KIDNEY DISEASE
Mayo Clinic Explains Kidney Disease
Watch How Kidneys Actually Work
Overview from The Mayo Clinic:
Chronic kidney disease, also called chronic kidney failure, involves a gradual loss of kidney function. Your kidneys filter wastes and excess fluids from your blood, which are then removed in your urine. Advanced chronic kidney disease can cause dangerous levels of fluid, electrolytes and wastes to build up in your body.
In the early stages of chronic kidney disease, you might have few signs or symptoms. You might not realize that you have kidney disease until the condition is advanced.
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 (dialysis) or a kidney transplant.
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Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of chronic kidney disease develop over time if kidney damage progresses slowly. Loss of kidney function can cause a buildup of fluid or body waste or electrolyte problems. Depending on how severe it is, loss of kidney function can cause:
Signs and symptoms of kidney disease are often nonspecific. This means they can also be caused by other illnesses. Because your kidneys are able to make up for lost function, you might not develop signs and symptoms until irreversible damage has occurred.
When to see a doctor
Make an appointment with your doctor if you have signs or symptoms of kidney disease. Early detection might help prevent kidney disease from progressing to kidney failure.
If you have a medical condition that increases your risk of kidney disease, your doctor may monitor your blood pressure and kidney function with urine and blood tests during office visits. Ask your doctor whether these tests are necessary for you.
-Nausea
-Vomiting
-Loss of appetite
-Fatigue and weakness
-Sleep Problems
-Urinating more or less
-Decreased mental sharpness
-Muscle Cramps
-Swelling of feet and ankles
-Dry, itchy skin
-High blood pressure (hypertension) that's difficult to control
-Shortness of breath, if fluid builds up in the lungs
-Chest pain, if fluid builds up around the lining of the heart
Causes
Chronic kidney disease occurs when a disease or condition impairs kidney function, causing kidney damage to worsen over several months or years.
Diseases and conditions that cause chronic kidney disease include:
-Type 1 or type 2 diabetes
-High blood pressure
-Glomerulonephritis (gloe-mer-u-low-nuh-fry-tis), an inflammation of the kidney's filtering units (glomeruli)
-Interstitial nephritis (in-tur-stish-ul nuh-fry-tis), an inflammation of the kidney's tubules and surrounding structures
-Polycystic kidney disease or other inherited kidney diseases
-Prolonged obstruction of the urinary tract, from conditions such as enlarged prostate, kidney stones and some cancers
-Vesicouretal (ves-ih-koe-yoo-ree-tur-ul) reflux, a condition that causes urine to back up into your kidneys
-Recurrent kidney infections, also called pyelonephritis (pie-uh-low-nuh-fry-tis)
For a complete overview from The Mayo Clinic please visit the link below:
NUTRITION FOR PATIENTS WITH KIDNEY DISEASE:
