Very confusing!!!

[Cruze44]

Hello everyone! Hope everyone is well. I'm a 48 year old male who is currently in the process of waiting for test results to rule out CKD. My symptoms or well symptom is uncontrolled BP spikes for the last 8-9 months without any viable explanation. So I really don't have a lot to offer it terms of CKD knowledge. I just wanted to say how confused I was when I first started researching KD online!! My doctor was almost dismissive of the disease saying "eh, it could be kidney disease, but don't worry, you'll be fine". So I was like okay, no problem. Then I came home and started looking on-line and was terrified at what I was reading!!!! it sounded like certain death to me. I was crushed!!

But then I discovered that the vast majority of articles I was reading was referring to end stage disease! I only found a handful of articles that even mentioned the fact that 90% of people with CKD do not reach end stage. This of course made me take a deep breath and relax a bit.

I just wanted to throw that out there for anyone new like me who is searching the web looking for info on CKD. Most of the stuff I came across was very discouraging to say the least. So make sure you relax and understand that most of the info out there is talking about end stage disease.

Thanks for this web site. Looks active. I will keep you updated on my test results.

[Marvin8]

The reason that 90% of folks with ckd never reach end stage is because they often die of other kidney disease related causes first....heart disease being the most frequent. Folks with ckd are 10-20 times more likely to get heart disease or a heart attack than the normal population. That's why it's important to do whatever you can to protect your heart as well as your kidneys.

[lowraind]

Right now, your best bet is to research ckd diet. Use terms such as kidney friendly, renal friendly, or ckd diet. Also research recommendations regarding exercise, drinking, smoking, water usage. Welcome to the club--this site is wonderful and has helped me much!

[Bluejean2]

That is true to some extent but many people just don’t progress that much in their ckd especially if it is being treated.

[rabbit01]

I was diagnosed at 18% when I was 48 years old. At that time I was told I would be on dialysis within three to six months. I had no symptoms. That was over three years ago. Through diet and lifestyle changes I have slowed the progression but am now at 14%.