Guide to living with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

The two treatments used effectively to treat kidney failure in its most advanced stage are: dialysis and transplantation.

• Dialysis is a treatment that removes excess fluid and waste from the body.
• Kidney transplantation, the function of the damaged kidneys is restored with another new kidney.

• Attend your controls with the frequency established by your doctor.
• Regularly check your blood pressure and glucose measurements.
• Take your medications as recommended and ask if you have any questions.
• Consume fruits, vegetables and cereals.
• Exercise regularly.
• Reduce stress.
• Quit smoking.
• Limit your intake of alcohol and caffeine.

• Diabetes.
• High Blood Pressure (Hypertension).
• Nephropathies.

• They remove toxins from the blood.
• They remove excess fluid.
• They keep the body's chemicals in balance: sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and bicarbonate.
• They help control blood pressure.
• They contribute to the production of red blood cells.
• They produce active Vitamin D, which maintains the health of the bones and the cardiovascular system.

• Waste products build up in the blood.
• The fluids in the body are no longer balanced.

In some people, the kidneys become damaged and stop working normally. You can have considerable kidney damage and not feel any discomfort: this is why kidney disease is often considered a silent disease. It is possible that when you start to feel some discomfort, the kidney damage is already considerable.
There is no easily definable level of decreased renal function at which symptoms of uremia, such as tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, or vomiting, begin. Most clinical or biochemical features occur with renal function less than or close to 15% of normal.
Some signs that they may present are:

• Hiccups and drowsiness.
• Reduced urine output.
• Swelling, especially of the hands, feet, and around the eyes.
• Unpleasant taste in the mouth and breath with a smell similar to urine.
• Persistent fatigue or shortness of breath.
• Loss of appetite.
• Blood pressure getting higher.
• Pale skin.
• Excessively dry and persistently itchy skin.

Uremia is the result of the accumulation of waste products in the blood. It is caused by damaged kidneys not properly filtering waste products from the bloodstream.

• Loss of appetite
• Headache.
• Bad taste in the mouth.
• Difficult to focus.
• Nausea/vomiting.
• Sleepiness during the day.
• Difficulty falling asleep at night.
• Restless legs.

It is an infection of the peritoneal cavity caused by germs.
You may have flu-like symptoms, have a fever, or have stomach pain.

A kidney transplant is an operation performed by a transplant surgeon, in which a healthy kidney from another person (donor) is placed to replace the function of your diseased kidneys. Transplanted kidneys have two origins:

• Living donors: They can be related or not.
• Cadaveric donors: They are from people who decided to donate their organs while they were alive in case of brain death.

The function of a transplanted kidney is the closest thing to your own kidneys. Transplantation is only a treatment for kidney disease, not a cure.

It is the treatment by which waste products are filtered and excess fluid is removed from the body when the kidneys can no longer do so.

It is the lining of the abdominal cavity, which contains the stomach, spleen, liver, and intestines.
The Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) solution is infused into the peritoneal cavity. The peritoneal membrane filters waste and excess fluid from the blood into the solution. After a few hours, the solution with the debris is drained and replaced with fresh solution, known as a refill.