The kidneys filter waste and excess fluid from the blood. Chronic kidney disease occurs when the kidneys lose their function, most often over time. When the kidneys aren’t working properly, dangerous amounts of fluid and waste can build up in the body, causing a range of symptoms that can include fatigue, nausea, swelling, and high blood pressure. Chronic kidney disease can eventually progress to kidney failure.
Diabetic nephropathy is kidney disease caused by type 1 or type 2 diabetes. When the glomeruli, small filters in the kidneys that carry excess fluid and waste from blood into the urine, are damaged as a complication of diabetes, this can cause kidney disease or failure. Symptoms include swelling, nausea, and fatigue.
Electrolytes are minerals that your body needs to function properly. A person's electrolytes can become too high or too low, which is called an electrolyte imbalance or electrolyte abnormality.
Glomerular disease, or glomerulonephritis, is the inflammation of the glomeruli, small filters in your kidney that carry excess fluid and waste from blood into the urine. The condition can be acute (comes on quickly) or chronic (happens over time), with causes including various bacterial or viral infections and immune diseases, like lupus. Symptoms can range from pink or reddish colored urine (from red blood cells) and foamy urine (too much protein) to fatigue from kidney failure.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a chronic condition where pressure in the arteries that carry blood is elevated. Sustained high blood pressure can cause damage to the body over time and be a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and more. The condition is diagnosed when measured blood pressure is consistently higher than the norm; lifestyle changes, diet and in serious cases, medication are helpful in controlling it.
Kidney failure, also called end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), is the last stage of chronic kidney disease. Kidney failure is life threatening without dialysis or a kidney transplant.
Kidney stones are hard deposits that form when your urine contains more crystal-forming substances — such as calcium and uric acid — than the fluid in your urine can dilute.
Polycystic kidney disease is a condition in which cysts, or round sacs filled with fluid, grow on the kidneys. Over time, this can cause the kidneys to stop working.
Renovascular hypertension is a type of high blood pressure (hypertension) caused by the narrowing of one or both of the blood vessels connected to the kidneys. The same fatty plaques that damage artery walls and cause heart disease can be at fault, along with other conditions. The narrowing (stenosis) can cause severe high blood pressure and kidney damage. Symptoms include severe high blood pressure, high blood pressure that doesn’t respond to medication or stops responding when it did previously, and high blood pressure with no family history.