One in Nine Americans Have Chronic Kidney Disease
What is chronic kidney disease (CKD)?
Chronic kidney disease means you have a condition that damages your kidneys. This decreases your kidneys’ ability to keep you healthy. The two main causes of chronic kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure. Diabetes occurs when your blood sugar is too high, causing damage to many organs in your body, including the kidneys and heart as well as blood vessels, eyes and nerves, High blood pressure, or hypertension, occurs when the pressure of your blood against the walls of your blood vessels increases, If uncontrolled, or poorly controlled, high blood pressure can be a leading cause of chronic kidney disease, heart attacks and strokes.
Other conditions that can harm the kidneys include: glomerulonephritis, a disease that causes inflammation in the kidneys and inherited diseases like polycystic kidney disease, which causes many cysts to form in the kidneys.
Chronic kidney disease may progress slowly over a long time. In fact, many people don’t even know they have kidney disease until it is severe, If it is found and treated early, chronic kidney disease may often be slowed down or stopped. If it keeps getting worse, however chronic kidney disease may lead to kidney failure. Which means your kidneys no longer work well enough to maintain life, and you need a treatment like dialysis or a kidney transplant.
Symptoms of CKD
Most people do not have any severe symptoms until their kidney disease gets worse. You may:
-feel more tired
-have less energy
-have trouble thinking clearly
-have a poor appetite
-have trouble sleeping
-have dry, itchy skin
-have muscle cramping at nigh
-have swollen feet and ankles
-have puffiness around your eyes, especially in the morning
-need to urinate more often, especially at night.
Common tests performed to determine CKD
1. Calculation of your Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR):
Calculate your Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR), which is the best way to tell how much kidney function you have. You do not need to have another test to know your GFR. Your doctor can calculate it from your blood creatinine your age, body size and gender. Your GFR tells your doctor your stage of kidney disease and helps the doctor plan your treatment
Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease
Glomerular
Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR)
At increase Risk Risk factors for kidney
disease (e.g., diabetes,
high blood pressure,
family history, older age,
ethnic group)
1 Kidney damage (protein in More than 90 the urine) and normal GFR
2 Kidney damage and 60 to 89 mild decrease in GFR
3 Moderate decrease in GFR 30 to 59
4 Severe decrease in GFR 15 to 29
5 Kidney failure (dialysis or Less than 15 kidney transplant needed)
National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (NKF-K/DOQI) Clinical Practice Guidelines for Chronic Kidney Disease.
Ultrasound of your kidneys and urinary tract. This test lets your doctor know if your kidneys are too large or too small or if you have a tumor.
Kidney Biopsy: A kidney biopsy is when your doctor removes small pieces of your kidney tissue and looks at it under a microscope.
Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease
Control high blood pressure
Control blood sugar
Control Diet
Treat Anemia
Prevent bone disease
Exercise
Visit a doctor regularly
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