How to Tell If You Have Kidney Damage

Kidneys are vital organs in our body that remove waste products from our blood. It is important to monitor your kidneys for damage and infections on a regular basis.

Things You'll Need

• Toilet hat
• Small spiral notebook

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Instructions

• 1

  Place a small toilet hat under the seat of your toilet. These can be purchased inexpensively at any drug store. When you urinate, the toilet hat will catch all of your urine. They have marks on the inside that will measure the amount of urine that you are excreting.

• 2

  When you urinate, inspect your urine. Clear and light yellow are acceptable colors. If your urine is dark yellow or brown, you may be dehydrated. If there is visible blood in your urine, you may have a Urinary Tract Infection.

• 3

  Use a small spiral notebook to record the color and amount of urine you are excreting each time you use the bathroom. Also write down any odor that your urine has. Healthy kidneys produce at least 30 ml of urine every hour. If you are excreting less, you may have kidney damage.

• 4

  Visit your physician and show him your small spiral notebook. This information will help him understand your kidney function. Request that he run a Urine Albumin test, which will reveal any protein in the urine. In addition, he can run a Serum Creatinine Blood Test to see if your kidneys are excreting enough waste out of your blood. If your Serum Creatine levels are high, or if you have protein in your urine, it is possible that you have kidney damage.