How a Car Accident Can Damage Your Kidneys
Your kidneys are extremely important. In fact, they perform crucial functions that are required to keep you alive. If your kidneys are injured in a car collision or another type of incident, it’s crucial to seek medical attention right away.
Kidneys Are Vital for Your Health
Like all major organs, a kidney is a group of tissues that performs certain functions. You have two kidneys, one on each side, located in the back of your abdomen and under your ribs.
This pair of bean-shaped organs performs several life-sustaining functions, including:
- Filtering the blood
- Regulating blood pressure
- Regulating red blood cell count
- Maintaining fluid balances
- Maintaining electrolyte level
How a Long Beach Car Accident Can Damage Your Kidneys
A direct blow to the abdomen, side, or back may damage or rupture a patient’s kidneys. In an automobile collision, your kidneys may be harmed by striking some portion of the car’s interior. Vehicle occupants can suffer kidney damage when their body is jolted after being propelled forward. This is an injury that often afflicts children.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) results when a kidney is damaged by blunt trauma or when an object penetrates the kidney. This causes the kidney to stop working properly. Because the kidney’s filtration keeps your blood clean, AKI may cause a build-up of waste products in a patient’s bloodstream.
The effects of kidney damage caused by a car crash will become apparent within a few hours or a few days. There may be bruising and pain in the abdomen. After an accident, a doctor may use the following diagnostic tools to check for kidney damage:
- X-rays
- CT scans (computed tomography)
- MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
- Urinalysis
- Blood tests to assess GFR (Glomerular filtration rate)
- A kidney biopsy
Symptoms of Kidney Damage
Because kidneys perform so many important roles to keep a person healthy, kidney damage has several adverse health effects. It may compromise other organs including the brain, heart, and lungs. Symptoms of AKI may include:
- Severe abdominal pain
- Chest pain or pressure
- Difficulty urinating
- Severe allergic reaction
- Low blood pressure
- Blood in urine
- Blurred vision
- Lower back pain
- Internal bleeding
- Increased heart rate
- Confusion
- Fever
- Seizures
- Coma
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Fatigue
- Fainting
- Severe burns
- Dehydration
- Abdominal bruising
- Swelling in legs, ankles, and around the eyes
How Kidney Damage Can Impact Your Life
AKI will probably require extensive medical care. In fact, it’s often more expensive than treatment for heart attacks, strokes, or pancreatitis. The patient may require surgery or even a kidney transplant.
If both kidneys are unable to function, the patient may be looking at a lifetime of regular kidney dialysis. This is a machine that replaces kidney functions by filtering the blood externally.
In addition to automobile crashes, other types of trauma that may cause AKI include:
- Assault
- Falls
- Being struck by a heavy object
- Sports injuries
- Knife wounds
- Gunshot wounds
- Industrial accidents
- Crush injuries
Were You Harmed by a Careless Driver?
If a reckless driver hurt you, they should pay for your medical care. A Long Beach auto accident lawyer at The Law Firm of Joseph H. Low IV will investigate the accident and file a claim against anyone whose negligent behavior contributed to your injuries.
Joseph H. Low IV has recovered millions of dollars for victims of automobile accidents and he has a perfect 10.0 Avvo rating. Call (562) 901-0840 to schedule a FREE consultation today.
At The Law Firm Joseph H. Low IV, you won’t owe us anything unless we win you a settlement.