Drinking Alcohol affects numerous parts of the body, including the kidneys. It leads to varied long-term health consequences, which may include high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. These conditions usually lead to kidney disease. Having one or two drinks once in a while does not have serious side effects but drinking too much can affect your health and it can even worsen your kidney disease.
How Alcohol can cause changes in the Kidney function?
Kidneys perform lot of job and one of the important jobs it does is, filtering harmful substance from the blood. One such substance is alcohol; it causes changes in the kidney function and makes it less capable of filtering the blood. The other important job of the kidneys is maintaining right amount of water in your body. When you drink alcohol, it also affects the kidney ability to perform this job. The hormones that control function of kidneys also gets adversely affected when you drink alcohol.
Drying effects of Alcohol on kidney
When Alcohol dehydrates or dries out from your body, it can affect the normal function of organs and cells, including the kidneys.
What is considered as heavy drinking?
If a woman has more than three drinks a day or more than seven each week. And for men, if he has more than four drinks a day and in a week more than 14 drinks, it is considered heavy drinking. Experts consider one drink equal to either one glass of wine (nearing to 150 ml) or one shot of hard liquor( about 45 ml) or it could be one bottle of beer( nearing to 360 ml). Those who are heavy drinkers, their kidneys have work very harder. And those who have habit of heavy drinking are more prone to risk of getting kidney disease.
What is an acute kidney injury?
Some people are habituated to binge drinking (here the person usually has more than 4 drinks within mere two hours or less). This can raise the individual’s blood alcohol to dangerous level. This may also lead to sudden drop in the kidney function and it is known as “acute kidney injury”. When this happens, the individuals require to undergo dialysis until their kidney function return to normal. In most cases acute kidney injury usually goes away with time but in few cases it may lead permanent kidney damage.
Can Kidney stones form due to alcohol dehydration?
Yes, this may happen, if you already have kidney stones, when you drink alcohol, kidney stones will move quickly and you will experience more pain.
Can kidney infection become worse after drinking alcohol?
Kidney infection starts in the bladder or urethra and moves to one or both kidneys. It is a type of urinary tract infection. Both symptoms as well as severity might get worse after drinking alcohol.
Can too much drinking cause blood pressure?
Yes, too much drinking can cause high blood pressure. And it has been found that, medications for high blood pressure can be affected by alcohol. One of the major causes for kidney disease is high blood pressure. If an individual has more than two drinks a day, they have increased chance of getting blood pressure.
Alternative Beverages
Switch to alternative beverages such as tea, or juices. Few other great options are apple cider vinegar drinks, coconut water, hot chocolate. In social situations, you can opt for mocktails in a fancy glass, if you desire to drink something special.
Preventive Tips
If you experience kidney pain after having drinks. You must pay attention to your body and seek medical advice. You may also require to completely stop drinking alcohol for certain period or totally avoid it.
When to seek advice of the health provider?
You must ask your health provider, whether it is safe to drink if you have a medical condition or you were prescribed few medicines, especially those which may have an adverse effect on your body, when alcohol is consumed.