Chroic Kidey Disease What Does it Mea for Me? Natioal Kidey Disease Educatio Program
Chroic Kidey Disease: The Basics You ve bee told that you have chroic kidey disease (CKD). What does that mea? Ad what does it mea for your health ad your life? This booklet will help aswer some of the questios you might have. You have two kideys, each about the size of your fist. Their mai job is to filter wastes ad excess water out of your blood to make urie. They also keep the body s chemical balace, help cotrol blood pressure, ad make hormoes. kideys 1
CKD meas that your kideys are damaged ad ca t filter blood like they should. This damage ca cause wastes to build up i your body. It ca also cause other problems that ca harm your health. CKD is ofte a progressive disease, which meas it ca get worse over time. CKD may lead to kidey failure. If your kideys fail, you will eed dialysis or a kidey trasplat to maitai health. You ca take steps to keep your kideys healthier loger: Choose foods with less salt (sodium). Keep your blood pressure at the level set by your health care provider. Keep your blood glucose i the target rage, if you have diabetes. 2
CKD ad My Health How does my health care provider kow I have CKD? Chaces are, you feel ormal ad were surprised to hear that you have CKD. It is called a silet disease, because may people do t have ay symptoms util their kideys are about to fail. The oly way to kow is to get your kideys checked with blood ad urie tests. 1. A blood test checks your GFR, which tells how well your kideys are filterig. GFR stads for glomerular filtratio rate. 2. A urie test checks for albumi. Albumi is a protei that ca pass ito the urie whe the kideys are damaged. These two tests are used to moitor CKD ad make sure that treatmet is workig. See pages 9 ad 10 to lear more about these tests ad track your results. 3
What causes CKD? Diabetes ad high blood pressure are the most commo causes of CKD. Your provider will look at your health history ad may do other tests. You eed to kow why you have CKD, so your treatmet ca address the cause of the CKD. What medicies are used to treat CKD? People with CKD ofte take medicies to lower blood pressure, cotrol blood glucose, ad lower blood cholesterol. Two types of blood pressure medicies ACE ihibitors ad ARBs may slow CKD ad delay kidey failure, eve i people who do t have high blood pressure. May people eed to take two or more medicies for their blood pressure. They also may eed to take a diuretic (water pill). The goal is to keep your blood pressure at the level set by your health care provider. Do I eed to chage my medicies? Some medicies are ot safe for people with CKD. Other medicies eed to be take i smaller doses. Tell your provider about all the medicies you take, icludig over-the-couter medicies (those you get without a prescriptio), vitamis, ad supplemets. 4
Ca CKD affect my health i other ways? People with CKD ofte have high blood pressure. They ca also develop aemia (low umber of red blood cells), boe disease, malutritio, ad heart ad blood vessel diseases. What tests will help track my CKD? The blood ad urie tests used to check for CKD are also used to moitor CKD. You eed to keep track of your test results to see how you re doig. Track your blood pressure. If you have diabetes, moitor your blood glucose ad keep it i your target rage. Like high blood pressure, high blood glucose ca be harmful to your kideys. See page 9 of this booklet for more iformatio o trackig your test results. Will I have to go o dialysis? Some people live with CKD for years without goig o dialysis. Others progress quickly to kidey failure. You may delay dialysis if you follow your provider s advice o medicie, diet, ad lifestyle chages. If your kideys fail, you will eed dialysis or a kidey trasplat to maitai health. Most people with kidey failure are treated with dialysis. 5
Will I be able to get a kidey trasplat istead of goig o dialysis? Some people with kidey failure may be able to receive a kidey trasplat. The doated kidey ca come from someoe you do t kow who has recetly died, or from a livig perso a relative, spouse, or fried. A kidey trasplat is t for everyoe. You may have a coditio that makes the trasplat surgery dagerous or ot likely to succeed. 6
Chroic Kidey Disease: The Basics People with CKD ca ad should cotiue to live their lives i a ormal way: workig, ejoyig frieds ad family, ad stayig active. They also eed to make some chages as explaied here. Do I eed to chage what I eat? What you eat may help to slow dow CKD ad keep your body healthier. Some poits to keep i mid: Choose ad prepare foods with less salt (sodium). Use less salt at the table. Select the right kids ad amouts of protei. Choose foods that are healthy for your heart, like lea cuts of meat, skiless chicke, fish, fruits, vegetables, ad beas. Read the Nutritio Facts Label, especially for sodium, to help you pick the right foods ad driks. 7
Your provider may refer you to a dietitia. Your dietitia will teach you how to choose foods that are easier o your kideys. You will also lear about the utriets that matter for CKD. Do I eed to chage what I drik? Water You do t eed to drik more water uless you have kidey stoes. Drik as much water as you ormally do. Soda ad other driks If you are told to limit phosphorus, choose light-colored soda (or pop), like lemo-lime, ad homemade iced tea ad lemoade. Dark-colored sodas, fruit puch, ad some bottled ad caed iced teas ca have a lot of phosphorus. Juice If you are told to limit potassium, drik apple, grape, or craberry juice istead of orage juice. Alcohol You may be able to drik small amouts of alcohol. Drikig too much ca damage the liver, heart, ad brai ad cause serious health problems. Is smokig cigarettes bad for my kideys? Cigarette smokig ca make kidey damage worse. Take steps to quit smokig as soo as you ca. 8
CKD: Trackig My Test Results You are the most importat perso o your health care team. Kow your test results ad track them over time to see how your kideys are doig. Brig this card to your health care visits ad ask your provider to complete it. GFR The GFR tells you how well your kideys are filterig blood. You ca t raise your GFR. The goal is to keep your GFR from goig dow to prevet or delay kidey failure. See the dial picture below. Kidey Disease Kidey Failure 15 20 25 30 35 40 GFR 45 50 55 60 Normal 0 120 A GFR of 60 or higher is i the ormal rage. A GFR below 60 may mea kidey disease. A GFR of 15 or lower may mea kidey failure. 9
Urie albumi Albumi is a protei i your blood that ca pass ito the urie whe kideys are damaged. You ca t udo kidey damage, but you may be able to lower the amout of albumi i your urie with treatmet. Lowerig your urie albumi is good for your kideys. Iside a healthy kidey Iside a damaged kidey blood filter urie blood filter urie albumi Blood pressure The most importat thig you ca do to slow dow CKD is keep your blood pressure at the level set by your health care provider. This ca delay or prevet kidey failure. A1C The A1C test is a lab test that shows your average blood glucose level over the last 3 moths. Lowerig your A1C ca help you to stay healthy. (For people with diabetes oly.) 10
Where ca I get more iformatio? Natioal Kidey Disease Educatio Program www.kdep.ih.gov 1-866-4 KIDNEY (1-866-454-3639) Make the Kidey Coectio www.facebook.com/makethekideycoectio Natioal Kidey ad Urologic Disease Iformatio Clearighouse www.kidey.iddk.ih.gov 1-800-891-5390 America Associatio of Kidey Patiets www.aakp.org 1-800-749-2257 America Kidey Fud www.kideyfud.org 1-800-638-8299 Natioal Kidey Foudatio www.kidey.org 1-800-622-9010 Participats i cliical trials ca play a more active role i their ow health care, gai access to ew research treatmets before they are widely available, ad help others by cotributig to medical research. For more iformatio, visit www.cliicaltrials.gov. U.S. Departmet of Health ad Huma Services Natioal Istitutes of Health Natioal Kidey Disease Educatio Program The Natioal Kidey Disease Educatio Program (NKDEP) ecourages people to get tested for kidey disease ad educates those with kidey disease ad their health care providers about treatmets that ca help delay or prevet kidey failure. NKDEP is a program of the Natioal Istitutes of Health (NIH). NIH Publicatio No. 12-7408 Prited February 2012
Natioal Kidey Disease Educatio Program www.kdep.ih.gov 1-866-454-3639 (1-866-4 KIDNEY) Tips for People with CKD Choose foods with less salt Keep your blood pressure at the level set by your health care provider. Track your tests results Keep your blood glucose i the target rage if you have diabetes My Test Results Natioal Kidey Disease Educatio Program
Test Blood pressure Goal: Below / GFR Goal: Keep from goig dow Urie albumi Goal: The lower the better A1C (for people with diabetes) Goal: Result/Date Result/Date Result/Date Result/Date