Just diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease – where to now?
Sometimes kidney failure can happen quickly, caused for example by a sudden loss of large amounts of blood or an accident. A sudden drop in kidney function is called Acute Kidney Failure and is often short-lived but can occasionally lead to lasting kidney damage. More often kidney function worsens over a number of years. This is good news because if kidney disease is found early, medication, dietary and lifestyle changes can increase the life of your kidneys and keep you feeling your best for as long as possible. If you have lost over one-third of your kidney function and the loss persists for over three months, it is called Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Sometimes kidney disease leads to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to keep you alive. Dialysis or a kidney transplant is needed when the kidneys have stopped working. Dialysis removes waste products from the blood when the kidneys fail. There are two forms of dialysis – haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysi
