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Nephrology (Kidney)
Overview
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Residents of the Lakeshore area with kidney problems do not need to drive to another city for renal (kidney) care.  Nephrologists—doctors who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of kidney disease—offer services at Holland Hospital. The services are convenient for patients with chronic kidney disease or health conditions that can affect kidneys, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Residents of the Lakeshore area with kidney problems do not need to drive to another city for renal (kidney) care.
Kidney problems are often not noticed at an early stage. As the illness progresses, someone with a kidney disease may feel tired, nauseated, itchy, or dizzy. The person also might have puffy eyes, ankles, or feet because the body has trouble getting rid of extra fluid. Someone who has these problems needs to go to the doctor.  Many things can cause kidney disease. You are at risk if you have
  • Diabetes
  • High blood pressure
  • A close family member with kidney disease
Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are made of salts and minerals in the urine that stick together to form small "pebbles." They can be as small as grains of sand or as large as golf balls. They may stay in your kidneys or travel out of your body through the urinary tract. The urinary tract is the system that makes urine and carries it out of your body. It is made up of the kidneys, the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder (the ureters), the bladder, and the tube that leads from the bladder out of the body (the urethra). When a stone travels through a ureter, it may cause no pain. Or it may cause great pain and other symptoms.
Kidney Cancer
There is really no way to know for sure if you're going to get kidney cancer. Certain factors can make you more likely to get kidney cancer than another person. However, just because you have one or more risk factors does not necessarily mean you will get the disease. In fact, you can have all the risk factors and not get kidney cancer, or you can have no known risk factors and still get it. Some risk factors are out of your control, such as your gender or family history. However, other risk factors, such as smoking and obesity, are factors you have control over. Read more about Kidney Cancer.