CKD (declining GFR)”.
Maintaining healthy GFR levels(GFR normal range) and kidney function involves key steps. She discusses a few tips to help manage and control GFR levels and also answers,”how to increase GFR levels naturally”.
1. Eat Fewer Processed Meats
Dr Kanchan, Bharat Homeopathy suggests cutting down on processed meats like the following to prevent additional decline:
- Hot dog
- Pepperoni
- Ham
- Salami
2. Limit Your Red Meat Consumption
Red meat and other animal proteins are rich in sulphur amino acids, which your kidneys must eliminate; hence, Dr Kanchan advises avoiding them if you have renal health issues. “It’s a lot more work for the renals to get rid of these extra acids,” explains Dr Kanchan. This stimulates hormones in your renals that lead to increased sodium retention in the body, higher blood pressure and more scarring of nephrons. She advises if you eat meat, stick to a serving that doesn’t exceed the size of your hand.
3. Consume More Vegetables
Eating more fruits & vegetables can help prevent and reduce high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and CKD, according to Dr Kanchan. If you commit to not eating meat on any weekday, you may take the first step towards adopting a plant-based diet by trying out meatless days. Research suggests that if you have early-stage kidney disease, a plant-based diet may help prevent further kidney damage.
4. Go Mediterranean
The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, i.e., the Dash diet meal plan, is suitable for kidney function. It is high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and seeds and low in salt.
Considering everyone has unique tastes and preferences, Dr Kanchan suggests the Mediterranean diet, which emphasises fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, and olive oil.
5. Quit Smoking and Tobacco Consumption
The use of tobacco products raises the risk of hypertension, stroke, and several other health issues. Regular consumption of these products thickens your blood vessels and limits blood flow to vital organs like the kidneys, hampering their ability to function.
Even inhaling secondhand smoke may raise the chance of developing kidney disease, according to studies.
6. Maintain BP and Sugar Levels
When blood pressure and blood sugar levels are high, the kidneys are more stressed. Additionally, this may harm the tiny filters in your kidneys, resulting in scar tissue formation and additional damage. It is impossible to repair this kind of harm. Therefore, you can keep the kidneys healthy by maintaining BP and blood sugar levels within the goal limits prescribed by your medical specialist.
In the end, according to Dr. Kanchan, making dietary adjustments benefits everyone. “In addition to improving GFR rate, a healthier diet can also improve diseases that occur with, cause or worsen kidney function — such as high blood pressure — and lengthen your lifespan.”
Can GFR be improved with homeopathy?
Homoeopathy is an effective treatment for increased GFR levels and seeks to address the underlying causes of the ailment. GFR homeopathic medicine has consistently demonstrated its effectiveness in treating renal diseases and successfully lowering elevated levels. Many individuals who exhibited anxiety and uncertainty regarding their situation frequently asked questions, like What will happen if GFR is too high? How gfr is dangerous for kidney?, etc.
team of experts performs extensive research and thorough analysis to provide the best homeopathic medicine to increase GFR nutritional regimens in the GFR homeopathy treatment that are customised for each patient.
