How will I know whether I have kidney damage?

Kidney damage, like hypertension, can be unnoticeable and detected only through medical tests. Blood tests will show whether your kidneys are removing wastes efficiently. Your doctor should order tests to measure your serum creatinine. Having too much creatinine in your blood is a sign that you have kidney damage. The doctor should use the serum creatinine to estimate the main kidney function called glomerular filtration rate, or GFR.

Another sign is proteinuria, or protein in your urine. Proteinuria has also been shown to be associated with heart disease and damaged blood vessels.