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.
Can stage 3 kidney disease be reversed? According to Dr. Alina Livshits, M.D., an internal medicine physician with Fairview Health Services, “Once you get to Stage 3, it's generally considered to be irreversible. The good news is that the majority of Stage 3 patients do not progress to the more severe stages.”
Being diagnosed with CKD at an older age is associated with a more near-normal life expectancy. A male diagnosed at the age of 65 in stage 3, for instance, could expect to reach average life expectancy of 76 years old.
Conclusions: About half of the patients with stage 3 CKD progressed to stage 4 or 5, as assessed by eGFR, over 10 years.
Water is not generally restricted during stage 3a unless there are symptoms of retention such as difficulty breathing or swelling in feet/ankles. For those without a fluid restriction, 2 liters for women and 3 liters for men is what is generally recommended.
How serious is Stage 3 CKD? You might think of Stage 3 CKD as a "middle stage" of kidney disease. Your kidneys are damaged, but they still work well enough that you do not need dialysis or a kidney transplant. Kidney disease often cannot be cured in Stage 3, and damage to your kidneys normally is not reversible.
While it's not possible to reverse kidney damage, you can take steps to slow it down. Taking prescribed medicine, being physically active, and eating well will help. You'll also feel better and improve your overall well-being.
Get help when you have stage 3 CKD
There is no cure for kidney disease, but it may be possible to stop its progress or at least slow down the damage. In many cases, the correct treatment and lifestyle changes can help keep a person and their kidneys healthier longer.
At that point, you need dialysis or a kidney transplant. Dialysis. Dialysis artificially removes waste products and extra fluid from your blood when your kidneys can no longer do this. In hemodialysis, a machine filters waste and excess fluids from your blood.
Stage 3 kidney disease means that the kidney's function has been cut by half, and most patients experience ancillary problems like high blood pressure or bone difficulties. A survey of 13 studies on stage 3 kidney disease found that the all-cause mortality rate varied from 6% in 3 years to 51% in ten years.
As mentioned before, stage 3 kidney disease can be managed efficiently when diagnosed early. Although it may be different for every patient since their lifestyle factors play an important role, the average life expectancy for people diagnosed at 40 is 28 years for women and 24 for men.
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.
While many kinds of cheese are high in phosphorus and sodium, there are lower phosphorus and sodium cheeses more suitable for people with kidney disease. Most cheeses are also high in saturated fat; but lower-fat versions of many cheeses are available.
Yet people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have to limit dairy products in their kidney diet. High levels of phosphorus, potassium and calcium in something like low-fat milk are not good for someone on a kidney diet.
A stage 3 kidney disease diagnosis doesn't necessarily mean that your condition will progress to stage 4 or stage 5. With lifestyle changes and a treatment plan from your doctor, it's possible to slow the progression of CKD and preserve kidney function.
A BP goal of <130/80 is a reasonable, evidence-based BP goal in patients with CKD, and current evidence suggests that lowering BP to <130/80 mm Hg reduces future mortality risk.
Medicines for pain and swelling, such as ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve), can cause harm. So can some antibiotics and antacids. And you need to be careful about some drugs that treat cancer, lower blood pressure, or get rid of water from the body. Some natural health products could cause harm too.