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What do kidney diseases do?
Renal diseases attack nephrons, the tiny filtering units in the kidneys, which lose their ability to filter. This can be caused by diseases such as hereditary hypertension or type 2 diabetes. Most kidney diseases destroy nephrons slowly and silently. Kidney damage can however manifest itself quickly – often as a result of genetic disorders, severe dehydration, abuse of anti-inflammatory drugs and over-the-counter medications.
As kidney function decreases, waste and fluid build up in the bloodstream.
What does dialysis do?
Dialysis, which removes part of the patient's blood, filters it and returns it to the body, becomes a necessity and is often used as a therapeutic option. Dialysis is beneficial for patients with acute renal failure (temporary loss of renal function) or for relatively stable patients who have permanently lost renal function (chronic kidney disease stage 5).
In case of chronic renal failure (CKD), the treatment aims to slow the progression of kidney damage, usually by controlling the underlying cause. Chronic kidney disease can progress to end stage renal failure (stage 5), a condition requiring continuous artificial filtration of blood (dialysis) or kidney transplantation. Most patients requiring chronic dialysis go to a treatment center several times a week, sometimes even before transplantation.
Did you know:
- Renal failure in South African adults is mainly due to hereditary hypertension or type 2 diabetes
- Renal failure in the black population is four times higher than in other groups – due to the high incidence of hypertension.
- Hypertension and diabetes can be prevented, diagnosed quickly and properly treated. In doing so, 70 to 80% of chronic renal failure and / or cardiovascular death could be prevented.
Symptoms of kidney failure may include:
- Fatigue (fatigue)
- Frequent need to urinate, especially at night (which increases with time)
- The skin that scratches
- Nausea
- breathlessness
- Erectile Dysfunction (men have difficulty getting and / or maintaining an erection)
- Water retention (feet, hands, swollen ankles)
- Blood in the urine; and or
- Protein in the urine
* Provided by Life Renal Dialysis, a specialized health care service
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