Usually, Kidney Disease progresses slowly over a period of years. To
guarantee relative tests and effective treatments at different periods of the
disease, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) divided Kidney Disease into five
stages. As different stages have different renal damage and symptoms, the
patients should adopt treatments according to their own disease stage. The
following article mainly describes the symptoms of Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease (Stage 3 CKD).
When GFR decreases to 30~59 ml/min, the patients develops into Stage 3 CKD.
At this stage, the patients have moderate renal damage. As their renal functions
decline, the metabolic wastes and toxins in their body. In this stage, the
patients are very likely to develop complications of CKD such as Hypertension,
anemia and renal bone disease. The patients in Stage 3 CKD will show the
following symptoms.
1. Fatigue
Fatigue is a common symptom for patients with Stage 3 CKD and usually it is
caused by anemia. As many patients may have poor appetite, nausea, vomit,
bleeding and so on, the body can not get sufficient raw materials of blood. In
addition, as renal function declines, kidneys can not produce enough
hemopoietin, it can cause the numbers of red blood cells to decline in blood.
Therefore, the patients often have anemia thus leading to fatigue.
2. Edema
Kidneys can keep the water balance in body by discharging excess water in
body. However, once kidneys are damaged, they lose their ability in controlling
how much fluid stays in body. Therefore, the patients may notice edema in their
lover limbs and eyelid, especially in the morning.
3. Urination changes
Some patients may find foam in their urine for the protein loss in it. Also
sometimes the urine appears cola color, tea color if it contains red blood cells
in it. The patients may urinate more or less than before in Stage 3 CKD.
4. Pain in kidney area
In fact, most patients with Stage 3 CKD do not have pain in their kidney
area, but with some kinds of kidney problems such as Polycystic Kidney Disease,
Renal Cyst or infection, they may have pain in their kidney area.
5. Itching
As the building up of urimic toxins in patients’ body, it can affect other
multiple organs and even skin so many patients may have itching.
If the patients have the above symptoms, they are very likely to have
developed into Stage 3 CKD. Then they should go to see a nephrologist
immediately. As there is no cure for CKD, it may be possible to stop its
progress with timely treatment.