Kidney Disease

Uremia

This is a build up of nitrogenous waste products in the blood including urea.

Symptoms are loss of appetite, lethargy, fatigue, nausea, cold, bone pain, itching, shortness of breath and seizures, with late symptoms being decreased mental acuity and coma.

Can be diagnosed when Kidney function is below 50%.

GFR - Glomerular filtration rate.

The rate of filtered fluid through the Kidney .

GFR at the different stages of the disease

Normal kidney function – GFR above 90mL/min/1.73m² and no proteinuria.

1) CKD1 – GFR above 90mL/min/1.73m² with evidence of kidney damage

2) CKD2 (Mild) – GFR of 60 to 89 mL/min/1.73m² with evidence of kidney damage

3) CKD3 (Moderate) – GFR of 30 to 59 mL/min/1.73m²

4) CKD4 (Severe) – GFR of 15 to 29 mL/min/1.73m²

5) CKD5 Kidney failure - GFR less than 15 mL/min/1.73m² Some people add CKD5D for those stage 5 patients requiring dialysis; many patients in CKD5 are not yet on dialysis.

Creatinine

This is a by product from muscle tissue that is produced in a steady flow. The kidneys job is the keep the creatinine level stable by filtering out excesses.

Creatinine levels in the blood are used to diagnoses early stage kidney failure.

End stage Bun - to - creatineine ratio is used to monitor fidney failure more accurately at later stages of the disease.