Understanding what makes someone addicted to alcohol can be the first step in helping a person seek treatment. Depending on how bad their alcohol abuse has been or if medically-assisted alcohol detox will be needed for withdrawal symptoms, entering into a treatment center may be a necessary option. Professional medical staff can assist in the difficult process of withdrawal, making the transition into sobriety less daunting. Be sure to get proper treatment for UTIs and take preventative measures to avoid them in the future. There are a lot of misconceptions out there when it comes to how alcohol affects your kidneys and what creates kidney problems.

Myth: If your kidneys seem to be functioning well, you are probably doing fine

Even before cirrhosis, fatty liver or fibrosis increases kidney workload. If you’ve been told you have liver issues, protecting your kidneys should be part of the plan. This guide unpacks the science behind alcohol-related kidney damage, helps you recognize early warning signs, and outlines proactive steps to protect your long-term health. AKF works on behalf of 1 in 7 Americans living with kidney disease, and the millions more at risk, to support people wherever they are in their fight against kidney disease — from prevention through post-transplant living. Drinking too much can damage your body’s sensitivity to insulin, disrupting your body’s blood-sugar levels.

The Relationship Between Alcohol and Kidney Function

The heart then needs to work harder to pump (move) blood around the body, thus increasing blood pressure. Drinking kidney pain from drinking a little alcohol (one to two standard drinks) usually does not cause severe effects on a healthy adult. However, excessive drinking- more than four standard drinks per day can cause adverse health effects and damage the kidneys. Alcoholic kidney disease is a condition that develops due to long-term alcohol abuse. It is characterized by structural and functional changes in the kidneys, impairing their ability to regulate fluid and electrolyte composition in the body. This can result in low blood concentrations of key electrolytes and severe alterations in the body’s acid-base balance 3.

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Chronic or heavy alcohol consumption can mean the kidneys must deal with a high load of toxins, potentially adding to their workload and reducing overall efficiency. There are several pre-existing health conditions that may put you at a greater risk of developing kidney disease. If you fall into any of these categories, avoiding alcohol, or closely monitoring your use, may be your best bet.

• However, the truth is that excessive alcohol consumption can wreak havoc on these vital organs, leading to various complications.
• CKD treatment generally consists of dialysis or, in extreme cases, a kidney transplant.
• Alcoholic kidney disease often refers to any kidney disease caused by heavy alcohol use.
• For instance, the opposite of respiratory alkalosis can occur when a person becomes extremely intoxicated.
• Dr. Poduval’s deep clinical expertise has contributed to his success as a healthcare leader, driving growth and innovation in several healthcare sectors.

One of the most important considerations about alcohol in a renal diet is the fact that alcohol is a fluid. When considering the potassium in alcoholic beverages, look at the mixers and other ingredients. A person is at risk of different complications depending on the underlying cause of the kidney pain. A person may feel intense back pain or pain in their genitals or stomach as the body attempts to pass the stone.

• These tests collectively help healthcare providers gauge renal performance more accurately than relying solely on serum creatinine measurements alone.
• Ask your healthcare provider about the negative impacts and reactions that alcohol may have on the medications you have been prescribed.
• Specifically, drugs known as arginine vasopressin antagonists are being developed to inhibit ADH at the cell receptor level.
• Even if you don’t have diabetes now, alcohol can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, especially when combined with weight gain and a poor diet.

In lupus, for example, the kidneys can become inflamed, resulting in serious damage. Early intervention is necessary for those with autoimmune conditions. If the heart is weak, it can impact how well the kidneys function. Individuals with heart disease should monitor their kidney health closely. Certain pre-existing conditions can heighten the risk of kidney damage. Understanding these conditions is important for maintaining kidney health.

AKI can be caused by the shock binge drinking causes to the kidneys. However, clinical research shows the amounts and patterns of alcohol consumption both affect eGFR in patients with CKD 7. In contrast, Menon et al. could not find what is alcoholism any adverse or beneficial effects of alcohol consumption on kidney function in the elderly 88. A Japanese cohort study also found that CKD is an independent risk factor for higher rates of stroke in men and women.

For instance, too much sodium can cause high blood pressure while too little magnesium harms the nervous system, and there are many more issues; too many to list them all. Magnesium deficiency can result in migraine headaches, hypertension, osteoporosis, and may even lead to Type II Diabetes. Free radicals (also called reactive oxygen species ROS) are one of the by-products of alcohol metabolism and are known to cause cellular damage, unless the body can use antioxidants to clean them up. Oxidative stress occurs when the body cannot detoxify free radicals as fast as they are being produced, and it is pivotal in triggering alcohol-related tissue injury. Studies suggest that several mechanisms produce ROS in alcohol-damaged organs, including the liver (Cederbaum et al. 2009), heart (Tan et al. 2012; Varga et al. 2015), and kidney (Latchoumycandane et al. 2015). CYP2E1 is of particular interest when thinking about potential mechanisms for alcohol-related kidney damage.

Drinking can make it harder to control your blood sugar levels, which increases your risk of diabetic kidney disease. Having more than three drinks in a day (or more than seven per week) for women, and more than four drinks in a day (or more than 14 per week) for men, is considered “heavy” drinking. Heavy drinking on a regular basis has been found to double the risk for kidney disease.