Swelling Signs of Chronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes or High Blood Pressure Cause

Chronic kidney disease is incurable, and its most common causes are diabetes and high blood pressure. In many cases, this disease attacks the kidney’s nephrons, which causes them to lose their filtering capacity. This destruction is usually done slowly and silently.

If your kidneys should stop working, your body would fill with water and waste products (uremia) causing your hands and feet to swell. You’ll also feel tired and weak because in order to function properly your body needs clean blood.

In the early stage of kidney disease you may not have any sign, fact is you may not feel sick at all. As your kidney disease worsens you may experience signs like:

Since the early stages of kidney disease are typically without symptoms, you should have routine blood and urine tests taken, by your doctor, to monitor your kidney’s function.

Many things can cause kidney disease, but you are at a higher risk if you have diabetes or high blood pressure.

Diabetes is a disease that causes glucose (sugar) to build up in your blood. When too much glucose is in your blood it acts like a poison to your kidneys, damaging its nephrons (diabetic nephropathy). If you manage your blood glucose levels by keeping them down, you can delay or prevent this from happening.

High blood pressure damages small blood vessels in your kidneys. This vessel damage affects your kidneys ability to filter wastes from your blood. This is one more reason to get high blood pressure under control.

Other causes, beyond diabetes and high blood pressure, for swelling kidney disease include:

  • poison, trauma can lead to kidney disease
  • glomerular diseases ~ autoimmune diseases, infection-related diseases, sclerotic diseases which attack your kidney’s tiny blood vessels (glomeruli).
  • inherited & congenital kidney diseases ~ polycystic kidney disease (PKD), which may cause cysts to grow in your kidneys slowly replacing its mass & reducing kidney function
  • some OTC drugs can be poisonous to your kidneys if taken regularly over a long period of time, most dangerous is combining aspirinacetaminophenibuprofen

Your risk for swelling signs of kidney disease can be reduced by taking the steps necessary to prevent diabetes and high blood pressure.

Being overweight increases your risk for both, and the best way to reduce your weight is by eating healthier and moving more. Get your healthy ducks in a row.