10 Symptoms of Chronic Kidney Disease

With changes in our lifestyle and dietary habits, there is a growing incidence of Diabetes and Hypertension. These two common disorders are the major risk factors for the onset of Kidney Disease.

Understand Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) :

Classically Chronic Kidney Disease has been defined as impairment of kidney function for more than 3 months this is characterized by either increase in serum creatinine or proteinuria or abnormal ultrasound of the kidney.

Mr. Abhijeet 52 years, male is a dynamic entrepreneur and has a busy schedule. His both parents were diabetic and he also developed diabetes at an early age of 40 years. In busy schedule he could not monitor his blood sugars and also had uncontrolled diabetes. His company organized a health check camp when he was detected to have hypertension as well. He was prescribed pills to control his blood pressure. Initially he took the medications religiously and after 3 months when he checked his blood pressure it was ok and hence he left the pills.

Nearly 3 months back he started noticing that he gets tired easily and also noticed that by evening his shoes were tighter than morning. His wife noticed that he has lost his appetite and has started eating much less now. She also realized that during the evening walk he started becoming breathless and gets tired. His exercise capacity also reduced.

Worried about these changes, she took her to hospital and underwent investigations. To their surprise they found that Mr. Abhijeet has marked high creatinine of 15 mg/dl (Normal 0.5 to 1.0 mg/dl), has protein in urine. He was evaluated by Nephrologist and told that he has Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease and needs either dialysis or kidney transplant.

The Silent Signs And Symptoms of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) :

This is a typical case scenario where we see that symptoms of kidney disease are usually nonspecific like tiredness, lethargy, loss of appetite, swelling over feet, nausea, foam in urine, breathlessness on exertion, early fatigue, weight loss,  increased frequency of urination especially at night etc. Because of nonspecific symptoms kidney disease is detected late. Hence patients with diabetes, hypertension especially uncontrolled are at risk of developing chronic kidney disease and should have routine screening for kidney disease.