Kidneys Sore after Drinking Alcohol

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Drinking alcohol may be your great way of celebrating an occasion with your friends. Sometime you also may use it to cope with stress, though this is bad idea. But it also carries some health risks. For instance, it can contribute to cause kidneys soreness or pain.

Sore kidney area

Pain or soreness is one of ways that your body tells when something is going wrong. It is also a common reason that makes many people see their doctor for help.

Depending on the cause of kidney problem, the symptoms (including pain or soreness) is usually felt in the flank area. This is at the lower edge of the rib, side area – where the kidneys are located in the body (see this picture to figure out).

Early diagnosis is important for better prognosis of the problem. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to determine the diagnosis. Even though if we do have poor kidney function, it also doesn’t always cause symptom! Typically, the symptom is likely to occur when the problem has become advanced, when it is more difficult to treat.

image_illustration402Furthermore, not all pains or discomforts in the flank area is due to kidney problem. Soreness in the flank area is attributed by many factors and causes. It doesn’t always point to kidney problem, or it can be associated with something else.

To find the exact cause of the problem, some tests are usually required. Even after tests, the answer may remain puzzling. Again, everything is not as simple and easy as might be expected.

Each person feels it and responds to it in different ways. You should not diagnose it on your own. This article is intended for general information only! The diagnosis must be evaluated on an individual basis with your doctor!

Kidneys sore after drinking alcohol

This can vary – some may have it when they take heavy drinking, while others may still experience it even though they have stopped drinking!

Drinking alcohol does hurt kidneys, particularly if we drink it a lot. If you drink, do it only in moderation! You must read, alcohol can affect the kidneys in several ways.

Again, pain or soreness in the flank area is not always linked to problem in the kidney. But you should not ignore this discomfort if it lasts longer than usual or followed with unusual symptoms of urinary problem such as:

  1. Unusual changes of urine, these include changes in the amount or color of your urine.
  2. The urge to pass urine.
  3. Fluid retention that cause swelling in some parts of the body – typically in legs and ankles. You might also like to read the first signs of kidney failure!

There are a number of different reasons of why you experience kidney sore after drinking (especially for heavy drinking). These may include:

The kidneys work harder

You may be experiencing the symptom since you’re causing your kidneys to overwork. The kidney plays a key role to filter wastes from the bloodstream.

It is also important to keep the balance of the water in the body, keeping you hydrated. It works together with anti-diuretic hormone to reabsorb water when you don’t have high enough water, learn more in here!

And it has function to process your dietary alcohol, too. But it has a limited capacity in removing alcohol. If you drink excessively, it can work harder. Heavy drinking can cause dehydration, causing extra pressure on the kidneys. All of these bad things may impair their function, causing soreness or pain.

Alcohol can hurt renal pelvis

renal_pelvis_of_kidney

Each kidney has renal pelvis, a tubular structure that collects urine before it goes to the bladder through ureters. Heavy drinking can cause excess production of urine. This overtime may affect renal pelvis and cause soreness. In the worse scenario, there is also a chance for blockage of renal pelvis to occur, causing a condition called pelviureteric junction obstruction

Kidney stones

In fact, alcohol is rich in purines. When the body breaks down purines, you will have uric acid. And excess uric acid in the blood can increase the risk of developing kidney stones, particularly true if you also have imbalanced diet and sedentary lifestyle.

Kidney stones can cause obstruction in the way of urine leaving the kidneys. This can be quite painful. Learn more about kidney stones in this section!

Problem in the liver

To help your kidneys work well, the blood flow to the kidneys should be at normal rate. Therefore, both too high blood pressure and too low blood pressure are bad for kidney function.

You may become more sensitive to alcohol if you have liver problem. Something that goes awry with your liver can affect the rate at which your blood flows and move to the kidneys, making them work harder to filter blood. Drinking alcohol can worsen the problem.

If you have liver disease, check with your doctor whether you are still allowed for drinking. In fact, drinking alcohol (particularly for heavy drinking) is a common cause of liver disease.

It seems that alcohol is not only bad for your kidneys. It can also increase other health risks! Even though you don’t think drinking excessively over the years, it’s still good idea to re-evaluate it! According to the American Heart Association, moderate drinking is not more than 2 drinks a day for men, and 1 drink a day for women.

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