JUSTIN C.K. DAVIS, M.D.: Hi, my name is Dr. Justin Davis. Today, I'd like to tell you about chronic kidney disease. So, what are the kidneys? Well, most people should be born with two kidneys and each kidney lies in the lower part of the abdomen, just on either side of the spine. The kidneys have many very important functions and so, when something goes wrong with the kidneys, all kinds of problems can ensue. People that have chronic kidney problems can range from children who may be born with problems associated with our kidneys or some kind of kidney disease, to adults who may acquire kidney disease due to certain problems such as chronic high blood pressure or high cholesterol, or not well-controlled diabetes, or other kinds of diseases or even cancers. But when you do have kidney disease, some of the more common symptoms that people may develop can include things like weakness or fatigue, anemia that means low blood counts. You can also have a toxic accumulation of waste. That's because the kidney are important in excreting waste through the urine and without that properly functioning, waste can build up in the body and cause all kinds of problems, including mental dysfunction and eventually death. Also, people with poorly functioning kidneys that aren't getting rid of fluid properly may have other problems such as fluid retention. This can be in the legs or even in the lungs. People with kidney disorders also may not clot their blood properly. They may have chronic hypertension, and may experience symptoms such as impotence. So what should you do if you think that you have some kind of kidney problem? Well again, this is a very serious condition but often it occurs little by little over time. One of the best ways is prevention. Prevention can be done by annual physicals that will screen for possible signs of kidney problems and blood tests that also will look for possible signs of kidney problems. Also, if you know that you have a condition that leads to kidney dysfunction, doctors will screen you very carefully to make sure that the kidneys maintain proper function. So what are the some of the things that doctors may suggest if you have a kidney disorder? Well, a lot of the things have to do with restricting certain things in your diet. For example, not too much fluids since your kidneys can no longer get rid of fluid properly. Also, restricting things like protein, salt and potassium are important parts of maintaining healthy kidney
function when you have a kidney problem. There also certain medicines that are given to help keep the kidneys as healthy as possible. And in severe conditions when the kidneys are no longer functioning at all, you may need to have what's called dialysis. That's when an external machine will process your blood and remove the toxins since your kidneys can no longer do that by themselves. So, the important thing to remember is that kidney disease usually happens very slowly over a long time and the symptoms may be subtle at first. Therefore, it's important to have regular screening exams with your physician and also, if you have any symptoms that may be associated with any kind of kidney disease, such as a new onset of swelling in the legs, please don't wait but go see a physician and have it diagnosed properly right away.
