However, this effect does not apply to people with type 2 diabetes. A whole food, plant-based diet may help some people with kidney disease. A high protein diet from either animal or plant sources appears to have negative effects on kidney function at least in the short term. Detecting chronic kidney disease can be tricky because the signs and symptoms of kidney disease occur late, after the condition has progressed and kidney damage has occurred. In fact, CKD is sometimes known as a “silent” condition because it’s hard to detect—and most people with early stage CKD are completely unaware of it.
Chronic kidney disease refers to a group of health conditions that affect how well your kidneys function over time. If left untreated, chronic kidney disease can lead to kidney failure. Kidney failure is a condition in which one or both of the kidneys can no longer work on their own.
Your doctor can give you a blood test that will measure your creatinine levels and help determine your level of kidney function. The earlier CKD is detected, the greater the benefit of early treatment. Prevention is the best chance to maintain kidney function, and controlling high blood pressure and diabetes over a lifetime can decrease the potential for progressive kidney damage. Chronic kidney failure may be managed to help monitor electrolyte and waste product levels in the bloodstream. Major abnormalities can be life-threatening, and treatment options may be limited to dialysis or transplant.
When your kidneys fail, it means they have stopped working well enough for you to survive without dialysis or a kidney transplant. The two main causes of chronic kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure, which are responsible for up to two-thirds of the cases. Diabetes happens 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, nerves and eyes.
Treatment for chronic kidney disease focuses on slowing the progression of kidney damage, usually by controlling the cause. But, even controlling the cause might not keep kidney damage from progressing. Chronic kidney disease can progress to end-stage kidney failure, which is fatal without artificial filtering or a kidney transplant.
The kidneys are 2 bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist. Healthy kidneys clean waste products from the blood by making urine. They also balance the amount of certain elements in your blood , and make hormones that control blood pressure and red blood cells. Learn what healthy eating means for people in every stage of kidney disease, including those on dialysis or living with a kidney transplant. If you have kidney failure (end-stage renal disease or ESRD), you will need dialysis or a kidney transplant to live. There is no cure for ESRD, but many people live long lives while on dialysis or after having a kidney transplant.
Your kidneys, each just the size of a computer mouse, filter all the blood in your body every 30 minutes. They also help control blood pressure, stimulate production of red blood cells, keep your bones healthy, and regulate blood chemicals that are essential to life. Chronic kidney disease refers to all 5 stages of kidney damage, from very mild damage in Stage 1 to complete kidney failure in Stage 5. The stages of kidney disease are based on how well the kidneys can do their job – to filter waste and extra fluid out of the blood. They also control chemicals and fluids in your body, help control your blood pressure and help make red blood cells. Dialysis can do only some, not all, of the jobs that healthy kidneys do.
The rate of decline in kidney function depends somewhat on the underlying disorder causing chronic kidney disease and on how well the disorder is controlled. For example, diabetes and high hypertension expert witness specialist blood pressure, particularly if poorly controlled, cause kidney function to decline more rapidly. Ultrasonography is often done to rule out obstruction and check the size of the kidneys.