What Are The Risk Factors Of Chronic Kidney Disease
Anyone can get chronic kidney disease at any age. However, some people are more likely than others to develop kidney disease. You may have an increased risk for kidney disease if you:
- have diabetes
- have a family history of kidney failure
- belong to a population group with a high rate of diabetes or high blood pressure, such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian, Pacific Islanders, and American Indians
How Common Is Chronic Kidney Disease
About 1 in 10 people have some degree of chronic kidney disease. It can develop at any age and various conditions can lead to CKD. It becomes more common with increasing age and is more common in women.
Although about half of people aged 75 or more have some degree of chronic kidney disease, most of these people do not actually have diseases of their kidneys they have normal ageing of their kidneys.
Most cases of CKD are mild or moderate .
What Causes Kidney Disease
Kidney diseases happen when your kidneys are damaged and cant filter your blood. The damage can happen quickly when its caused by injury or toxins or, more commonly, over months or years.
High blood pressure and diabetes are the two most common causes of chronic kidney disease. Other causes and conditions that affect kidney function and can cause chronic kidney disease include:
- Glomerulonephritis. This type of kidney disease involves damage to the glomeruli, which are the filtering units inside your kidneys.
- Polycystic kidney disease. This is a genetic disorder that causes many fluid-filled cysts to grow in your kidneys, reducing the ability of your kidneys to function.
- Hypertensive nephrosclerosis. Kidney damage caused by chronic, poorly controlled hypertension.
- Membranous nephropathy. This is a disorder where your bodys immune system attacks the waste-filtering membranes in your kidney.
- Obstructions of the urinary tract from kidney stones, an enlarged prostate or cancer.
- Vesicourethral reflux. This is a condition in which urine flows backward refluxes back up the ureters to the kidneys
- Nephrotic syndrome. This is a collection of symptoms that indicate kidney damage.
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What Is Kidney Dialysis
Because there is no cure for CKD, if you are in late-stage disease, you and your healthcare team must consider additional options. Complete kidney failure, left untreated, will result in death. Options for end stages of CKD include dialysis and kidney transplantation.
Dialysis is a procedure that uses machines to remove waste products from your body when your kidneys are no longer able to perform this function. There are two major types of dialysis.
Hemodialysis: With hemodialysis, your blood is circulated through a machine that removes waste products, excess water and excess salt. The blood is then returned to your body. Hemodialysis requires three to four hours, three times a week and is performed at a clinic, hospital or dialysis center.
Peritoneal dialysis: In peritoneal dialysis, a dialysis solution is run directly into your abdomen. The solution absorbs waste and then is removed via catheter. Fresh solution is added to continue the process of cleaning. You can perform this type of dialysis yourself. There are two types of peritoneal dialysis: continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis , which involves a change in dialysis solution four times a day and continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis . CCPD uses a machine to automatically fill, remove wastes, and refill the fluid during the nighttime.
How Do I Get Help In Preventing Further Damage And Avoiding Kidney Failure
Doctors who specialize in kidney conditions, nephrologists, will work with you to create a personalized plan to fight kidney disease that includes lifestyle and diet changes, with the possibility of medication as well.
Your doctor can also help you with symptom relief. Many people in stage 3 do not have symptoms, but some experience back pain, frequent urination, or swelling in the hands and feet.
If you have diabetes or high blood pressure, a nephrologist can prescribe certain kinds of blood pressure medicines that may prevent kidney disease from worsening. These medicines include ACE inhibitors and ARBs.
Addressing the disease while still in an intermediate stage like CKD3 gives you and your doctor time to support your kidney function before its too late.
Your treatment plan may involve changes in your lifestyle that can seem overwhelming, but nephrologists are there to support you and check in with you as you begin working towards improved kidney health.
Get your kidneys checked today. Visit our website to make an appointment online at flkidney.com
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How Can I Prepare For Visits With My Health Care Provider
The more you plan for your visits, the more you will be able to learn about your health and treatment options.
Make a list of questionsIts normal to have a lot of questions. Write down your questions as you think of them so that you can remember everything you want to ask when you see your health care provider. You may want to ask about what tests are being done, what test results mean, or the changes you need to make to your diet and medicines.
How Is Kidney Disease Diagnosed
First your healthcare provider will take your medical history, conduct a physical exam, ask about any medication you are currently taking, ask about any symptoms you have noticed, and inquire if any of your family members have kidney disease.
Your healthcare provider will order blood tests, a urine test and will also check your blood pressure.
The blood tests will check:
- Your glomerulofiltration rate . This describes how efficiently your kidneys are filtering blood how many milliliters per minute your kidneys are filtering. Your GFR is used to determine the stage of your kidney disease.
- Your serum creatinine level, which tells how well your kidneys are removing this waste product. Creatinine is a waste product from muscle metabolism and is normally excreted in your urine. A high creatinine level in your blood means that your kidneys are not functioning well enough to get rid it in your urine.
A urine protein test will look for the presence of protein and blood in your urine. Well-functioning kidneys should not have blood or proteins in your urine. If you do, this means your kidneys are damaged.
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Learn About Kidney Failure
Even if you get treatment in stage 4 and are careful about your health, your kidneys may still fail. Kidney failure happens when:
- 85-90% of kidney function is gone
- GFR falls below 15
- Kidneys don’t work well enough to keep you alive
There is no cure for kidney failure, but with treatment it is possible to live a long, fulfilling life. Having kidney failure is not a death sentence. People with kidney failure live active lives and continue to do the things they love.
Can You Change Treatments For Kidney Failure
If you start on one type of treatment for kidney failure but feel you would like to try something else, you can speak to your healthcare professional about changing. For most people, it is often possible to change treatments. For example, if you choose hemodialysis, it doesn’t mean you can’t switch to peritoneal dialysis at a later date. Even if you choose to have a kidney transplant, you may need a period of dialysis until you can be transplanted with a new kidney. It is not uncommon for people who have had kidney failure for many years to have had more than one type of treatment in that time.
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Questions To Ask Your Doctor About Stage 3 Kidney Disease
- What do my lab values mean? The results of your regular bloodwork help your doctor monitor your kidney health and calculate your estimate glomerular filtration rate , which determines your CKD stage. Changes in your lab values may indicate a change in your kidney function.
- What should I expect next with CKD? A stage 3 kidney disease diagnosis doesnât necessarily mean that your condition will progress to stage 4 or stage 5. With lifestyle changes and a treatment plan from your doctor, itâs possible to slow the progression of CKD and preserve kidney function.
- Am I doing everything I can to slow CKD progression? Your doctor may have additional guidance on what you can do to stay your healthiest, including eating well and managing your existing medicationsespecially if you are managing other health conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes. Looking after your overall health can help you protect your kidney health and feel your best.
What Is Chronic Kidney Disease
Classified as damage to your kidneys that has gone on for many months, chronic kidney disease occurs when your kidneys stop working like the fine-tuned filtration system they are .
Acute kidney disease, or damage that is mild and has occurred recently, may be reversed if doctors catch it in time. Acute kidney disease then becomes chronic kidney disease. But chronic kidney disease is harder to cureand damage to the kidneys is often something you might not know you have until its too late to intervene.
Chronic kidney disease is actually more common than you think. According to University of Missouri Health Care nephrologist Kunal Malhotra, MD, national statistics show that 14% of Americans have it, including 1 in 3 people with diabetes, and 1 in 5 patients with high blood pressure. Having eitheror bothof those conditions makes you more likely to have chronic kidney disease, as does having a family history of kidney problems, havingarterial vascular disease, or being of African American descent.
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Who Came Up With Who Came Up With The Kidney Disease Solution Program
The Kidney Disease Solution was created by Duncan Capicchiano and his wife, Fiona Chin, from Melbourne, Australia. They started a wellness clinic in Melbourne with more than 13 health professionals who are natural.
As fully qualified Naturopaths and Naturopaths, they have a common background in natural and herbal medicine.
The program started as an alternative treatment method for Fionas grandmother who was diagnosed with stage-4 renal disease. The couple devised an all-natural plan that helped improve her condition in just 12 weeks. After 6 months her health changed from stage 4 to stage and she remained healthy for the next 10 years.
After their successes with Fionas mother, they decided to launch and share their method of treatment to those suffering from kidney disease.
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How Serious Is Stage 3 Ckd
You might think of Stage 3 CKD as a “middle stage” of kidney disease. Your kidneys are damaged, but they still work well enough that you do not need dialysis or a kidney transplant.
Kidney disease often cannot be cured in Stage 3, and damage to your kidneys normally is not reversible. However, with treatment and healthy life changes, many people in Stage 3 do not move to Stage 4 or Stage 5, which is kidney failure.
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Be Careful About The Over
If you take OTC or prescription medicines for headaches, pain, fever, or colds, you may be taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs . NSAIDs include commonly used pain relievers and cold medicines that can damage your kidneys and lead to acute kidney injury, especially in those with kidney disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Ibuprofen and naproxen are NSAIDs. NSAIDs are sold under many different brand names, so ask your pharmacist or health care provider if the medicines you take are safe to use.
You also can look for NSAIDs on Drug Facts labels like the one below:
Watch a video explaining how NSAIDs can harm your kidneys.
If you have been taking NSAIDs regularly to control chronic pain, you may want to ask your health care provider about other ways to treat pain, such as meditation or other relaxation techniques. You can read more about pain management at the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health website.
What Are The Causes
The most common causes of CKD among Australian adults with kidney failure are diabetes , glomerulonephritis and hypertension .7 See Figure 1a.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults with kidney failure, the most common causes are diabetes , glomerulonephritis and hypertension .7 See Figure 1b.
Figure 1a : Causes of CKD in all Australian adults with kidney failure7 Figure 1b : Causes of CKD in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults with kidney failure7
Data adapted and supplied by the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry
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Dehydration And Kidney Disease
Thus under normal circumstances many of us flirt with mild dehydration over sustained periods. Shortness of breath is a common symptom of dehydration and so is low energy. When someone is dehydrated and experiencing these symptoms one merely has to drink several glasses of water to feel the bodys almost instant response to hydration. Add some sodium bicarbonate and the response is even greater.
Courtesy of Brian D. Foltz
It makes perfect sense that chronic dehydration would be a problem for the kidneys. The element in nature associated with the Kidney is water, which is appropriate and symbolic in that water is the source of all life. The organ paired with the Kidney is the Urinary Bladder, and together both organs govern water metabolism in the body.
Sexuality and creativity are emotional components of the Kidney system. As the organ that governs survival through reproduction, the Kidney system is responsible for libido and strength of sexual attraction.
The emotions associated with kidneys are fear and fright. Fear has the ability to shake you to your core, and chronic fright translates into something very much like unrelenting stress, which is extremely damaging to the Kidney. In Western medicine, your adrenal glands pump out adrenaline and are located right next to your Kidneys.
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Do I Need Any Further Tests
As mentioned, the eGFR test is done to diagnose and monitor the progression and severity of chronic kidney disease. For example, it should be done routinely at least once a year in people with stages 1 and 2 CKD, and more frequently in some people with stage 3 and in everyone with stage 4 or 5 CKD.
You are likely to have routine urine dipstick tests from time to time to check for blood and protein in the urine. Also, blood tests may be done from time to time to check on your blood level of chemicals such as sodium, potassium, calcium and phosphate. The need for other tests then depends on various factors and your doctor will advise. For example:
- An ultrasound scan of the kidneys or a kidney biopsy may be advised if certain kidney conditions are suspected. For example, if you have a lot of protein or blood in your urine, if you have pain that seems to be coming from a kidney, etc.
- A scan or having a sample taken is not needed in most cases. This is because most people with chronic kidney disease have a known cause for the impaired kidney function, such as a complication of diabetes, high blood pressure or ageing.
- If the chronic kidney disease progresses to stage 3 or worse then various other tests may be done. For example, blood tests to check for anaemia and an altered level of parathyroid hormone . PTH is involved in the control of the blood level of calcium and phosphate.
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Focus On Lifestyle Changes Of The Patient
A CKD patient is required to make some lifestyle changes during and after treatment are below:
- Quit tobacco or cigarette.
- Restrict salt intake, less than 6gms in a day.
- Exercise for at least 30 mins.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Adopt a healthy eating habit.
- Avoid having nephrotoxins, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , etc.
How Long Does It Take To Die From Kidney Failure
It depends on many factors, and there is not an exact answer for that as each patient is different from each other. Kidney failure is most common in elderly patients, but it can affect young patients as well.
The age of the patient at the time of the diseases onset plays a major role, and if there are any other underlying conditions like diabetes.
A dialysis is an option for people who suffer from kidney failure. It is a very effective treatment that may help to increase the life expectancy of the patients. Nonetheless, the remaining life of patients with kidney failure depends on the remaining percentage of functional kidney and the age of the patient.
If the patient is young , the average remaining time is 24 years for males and 22 for women if they receive treatment.
Individuals from 30 to 35 have an average remaining life of 14 years for males and 13 for women. Those aged between 70 and 75 years have an average of 4 years for both males and females.
Statistics show that even with treatment, as people grow older, the remaining life with this disease grows shorter as it reduces with age.
If patients decide to not receive dialysis treatment, life expectancy significantly reduces. Kidney failure is a life-threatening condition. The patients remaining time depends on the residual kidney functionality, and it can go from days to several weeks.
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