Kidney Disease

What is kidney disease?

Kidney disease comes from damage to your kidneys and results in their malfunctioning. Your kidneys are the two organs in your urinary system responsible for filtering waste products from your blood and disposing of them through your urine. If you have kidney disease, your kidneys might not be able to filter your blood or control your blood pressure effectively. 

If your kidneys suddenly stop functioning well, you may have acute or short-term kidney disease. In many cases, you can restore your kidney function with treatment. 

Chronic kidney disease is kidney malfunction lasting for three months or longer. It can develop very slowly and often begins with no discernible signs or symptoms. In cases of chronic kidney disease, you may need to undergo treatment for the rest of your life. Treatment for chronic kidney disease can reduce your symptoms and complications. 

What are the signs and symptoms of kidney disease?

When kidney disease develops slowly, the symptoms often take a while to show up. As the damage to your kidneys worsens, you might start to notice:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Weakness and fatigue
• Low appetite
• Urination changes
• Sleep changes
• Foot and ankle swelling
• Muscle cramps or twitches
• High blood pressure

As the disease worsens, the fluid that your kidneys don’t filter and excrete can start to build up at various points in your body. You might experience chest pain because of fluid buildup in your heart or shortness of breath due to fluid buildup in your lungs. 

Which kidney disease treatments are available?

Houston Kidney Specialists Center offers many effective treatments for kidney disease as well as diagnostic tests like urinalysis and kidney biopsies. Once the team has an idea of the severity of your kidney disease, they can recommend an appropriate treatment. Your treatment might involve:

Medications

Various medications can help control symptoms and complications related to kidney disease. Your provider might prescribe blood pressure medications, anti-inflammatory medications, medications for high cholesterol, or others.

Dietary changes

Lowering the amount of protein in your diet reduces the amount of waste in your blood, taking some of the pressure off your kidneys and improving their functioning. The Houston Kidney Specialists Center team can refer you to a dietician if necessary.

Dialysis

Dialysis is a long-term treatment for end-stage or severe kidney disease. For hemodialysis, a machine performs your blood filtration instead of your kidneys, which can no longer do so. Another type involves a catheter and a dialysis solution to absorb waste. 

Kidney transplant surgery

A healthy kidney transplant from a living or deceased donor can restore your body’s waste filtration. You need to take medications for the rest of your life after a transplant so that your body doesn’t reject the new kidney.

For effective kidney disease treatment and management, call Houston Kidney Specialists Center, or book an appointment online today.