kidney disease

Your kidneys are crucial to your health. They filter out waste products from your blood, remove excess fluids and help balance certain chemicals in your body. When they are damaged by disease or injury, they lose the ability to do their job. Unfortunately, kidneys cannot heal themselves. Any damage is usually irreversible. We are lucky however, because we have more kidney power than we need. Most people are born with two kidneys, but can function easily with just one. However, if you lose 85 to 90 percent of your kidney function, you enter what is called end stage renal disease (ESRD). The incidence of ESRD has increased by almost 8 percent per year for the past 5 years, resulting in more than 300,000 patients needing treatment in the United States. When you enter ESRD there are only two choices, dialysis and transplantation.
When the kidneys fail, it can be sudden or it can develop gradually and get worse over time. Chronic kidney failure may exist for years. As it progresses, the result can be ESRD. The number one cause of both chronic and ESRD is diabetes. Twenty five percent of all cases are the result of diabetes. The problem is that the excess sugar in the blood stream damages the nephrons. The medical term is diabetic nephropathy. The number two cause of ESRD is high blood pressure. High blood pressure results in some 30 percent of the cases in the United States. The tiny blood vessels in the kidneys are damaged and can no longer effectively filter ou...

kidney disease

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