What you put inside your body, such as the food and drinks that you consume, can positively or negatively affect your health. Too much alcohol is bad for the body, and it can affect the organs, including the kidneys. The kidneys remove waste products and excess fluid from the body. They filter blood and harmful substances, such as alcohol. For this reason, alcohol can affect the function of the kidneys. While moderate drinking won’t cause kidney pain, a consistent and large amount of alcohol consumption may be detrimental.
The effects of alcohol consumption on kidney pain
Kidney pain may be described as either a throbbing or unbearable pain felt in the back. This may be felt on either side of the spine and just under the ribs and may intensify over hours or days. When you experience such pain, you must see a doctor.
According to experts, moderate alcohol drinking may not cause kidney problems, but excessive consumption may injure the kidneys, cause infections, and lead to chronic kidney disease. Here are potential kidney conditions you may get for drinking too much alcohol:
- Acute kidney injury: Excessively drinking alcohol can impair your kidneys. It can even lead to an acute kidney injury—a condition when waste accumulates in the blood faster than the kidney can filter it out. When this happens, you will experience kidney pain, decreased urination, exhaustion, swollen legs, ankles, or face, difficulty breathing, nausea, and chest pain. You must seek treatment for this condition, lest you may have a seizure or go into a coma.
- Urinary tract infection: Drinking too much alcohol may indirectly lead to developing a urinary tract infection (UTI). Alcohol can increase the acidity of urine and irritate the bladder’s lining. When the infection spreads into the bladder, you may begin to experience kidney pain. Likewise, you’ll encounter dark or smelly urine, blood in the urine, stomach or back pain, a fever, frequent urge to urinate, and a strong urge to urinate but little urine coming out.
- Chronic kidney disease: Excessive alcohol consumption regularly may lead to chronic kidney disease because your kidneys are forced to work harder. Besides kidney pain, chronic disease can lead to kidney dysfunction symptoms, such as high blood pressure. Overall, this disease is a potentially life-threatening that requires ongoing treatment.
Treatment options for kidney problems
The treatment options for kidney problems brought by excessive alcohol consumption may vary. For the most part, though, these treatment options include the following:
- Pain medication for kidney pain
- Antibiotics for UTI
- Short-term dialysis for acute kidney injury
- Dietary and lifestyle changes for chronic kidney disease
- Long-term dialysis for a failing kidney
- A kidney transplant for failed kidney
Conclusion
Reducing alcohol consumption and drinking moderately is a must to protect your kidneys. Taking this for granted can lead to acute kidney injury, UTI, and chronic kidney disease, as discussed above. Intense kidney pain is your body’s way of warning you of a potentially serious health condition, so be sure to see a doctor immediately for proper diagnosis and treatment.
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