Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is when the kidneys are no longer able to clear toxins and waste products from the blood and perform their functions at full capacity. These kidney problems can occur in a progressive or continuous deterioration over time.
There are also cases of acute kidney injury (formerly known as acute kidney failure) which is a sudden loss of kidney function, usually within hours or days. However, this is quite rare.
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CKD Risk Factors
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure disease
- Obesity
- Use of nephrotoxic drugs (eg: pain relievers NSAIDs), herbal products or unknown supplements
- Age >65 years
- Cardiovascular (heart) disease
- Gout and metabolic syndrome
- Kidney or prostate disease
- Inflammatory kidney disease ("glomerulonephritis")
- Systemic disease or "automimmune" (example: systemic lupus erythematosus SLE)
- Family history of kidney disease
Signs and Symptoms of CKD
Most patients do not experience symptoms in the early stages. If kidney function is less than 30%, the following signs and symptoms may occur:
- Foamy urine (protein in the urine)
- Swelling of the legs, face and eyes
- Hard to breath
- Tired and exhausted
- Lack of appetite, nausea and vomiting
- Itchy skin