BUN Test - Diagnosing Kidney Disease cash

If the doctor suspects that you have the symptoms of kidney disease, you can order a BUN test for you. It is a blood urea nitrogen, indicating how well the kidneys are working. Suspicious symptoms include swelling of the hands or feet (or whole body), urinating more or less, and unexplained fatigue.

How does a bun test?

As the liver metabolizes food, breaks down the amino acids and produce nitrogen as partwaste product, urea. When the kidneys are functioning properly travels urea by the liver to the kidneys for excretion in the urine. However, if the kidneys are not working properly, do not remove urea from the most effective, increasing levels of blood urea nitrogen.

A BUN test measures the amount of urea nitrogen in the blood to diagnose if you have a kidney problem. This test is often done with a blood test for creatininemore accurate diagnosis. Determines the BUN-to-creatinine, which may help reveal whether there are other problems such as dehydration affects the results.

BUN Test Results

If the results show that blood levels of urea nitrogen are higher than normal kidneys may be damaged. The normal range is 7 to 20 milligrams (mg) of urea nitrogen per deciliter (dL) of blood for adults and 5 to 18 mg / dLchildren.

However, a higher than normal result does not necessarily indicate a kidney disease. The results of the urea may be elevated due to dehydration, heart failure, trauma, internal bleeding, bad food.

If you are in renal failure and on dialysis, you may need to be tested to determine whether BUN you're getting the right amount of dialysis. A low score may indicate that they are getting enough protein, a common complication in the terminal stage 5 orrenal failure. You can also indicate that they are over-hydration or liver failure.

Levels of blood urea nitrogen tend to increase as you age, so his age is also taken into account in evaluating the results. So it will be gender, men tend to have better outcomes than women.

Preparing for the BUN test

The test involves taking a blood sample from a vein in your arm. Usually can be done without fasting, but your doctor may adviseDo not eat a large amount of protein of less than 24 hours before the test.

If you are taking medications you should inform your doctor as it may interfere with the results. For example, corticosteroids, diuretics and some antihypertensive drugs may increase the levels of urea nitrogen, and antibiotics such as streptomycin can decrease.