While there is no cure for kidney failure, with treatment it's possible to live a long life. Recovery from kidney failure varies, depending on whether the condition is chronic or acute: Acute kidney failure (AKF) usually responds well to treatment, and kidney function often returns to almost normal.
There's no cure for chronic kidney disease (CKD), but treatment can help relieve the symptoms and stop it getting worse. Your treatment will depend on the stage of your CKD. The main treatments are: lifestyle changes – to help you stay as healthy as possible.
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.
The key to reversing kidney damage is early detection. If it is caught early enough, the underlying issue can be treated and your kidneys can begin to heal themselves. Treatment for kidney damage will likely involve changes to your lifestyle and possibly medical procedures.
Avoid foods that have salt in the first four or five items in the ingredient list. Don't eat ham, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, lunch meats, chicken tenders or nuggets, or regular canned soup. Only eat reduced-sodium soups that don't have potassium chloride as an ingredient (check the food label.)
Exercise may help kidney health
Being active and having a healthy body weight is also important to kidney health. Some studies show kidney function improves with exercise. Talk with your healthcare professional or dietitian if you need to lose weight.
Increases in urine output—urine output is a key indicator of kidney health. While too little or no urine output is a sign of kidney injury or kidney damage, an increase in urine output after AKI or AKF can be a sign that your kidneys are recovering.
Not all patients have serious issues with the early onset of kidney damage, and most of the patients with CKD may live long without any serious complications. It is estimated that an average person may live for an extra 30 years following diagnosis.
End-stage kidney disease leads to death if you do not have dialysis or a kidney transplant. Both of these treatments have risks. The outcome is different for each person.
If kidneys do not work well, toxic waste and extra fluid accumulate in the body and may lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and early death.
If you are suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD), you probably know that there are five unique stages of this condition. These range from a mild loss of kidney function to total kidney failure. Not everyone will progress to the final and most serious stage.
As much as anything else, life expectancy for kidney disease depends on a person's age and sex. For a 60-year-old man, stage 1 kidney disease life expectancy will be approximately 15 years. That figure falls to 13 years, 8 years, and 6 years in the second, third, and fourth stages of kidney disease respectively.
Urine Tests
One of the earliest signs of kidney disease is when protein leaks into your urine (called proteinuria). To check for protein in your urine, a doctor will order a urine test.
Changes in urine color, transparency, and smell
A pinkish or reddish hue may indicate the presence of blood in the urine, while a greenish tone could be a sign of a bacterial infection. Cloudy non-transparent urine may be another sign of infection, but it may also suggest an abnormal level of salts in the liquid.
Preliminary results in more than 1,000 CKD patients with mean proteinuria of 3.0 ± 2.6 g/day, mean estimated GFR of 60.7 ± 30.7 ml/min/1.73 m2 at baseline and more than 4-year follow-up showed that 60% of individuals had remission or regression of their renal disease progression (P.
Conclusions: About half of the patients with stage 3 CKD progressed to stage 4 or 5, as assessed by eGFR, over 10 years.
Eating Processed Foods
Processed foods are significant sources of sodium and phosphorus. Many people who have kidney disease need to limit phosphorus in their diets. Some studies have shown that high phosphorus intake from processed foods in people without kidney disease may be harmful to their kidneys and bones.