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Kidney Disease
wolfie1 posted:
I've recently have been diagnosed with kidney disease. My function %went up from 27% to 50%. 3 medications were taken away, thus the 50%. I had an ultrasound done on my kidneys and was told that the outer layer was shrinking or deteriating. Can someone explain to me about this? What makes it shrink? Can it grow back to normal? How about what causes it?
john-skpt responded:
When you think "kidney" you have to think "cardiovascular". They kidneys are the most highly vascularized, the most blood-hungry organs in the human body.

So when tiny changes happen to the tiniest arteries (actually arterioles), then the kidney tissues being to die back and the whole structure can shrink in size.

It is almost never possible to bring back the lost tissue (at least in adults). One a number of cells are gone, then they are gone. The goal at that point is to halt or stabilize the condition causing the kidney deterioration and thus to preserve the remaining level of function for the rest of your life.

That's the long and short of it. Now, exactly what caused the blood vessels to change and the kidneys to degenerate is unknown, it could be any one of a dozen causes. Medications, especially over the counter pain relievers, high blood pressure, diabetes, auto-immune conditions, just a lot of different things could be at the root of it all.
john-skpt replied to john-skpt's response:
TYPO: Paragraph #2 the word 'being' should read 'begin'.

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