CKD Overview

Your kidneys play an important part in keeping your body healthy. They are about as big as a fist and weigh about five or six ounces. They have four important jobs:

  1. They remove waste products through urine.
  2. They control the amount of water that stays in your body.
  3. They maintain the chemical balance of the body.
  4. They make hormones. These hormones help to control blood pressure, make blood cells, and maintain bones.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive loss of kidney function over a period of months or years through five stages.

If both kidneys cannot function, waste products and water will build up in the body. This is called uremia. You may have had some of the symptoms of uremia: weakness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, itching of the skin, muscle cramps, blurred vision, joint aches and pains, and sleep problems. When both kidneys have stopped working, the patient may be treated with dialysis or kidney transplantation.

Last updated on: February 22, 2008