Symptoms and causes of chronic kidney disease

It is important to learn about the CKD terms so that you can understand more about the disease. The signs and symptoms of chronic kidney disease develop with time in case there is progress of kidney damage. Losing the functions of the kidney might end up causing a build-up of the fluid or the body waste or having problems with the electrolyte. Depending on its severity, when the kidney losses its functions, it can cause the following:

• Vomiting

• Nausea

• Appetite loss

• Weakness and fatigue

• Problems sleeping

• Urinate less or more

• Decrease in sharpness of the mental

• Muscle cramps

• Swelling of ankles and feet

• Itchy, dry skin

• High blood pressure causes hypertension which is hard to control

• In case the fluid builds up in your lungs, it causes shortness of breath

• In case there is a build-up of fluids in the heart lining, then there will be a pain in the chest

The signs and the symptoms of kidney disease tend to be nonspecific. It denotes that, you can as well be caused by other diseases. Since your kidneys can make up for the function which is lost, you could end up not developing any symptoms and signs until the damage is irreversible which occurs.

When you should see a doctor

You should make a point of going to see a doctor in case you have any symptoms or signs of kidney disease. When it is detected early, it could help in preventing kidney disease from having to progress to cause kidney failure.

If you are having a medical condition that increases your chances of getting kidney disease, your doctor might monitor your blood pressure and the function of your kidney with blood and urine tests during your regular visits. You need to ask your doctor whether you need to do the tests.

Causes of chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease does happen when the condition or the disease impairs the function of the kidney which then causes the damage of the kidney to become worse over several years or just months. The conditions and the disease which cause chronic kidney disease are:

• Type 1 or type 2 diabetes

• Glomerulonephritis is the inflammation of the glomeruli, the filtering units of the kidney are inflamed.

• High blood pressure

• The interstitial nephritis - the kidney tubules and the surrounding structures being inflamed.

• Polycystic kidney disease or other kidney diseases that get inherited

• Prolonged urinary tract obstruction from a condition like kidney stones, enlarged prostate, and other cancers.

• Vesicoureteral reflux is a condition causing urine to go back to the kidneys

• Recurrent the kidney infection is also referred to as pyelonephritis.

The risk factors

Factors that increase the risk of chronic kidney disease include:

• Having diabetes

• Having high blood pressure

• Cardiovascular (heart) disease

• Smoking

• Being a black native American or an Asian American

• Kidney disease family history

• Structure of the kidneys is abnormal

• Using medications frequently which have the side effect of damaging the kidneys

It is important that you get to understand all the above