10 reasons for Kidney Failure & solutions.

10 reasons for Kidney Failure & solutions.

Most kidney disease is caused by diabetes or high blood pressure, conditions that can run in families. If you are a family member of someone who has diabetes, high blood pressure or kidney disease, it is a good idea to ask your doctor to check your blood pressure, blood sugar and kidney function at your next checkup."Unlike many diseases, kidney disease often has no symptoms until it is very advanced," says Andrew Narva, M.D., Director of the National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP) a part of the NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

"For this reason and others, it is important for people to not only become aware of their risk, but also to learn about the steps they can take to keep their kidneys healthier longer. An important step is to get tested."

That testing is even more important for populations that are at higher risk for kidney disease, such as African Americans, adds Dr. Narva.

Your doctor can do very simple tests to check for kidney disease:

• Measure the level of serum creatinine in your blood to estimate your glomerular filtration rate (GFR)
• Measure the level of protein in your urine (increased levels of protein show your kidneys are not working right)
• Check your blood pressure.

How can you tell if you are at risk for kidney disease? Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have diabetes (problems with your blood sugar)?
• Do you have high blood pressure?
• Do you have heart disease?
• Did your mother, father, sister, or brother have kidney disease? (Kidney disease runs in families.)

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you are at risk for kidney disease. Now is the time to get tested.

If one or both kidneys fail completely and the damage can't be reversed, the condition is called kidney failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD). When this occurs, your kidneys can no longer filter wastes well enough to keep you healthy. The symptoms for ESRD include fatigue, weakness, nausea, vomiting, and itching.

Treatments for kidney failure include dialysis or transplantation. There are two major types of dialysis:

• In hemodialysis, blood is run through an external filter and the clean blood is returned to the body. Hemodialysis is usually done at a dialysis center three times a week.
• Peritoneal dialysis uses the lining of your abdominal cavity (the space in your body that holds organs like the stomach, intestines, and liver) to filter your blood. This kind of dialysis is needed daily but it can be performed at home, while you sleep.

A kidney transplant is an operation that places a healthy kidney in your body. The transplanted kidney takes over the work of the two kidneys that failed, and you no longer need dialysis.