Many people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are able to live long lives without being unduly affected by the condition. Although it's not possible to repair damage that has already happened to your kidneys, CKD will not necessarily get worse. CKD only reaches an advanced stage in a small proportion of people.
Without dialysis or a kidney transplant, kidney failure is fatal. You may survive a few days or weeks without treatment. If you're on dialysis, the average life expectancy is five to 10 years. Some people can live up to 30 years on dialysis.
For a 60-year-old man, stage 1 kidney disease life expectancy will be approximately 15 years. That figure falls to 13 years, 8 years, and 6 years in the second, third, and fourth stages of kidney disease respectively. For a 60-year old woman, stage 1 life expectancy is 18 years, while stage 2 is only one year less.
Not all patients have serious issues with the early onset of kidney damage, and most of the patients with CKD may live long without any serious complications. It is estimated that an average person may live for an extra 30 years following diagnosis.
Can stage 3 kidney disease be reversed? According to Dr. Alina Livshits, M.D., an internal medicine physician with Fairview Health Services, “Once you get to Stage 3, it's generally considered to be irreversible. The good news is that the majority of Stage 3 patients do not progress to the more severe stages.”
Kidney disease often cannot be cured in Stage 3, and damage to your kidneys normally is not reversible. However, with treatment and healthy life changes, many people in Stage 3 do not move to Stage 4 or Stage 5, which is kidney failure.
There's no cure for chronic kidney disease (CKD), but treatment can help relieve the symptoms and stop it getting worse. Your treatment will depend on the stage of your CKD. The main treatments are: lifestyle changes – to help you stay as healthy as possible.
At stage 1 CKD, you may not notice any effects on your health. While the damage to your kidneys may not be reversible, there is a lot you can do at this stage to keep your kidneys working well for as long as possible.
Your kidneys can be affected or damaged by a variety of diseases and conditions. As you get older, you are more likely to suffer from kidney and urinary tract problems. Kidney problems can also increase the risk of other conditions such as cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease.
Although CKD is generally progressive and irreversible, there are steps providers and patients can take to slow progression, enabling patients to live longer without complications or the need for renal replacement therapy.
Exercise may help kidney health
Being active and having a healthy body weight is also important to kidney health. Some studies show kidney function improves with exercise. Talk with your healthcare professional or dietitian if you need to lose weight.
Kidney disease progresses at different rates for different people, and it can take between two and five years to pass between different stages. Kidney disease stages are measured by using a blood test to check the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).
Chronic kidney disease, sometimes called CKD, is an umbrella term for several conditions that affect the kidneys, but it generally means permanent — and usually progressive — damage to the kidneys caused by a variety of conditions.
These tests include measurement of both the creatinine level in the blood and protein in the urine. Kidney diseases are a leading cause of death in the United States.
There is no cure for kidney failure, but it is possible to live a long life with treatment. Having kidney failure is not a death sentence, and people with kidney failure live active lives and continue to do the things they love.
People with stage 2 kidney disease are still considered to have only mild loss of kidney function. While there is no cure for kidney disease and kidney damage can't be reversed, taking steps now to closely monitor your health and live a healthier lifestyle can slow the progression of CKD.
Such a disease is a lifelong condition, and you will need to manage it carefully. It does not automatically lead to death, though. If your chronic kidney disease is diagnosed in the earliest stages, you can prevent it from getting any worse. Many people live for decades with chronic kidney disease.
While it's not possible to reverse kidney damage, you can take steps to slow it down. Taking prescribed medicine, being physically active, and eating well will help. You'll also feel better and improve your overall well-being.
Generally, earlier stages are known as 1 to 3. And as kidney disease progresses, you may notice the following symptoms. Nausea and vomiting, muscle cramps, loss of appetite, swelling via feet and ankles, dry, itchy skin, shortness of breath, trouble sleeping, urinating either too much or too little.
In Stage 2 CKD, the damage to your kidneys is still mild, and you have an eGFR between 60 and 89. Your kidneys are still working well, but at this stage, you will have signs of kidney damage. A common sign of kidney damage is protein in your urine (i.e., your pee).
If the kidneys are not functioning as they should, creatinine levels can increase in the blood. Several factors can cause high creatinine levels. These factors range from diet and medications to underlying health conditions. Levels should return to normal following treatment of the underlying issue.