_{Dr. Natashia Gongora, Kidney Specialist at KHMH}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Fri. Feb. 28, 2025

The month of March is being recognized globally as Kidney Awareness Month, and March 14 will be Kidney Awareness Day.

Multiple research suggests that drinking water helps the kidneys to clear sodium, urea, and waste products from the body, potentially lowering the risk of developing chronic kidney disease.

“It is a silent killer. Patients do not know they have it unless they do a blood or urine test,” advised Dr. Natashia Gongora, kidney specialist at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.

“The blood test includes creatinine, which is the one blood test that gives a mark of how your kidneys are working. The urine test gives us basic information: if the patient has blood in the urine; is there an infection; are there signs of stones,” she added.

According to Dr. Gongora, an estimated 800 million persons suffer from kidney disease, and the illness has increasingly been affecting younger persons.

“There is a hereditary aspect to it. Patients who have parents who have kidney issues or autoimmune diseases, then they do have a risk of suffering kidney disease at an early age. Patients who were born prematurely or were born with a very low birth weight, are also at risk of suffering kidney disease in their teenage years. Also, the quality of life, the habits that they might have, their eating habits, especially can predispose the children to suffer from kidney disease in their teenage years, and will later on have long-term consequences,” she said.

Some signs that persons may be suffering from kidney disease are urinary changes (more or less frequently, larger or smaller amounts; foamy, bubbly, darker, paler, or bloody urine; or difficulty in urination), swollen feet, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, fatigue, and weakness.

Dr. Gongora highlighted that persons should do an annual check-up to determine whether their kidneys are functioning well. However, persons who also suffer from high blood pressure or diabetes should be tested more often, three to four times per year.