What Causes Kidney Disease And What Are The Complications
The primary diagnosis in 76% of kidney failure cases from 2015-2017 was either diabetes or high blood pressure, indicating the conditions are linked. If you have kidney disease, youre at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and death, no matter if symptoms are present or not. In addition, cardiovascular disease can cause kidney disease if blood pressure rises too high.
Most people dont have symptoms until the disease is advanced, but when they occur, theyre often from the buildup of waste material in the blood. Youre likely to develop anemia, weak bones, malnutrition, and nerve and blood vessel damage, in addition to hypertension. The problems develop slowly, but they ultimately lead to kidney failure, which can happen without warning. Once the kidneys fail, you need either dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive.
Treatment For Kidney Failure Transplant Or Dialysis
Many people with kidney failure can continue with treatment using medicines and will have good-functioning kidneys for the rest of their lives.
In a few people, kidney disease will progress to the stage where the kidneys stop working and it becomes life threatening. This is called kidney failure or established renal failure .
This rarely happens suddenly, and there will be time to plan the next stage of your condition. The decision whether to have dialysis, a kidney transplant or supportive treatment should be discussed with your healthcare team.
Read more about dialysis and kidney transplants.
When To Seek Care
Make an appointment with your health care provider if you have signs or symptoms of kidney disease.
If you have a medical condition that increases your risk of kidney disease, your care provider is likely to monitor your kidney function with urine and blood tests and your blood pressure during regular office visits. Ask your provider whether these tests are necessary for you.
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Food Tastes Like Metal
Why this happens:
A build-up of wastes in the blood can make food taste different and cause bad breath. You may also notice that you stop liking to eat meat, or that you are losing weight because you just don’t feel like eating.
What patients said:
Foul taste in your mouth. Almost like you’re drinking iron.
I don’t have the appetite I had before I started dialysis, I must have lost about 10 pounds.
Fatigue Being Tired All Of The Time
Why this happens:
Healthy kidneys make a hormone called erythropoietin , or EPO, that tells your body to make oxygen-carrying red blood cells. As the kidneys fail, they make less EPO. With fewer red blood cells to carry oxygen, your muscles and brain tire very quickly. This is anemia, and it can be treated.
What patients said:
I was constantly exhausted and didn’t have any pep or anything.
I would sleep a lot. I’d come home from work and get right in that bed.
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How Can I Slow Down The Damage To My Kidneys
At Stage 1 CKD, there is a lot you can do to help keep your kidneys working well for as long as possible. Here are some healthy life changes you can make:
- Eat a kidney-friendly diet. A dietitian is a nutrition expert who can look at results from your lab tests and help you plan healthy meals and snacks you’ll want to eat your “kidney diet.”
- Be active for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week. This can be anything from walking or riding a bike to swimming or dancing.
- Keep a healthy weight. Talk with your doctor about what a healthy weight is for you.
- Quit smoking or using tobacco.
Determining The Cause Of Nephrotic Syndrome
The doctor investigates possible causes of nephrotic syndrome, including drugs.
Analysis of the urine and blood may reveal an underlying disorder. For example, the blood is tested for evidence of previous infections that could cause nephrotic syndrome and for antibodies directed against the bodys own tissues that indicate an autoimmune disorder.
An imaging test of the kidneys, such as ultrasonography or computed tomography , may be done. If the person has lost weight or is older, a search for cancer is undertaken. A kidney biopsy is especially useful in determining the cause and extent of kidney damage.
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How Is Kidney Failure Treated
Kidney failure treatment is determined by the cause and extent of the problem. Treating your chronic medical condition can delay the progression of kidney disease. If your kidneys start losing their function gradually, your doctor may use one or more methods to track your health. By watching you closely, your doctor can help you maintain your kidneys function as long as possible.
Your doctor may gauge your kidney function with:
- Routine blood tests
- Blood pressure checks
Because the kidneys serve such an important purpose, people in kidney failure need treatment to keep them alive. The main treatments for kidney failure are:
- Dialysis: This treatment helps the body filter the blood .
- In hemodialysis, a machine regularly cleans your blood for you. People often receive this kidney failure treatment at a hospital or dialysis clinic, 3 or 4 days each week.
- Peritoneal dialysis cleans the blood in a slightly different way using a dialysis solution and a catheter. Sometimes, people can do their treatment at home.
Who Developed The Kidney Disease Solution Program
The Kidney Disease Solution was created by Duncan Capicchiano and his wife, Fiona Chin, from Melbourne, Australia. They founded a wellness clinic in Melbourne with more than 13 natural health therapists.
Fully certified Naturopaths and Naturopaths, they have a common background in natural and herbal medicine.
The program began as an alternative method of treatment for Fionas grandmother who was suffering from stage-4 renal failure. The couple devised an all-natural program which helped improve her condition in only 12 weeks. After six months her health changed from stage 4 to stage and she remained healthy for the next 10 years.
Due to the success they have had with Fionas grandmother, they decided to launch and share their treatment approach for those suffering from kidney disease.
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Swelling In Ankles And Kidney Disease 3 Tips For Improving It
When people hit the later stages of kidney disease , they experience more of this swelling in the ankles. This is a common issue seen in the end stages of kidney disease.
Excess fluid can build up in your body when your kidneys stop working properly which can then lead to swelling in the ankles and other parts of your body. This is also known as edema. In todays video, Robert goes over 3 measures to help improve the swelling that individuals experience from kidney disease.
The first step would be to lower your sodium intake in every area of your renal diet. We know that 2200 mg of sodium is the recommendation for kidney disease but to reduce swelling and improve edema, you should try to stay in the range of 1500 mg per day or lower. A high sodium diet adversely increases the amount of protein in your urine which leads to a decline in kidney function.
The second thing you can do to help reduce the swelling is to check the protein levels in your urine. When your urine carries out high amounts of protein with it, your albumin levels drop significantly. When these levels decrease, your body lacks the adequate protein required to regulate the fluid balance in your bloodstream. To correct this, you can moderately incorporate more protein into your renal diet.
Swollen Feet Due To Kidney Disease
Lead author Dr Janaka Karalliedde, from Kings College London, said: Diabetes-related kidney failure is devastating for people affected and their families. This is the first study in type.
puffy eyelids and swelling in the legs, ankles, feet, lower abdomen, or other parts of your body · foamy urine · weight gain due to retaining too much fluid.
Edema may be caused by certain medical conditions or due to certain medications.
High blood pressure · Swelling in the feet and hands, and around the eyes · Weight gain with fluid retention and swelling · Signs of infection such as fever, or an.
The kidney-swollen legs connection.
Damage to the tiny filtering nephrons can result in what’s called nephrotic syndrome declining levels of the protein.
ammonia breath, swollen hands and feet, swollen face, feeling nauseous, vomiting, producing foamy, dark urine, and having a metallic taste in the mouth. Some of these symptoms are.
Due to the higher incidence rate of renal disorders and need for efficient kidney disease treatment, there is an increase in usage of ketoanalogue supplements, particularly for CKD patients.
Diabetes is a disease that has a number of symptoms including swollen ankles and feet, also known as peripheral edema. The swelling may be caused by your diabetes medication or common complications from diabetes such as heart disease, kidney disease, or liver disease among others. However, there are also many other causes for it.
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Correction Of Phosphate Balance
If you have stage four or five kidney disease, you can get a build-up of phosphate in your body because your kidneys cannot get rid of it. Phosphate is a mineral that, with calcium, makes up most of your bones. Phosphate is obtained through diet, mainly dairy foods. The kidneys usually filter out excess phosphate. If phosphate levels rise too much, it can upset the normal calcium balance of the body. This can lead to thinning of the bones and furring of the arteries.
You may be asked to limit the amount of phosphate in your diet. Foods high in phosphate include red meat, dairy produce, eggs and fish. Your GP or dietitian should be able to advise you about how much phosphate you can eat. However, there is no advantage in reducing your intake of these foods unless you have a raised phosphate level. Always ask a healthcare professional before changing your diet.
If reducing the amount of phosphate in your diet does not lower your phosphate level enough, you may be given medicines called phosphate binders. These medicines bind to the phosphate in the food inside your stomach and stop it from being absorbed into your body.
To work properly, phosphate binders must be taken just before meals. The most commonly used phosphate binder is calcium carbonate, but there are also alternatives that may be more suitable for you.
The side effects of phosphate binders are uncommon but include:
Stages Of Kidney Disease
There are five stages of kidney disease. To determine what stage you have, your health care provider performs a blood test to check your glomerular filtration rate . The GFR measures how much blood the kidneys filter each minute, recorded as milliliters per minute . As the GFR declines, so does your kidney function.
When your kidneys no longer work at a level that’s necessary to keep you alive, you have end-stage renal disease. End-stage renal disease usually occurs when kidney function is less than 15% of typical kidney function.
As a part of kidney disease staging, your provider also might test whether you have protein in your urine.
| Kidney disease stage |
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- Supportive care
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What To Expect At Your Office Visit
Your provider will take a medical history and do a thorough physical examination, paying special attention to your heart, lungs, abdomen, lymph nodes, legs, and feet.
Your provider will ask questions such as:
- What body parts swell? Your ankles, feet, legs? Above the knee or below?
- Do you have swelling at all times or is it worse in the morning or evening?
- What makes your swelling better?
- What makes your swelling worse?
- Does the swelling get better when you raise your legs?
- Have you had blood clots in your legs or lungs?
- Have you had varicose veins?
- What other symptoms do you have?
Diagnostic tests that may be done include:
Your treatment will focus on the cause of the swelling. Your provider may prescribe diuretics to reduce the swelling, but these can have side effects. Home treatment for leg swelling that is not related to a serious medical condition should be tried before drug therapy.
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How Much Do My Kidneys Weigh
The weight of your kidneys varies. Variances may include your height, weight, age, body mass index and location.
For men and people assigned male at birth, your right kidney may range from 1/5 to about 1/2 lbs. . Your left kidney may range from a little less than 1/5 to a little more than 1/2 lbs. . Your kidneys may weigh between the weight of one tennis ball and four tennis balls.
For women and people assigned female at birth, your right kidney may range from a little more than 1/10 to 3/5 lbs. . Your left kidney may range from 3/20 to a little less than 3/5 lbs. . Your kidneys may weigh between the weight of one tennis ball or five tennis balls.
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What Causes Edema In The Legs
The problem with swollen legs is they can be caused by a wide variety of things, from the utterly banal to the incredibly serious. If you sit or stand for too long or even if you wear pants that are too tight! fluid can accumulate in your legs. These are easily remedied situations. You can also develop frequent leg swelling if youre overweight, obese, or pregnant, as the pressure from above pushes the fluid down into your legs.
Persistent leg swelling, though, may be a warning sign of an underlying medical condition, such as:
- Kidney disease or kidney failure
- Pulmonary hypertension
Tests For Diagnosing Nephrotic Syndrome
Urine dipstick test. This simple test checks for albumin in your urine. Having albumin in the urine is called albuminuria. You collect the urine sample in a container during a visit to a health care professionals office or lab. A health care professional places a strip of chemically treated paper, called a dipstick, into the urine for the test. The dipstick changes color if albumin is present in the urine.
To confirm the diagnosis of nephrotic syndrome, your health care professional may order one of these two urine tests
- 24-hour urine collection. For this test, you will need to collect urine samples over 24 hours. Your health care professional will then send the samples to a lab for analysis.
- Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio . The UACR test uses a single urine sample to estimate the amount of albumin lost in 24 hours. The test measures both albumin and creatinine, a waste product of normal muscle breakdown.
Your health care professional may also order blood tests to check for low levels of protein in your blood and other problems linked to nephrotic syndrome.
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Exercise: exercise helps reduce renal failure edema by improving circulation . Without exercise, fluid tends to pool into the lower extremities such as the legs and feet. Aerobic and cardio exercises are best, anything from brisk walking, swimming, jogging, tennis, group gym classes , and bike.
When people hit the later stages of kidney disease , they experience more of this swelling in the ankles. This is a common issue seen in the end stages of kidney disease. Excess fluid can build up in your body when your kidneys stop working properly which can then lead to swelling in the ankles and other parts of your body.
Sep 28, 2017 · Arthritis. A common cause of ankleswelling in the elderly, as when joints begin to degenerate, they produce pain and swelling. There are many forms of arthritis, but they all have inflammation in ….
Swollen ankles are a sign of heart problem, but it can be caused by many other factors as well. As per the health specialists, it is generally caused when your heart is no.
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Swelling Around Your Extremities
The kidneys filter wastes from the blood and remove excess water from the body via urine. When the kidneys arent doing their job, this fluid can stay in the system instead of being excreted. Swelling around the hands, feet, and ankles may be associated with kidney or heart failure and shouldnt be dismissed.
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Symptoms Of Chronic Kidney Disease
Most people with CKD have no symptoms because the body can tolerate even a large reduction in kidney function.
In other words, we are born with a lot more kidney function than is necessary for survival. Kidney function is often sufficient if only one kidney is working. That is why people can give a kidney to someone needing a kidney transplant.
A change in kidney function is usually discovered through a routine blood or urine test. If you are diagnosed with kidney disease, your kidney function will be monitored with regular blood and urine tests, and treatment aims to keep any symptoms to a minimum.
If the kidneys continue to lose function and there is progression towards kidney failure , this will usually be tracked by blood tests and monitoring. If kidney failure does occur, the symptoms may include:
- weight loss and poor appetite
- swollen ankles, feet or hands
- shortness of breath
- blood or protein in your urine
- an increased need to urinate, particularly at night
- erectile dysfunction in men
These are general symptoms and can be caused by many less serious conditions. Many of the symptoms above can be avoided if treatment begins at an early stage, before any symptoms appear.
If you are worried by any of the symptoms above, arrange to see your GP.
Want to know more?
- National Kidney Federation: Symptoms and Problems