Signs and Symptoms of CKD

CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) or Chronic Renal Insufficiency describes a progressive loss of the kidney function over time. Chronic Kidney Disease is classified as five major stages in line with GFR.

In stage one and two, one’s kidney function is normal or mild damaged, no obvious signs or symptoms form. Only the GFR (glomerular filtration rate) reduces. In stage 1, GFR is no less than 90% while the GFR reports as 60 to 89% in stage 2. It is 30-59% as the medical condition progresses to stage 3. Additionally, signs and symptoms occur accordingly. Just for your information, the symptoms won’t appear until no more than 50% of kidney function is impaired. More serious and significant signs and symptoms show up when GFR declines to 15-29% or even less than 15%. This is the last two stages of CKD, namely, Chronic Renal Failure and End-stage Renal Failure.

Common signs and symptoms of CKD:

Due to the kidney function has not been affected yet in the first two stages, no or few physical symptoms appear. Serum creatinie may begin to elevate or stay normal during this period and indicates that half of your kidney function is lost.

In stage 3 to 4, the serum creatinine probably increases as a result of kidney injury. Besides, fatigue and weakness occur, puffiness is obvious in hands, feet, ankles and eyelids. Usually, kidney disease patients experience back pain or flank pain from time to time. The changes in urine may be the most common symptom of kidney injury. It can be increased urine output, the changes in color, and the frequency etc. in some cases of kidney disease, foamy urine develops.

Stage 5 of Chronic Kidney Insufficiency, also called End-stage Renal Failure (ESRF), is the most serious illness condition of kidney disease. The medical condition has no chance to reverse as progresses to ESRF. Dialysis and kidney transplant become the few left options for ESRF patients. Signs and symptoms of ESRF are fatigue, headache, muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting, lower metal sharpness, night-time urination, itching, decreased sex drive, high blood pressure, shortness of breath, chest pain, loss of appetite etc.