Chronic Kidney Disease

What is chronic kidney disease?  

 Chronic kidney disease is when the kidneys stop working as well as they should. When they are working normally, the kidneys filter the blood and remove waste and excess salt and water.

In people with chronic kidney disease, the kidneys slowly lose the ability to filter the blood. In time, the kidneys can stop working completely. That is why it is so important to keep chronic kidney disease from getting worse.

What are the important causes of Chronic Kidney Disease?

Diabetes mellitus and Hypertension are two most common causes of chronic kidney disease. Together they account for about 60 to 70 % causes of chronic kidney diseases. Rest of important causes include Glomerular diseases, kidney toxic drug, kidney stones, bladder outlet obstruction, chronic urinary tract infection, structural and congenital anomalies of kidneys etc.

What are the symptoms of chronic kidney disease?  — At first, chronic kidney disease causes no symptoms. As the disease gets worse, it can:

• Make your feet, ankles, or legs swell
• Give you high blood pressure
• Change the quantity or color of urine
• Cause difficulty in urination
• Make you very tired
• Damage your bones

Is there anything I can do to keep my kidneys from getting worse if I have chronic kidney disease?  — Yes, you can protect your kidneys by:

• Keeping your blood pressure controlled
• Keeping your blood sugar in a healthy range, if you have diabetes
• Keeping your uric acid and lipids normal
• Avoiding medicines known as “nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs,” or NSAIDs.
• Check with your doctor, nurse, or kidney specialist before starting any new medicines — even over-the-counter ones.
• Use of low salt and low protein diet as recommended by your doctor
• Complete abstinence from smoking
• Losing weight if you are overweight
• Regularly visiting your kidney specialist
• Regularly taking medicines prescribed to you