Tests for anemia
Anemia is an early symptom of kidney disease, and people with anemia may experience cold all the time, dizziness, trouble concentration, pale face, fingernail beds and fatigue. Anemia is a lack of oxygen-carrying red cells. Generally speaking, kidneys will secrete a hormone, called erythropoietin and this kind of hormone can signal bone marrow to create more red cells if red cells are shortage. With kidney disease, kidneys cannot secrete erythropoietin normally, resulting in anemia.
Test for anemia includes hemoglobin, hematocrit, ferrtin, transferrin saturation. The former two tests are to test red cells in your body and the last two tests are to test the condition of iron in your blood.
Test for electrolytes
Just like postman, electrolytes are responsible to send signals of nerve to muscles. Calcium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium are the four important electrolytes related to kidney disease and their levels usually are commanded by kidneys. With imbalanced electrolyte levels, one may suffer muscle spasm, skin itch, nausea, vomiting, coma, and even death. To make sure whether their levels are in normal, you may be required to do electrolyte tests.
Tests for kidney function
To measure the severity of kidney disease, and get an overall of kidney function, you may be requested to do some tests, such as creatinine test - High Creatinine Levels, blood urea nitrogen test and glomerular filtration tests.
In normal cases, creatinine can be removed by kidneys, if creatinine is not removed effectively, which indicates something wrong with kidneys. Often, the levels of creatinine in the blood have a negative correlation with kidney function.
Blood urea nitrogen test (BUN) is to test kidney function by measuring urea in blood.
Glomerular filtration test (GFR) is to test how fast the kidneys filter. A urine sample and a blood sample are needed at the same time.
There are many other tests related to kidney disease, such as bone disease tests. Therefore, if suspecting of kidney disease or have being on some similar symptoms, do the tests. When diagnosed, treat it immediately to get a better result.
