Yes, you can live with kidney disease for a long time, even years, without knowing because it's a "silent disease" that often shows no symptoms until significant kidney function (up to 90%) is lost, but catching it early allows for management to slow progression and prevent severe complications like kidney failure. Many people only find out through routine blood or urine tests, which can detect early signs like protein in the urine.
Signs and symptoms of Stage 1 CKD include:
Many people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are able to live long lives without being unduly affected by the condition. Although it's not possible to repair damage that has already happened to your kidneys, CKD will not necessarily get worse. CKD only reaches an advanced stage in a small proportion of people.
Most people with CKD will be able to control their condition with medicine and regular check-ups. CKD only progresses to kidney failure in around 2 in 100 people with the condition. If you have CKD, even if it's mild, you're at an increased risk of developing other serious problems, such as cardiovascular disease.
In the early stages of chronic kidney disease, you might not feel sick or have any symptoms. You might not know that you have kidney disease until the condition is advanced.
Extreme, on-going tiredness, together with a lack of energy, is often called fatigue. There are lots of reasons why you may experience fatigue with CKD. If your kidneys are not working well, toxins (waste products) build up in your blood and this can make you feel tired and weak.
Kidney failure can worsen to the most severe stage, end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) which is deadly without treatment. If you have end-stage kidney disease, you may survive a few days or weeks without treatment.
Stage 5: eGFR <15
The waste and fluid buildup in the blood at this point can become life-threatening. During stage 5 kidney disease, eGFR is below 15. This is also referred to as end-stage renal disease (ESRD). If your kidneys are failing, you must get treatment, or the condition will turn fatal.
Although CKD is generally progressive and irreversible, there are steps providers and patients can take to slow progression, enabling patients to live longer without complications or the need for renal replacement therapy.
The goal of CKD treatment is to slow the damage to your kidneys and keep them working as well as they can for as long as possible. In time, though, many people's kidneys work less and less well, leading to kidney failure. If this happens, you will need dialysis or a kidney transplant.
CKD is most common among people ages 65 or older (34%), followed by people ages 45 to 64 (12%), and people ages 18 to 44 (6%).
Symptoms of kidney disease
You feel kidney pain near the middle of your back, just under your ribcage, on each side of your spine where your kidneys are. Your kidneys are part of the urinary tract, the organs that make and remove urine from the body. (pee). You may feel kidney pain on one or both sides of your back.
Over-the-counter NSAIDS
They are not safe to use when you have kidney disease. Ibuprofen, such as Advil™ and Motrin™. Naproxen, such as Aleve™ and Naprosyn™. Aspirin for pain relief.
A number of symptoms can develop if kidney disease is not found early or it gets worse despite treatment. Symptoms can include: weight loss and poor appetite. swollen ankles, feet or hands – as a result of water retention (oedema)
The top 10 drugs commonly linked to kidney damage
Sleep disorders, are common in people with chronic kidney disease and end stage renal disease. In addition to insomnia, sleep-disordered breathing, excessive sleepiness, and restless leg syndrome many have a high incidence of sleep apnea and periodic limb movements in sleep.
Chronic kidney disease usually progresses slowly. Regular blood and urine tests can help doctors to decide whether the kidneys are still working well enough, whether the treatment needs to be adjusted, or whether dialysis will be needed soon, for example.