Chronic kidney disease has five stages. It starts with a mildly damaged kidney and ends up with kidney failure. Treatments like medicines and dialysis can help patients from advancing to stage 5 of kidney disease.
Our kidneys play important towards good health. They act like blood filters removing toxins, waste, and surplus fluids.
They also help to:
Suppose you have chronic kidney disease (CKD), which means you have damaged your kidneys for over a few months. As a result, your damaged kidneys cannot filter blood properly. This condition can lead to various serious health problems.
There are five stages of CKD, with different symptoms and treatments associated with each stage.
In stage 1, the kidneys have very mild damage. They're adaptable and can adjust to this damage, letting them perform at 90 percent or even better.
CKD can be discovered during routine blood or urine tests at this stage. You may also undergo these tests if you are a diabetic patient or are suffering from high blood pressure.
Typically, there are no symptoms at this stage as your kidneys function at 90 percent or even better.
You can slow down the advancement of this disease by following these steps:
Ask your general physician to refer you to the Best Nephrologist in Delhi NCR.
In stage 2, kidneys function between 60 and 89 percent.
You might still have very few or almost no symptoms at this stage. Some nonspecific symptoms are:
It's time to visit the Best Kidney Hospital in India. There is no permanent cure for CKD, but early treatment can stop or slow its progress.
But it is crucial to address the underlying cause. If you have heart disease, high blood pressure, or are diabetic, follow your doctor's instructions for managing these conditions in their early stage.
Besides your doctor's guidance, it is also essential to maintain a good and balanced diet, get regular exercise, and manage a healthy weight. Quit smoking and alcohol.
Stage 3 means your kidney is working between 45 and 59 percent, and stage 3B means it is functioning between 30 and 44 percent.
At this stage, the kidneys aren't filtering toxins, waste, and fluids well, which start building up.
Not everyone has stage 3 symptoms. But some may have:
Complications may include:
It's essential to manage the conditions to preserve kidney function. This may include:
Once diagnosed with stage 3 CKD, you need to pay frequent visits and tests with your doctors to ensure adjustments can be made if required.
Take the help of a dietitian available at GS Hospital to ensure you get nutrients.
Stage 4 means you have extreme kidney damage. They function between 15 and 29 percent so that you may build up more toxins, waste, and fluids in your body.
You must take all necessary steps to prevent progression to kidney failure.
Patients with stage 4 CKD experience symptoms that include:
Complications may include:
Patients with such conditions are at high risk of heart disease and stroke.
In stage 4, you must work under the guidance of your doctors. In addition, you should start taking treatment in its early stages and begin discussing dialysis and kidney transplant. These procedures take careful planning and time, so choosing only the Top Kidney Hospital in UP is wise.
Stage 5 means your kidneys are functioning only 15 percent, or you have kidney failure. This allows the buildup of waste and toxins, which become life-threatening.
Symptoms of kidney failure include:
This also reflects that your risk of heart disease and stroke is increasing.
When you have complete kidney failure, things become complicated and life-threatening without a kidney transplant or dialysis.
Dialysis isn't the complete cure for kidney disease but a process that helps to remove fluids and waste from your blood. There are two types of dialysis one is hemodialysis, and the other is peritoneal dialysis.
Hemodialysis is a process done three times a week at a dialysis center.
Before each session, two needles are placed in the patient's arm, where they are attached to a dialyzer, which is referred to as an artificial kidney. There your blood is pumped with the help of the filter and returns to your body.
You can learn to do this at home, but it is advisable to be practiced under the expert guidance of medical professionals as it requires vein access.
In this process, a catheter is surgically placed into your abdomen for peritoneal dialysis. During the treatment, dialysis solutions are passed through the catheter into the abdomen so you can go easily in your daily life. After a few hours, you can drain the catheter into a bag and dispose of it. This should be repeated 4 to 6 times a day.
A kidney transplant replaces your damaged kidneys with a healthier one. Patients don't need dialysis but must rely on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their lives.
The five stages of CKD - chronic kidney disease, are determined by the degree of damage done to the kidney and with blood and urine tests.
While it's a disease that develops with time, not everyone will end up with kidney failure. Symptoms of kidney disease in its early stage are mild and can be easily overlooked. That's why it's essential to have regular checkups, especially if you have diabetes or high blood pressure- two primary reasons for kidney disease.
Early diagnosis and management can help slow or prevent the progression of chronic kidney disease.