Chronic Kidney Disease

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Nina Shuck

Mrs. Hall

English 112

April 26, 2017

Chronic Kidney Disease

Renal disease in the United States is an ongoing problem. More than a half million Americans have kidney failure; a majority of those individuals are on dialysis. Some types of kidney disease can be treated but chronic kidney disease has no cure. There are many causes to chronic kidney disease and the effects of the disease are many. In this research paper, I’m going to discuss chronic kidney disease, and research the question; does a person with chronic kidney disease have an increase in quality of life when administered dialysis?

Chronic kidney disease means a person’s kidneys are damaged and cannot filter the toxins out of the blood the same as a healthy kidney. The decrease in function is usually gradual from months to years. A damaged kidney causes toxins to build up in your body. Toxin build up in the body has many negative health impacts on a person’s health both mentally and physically. “Kidney disease causes many health problems such as heart disease, strokes and chances of a heart attack” (“Chronic Kidney Disease”). According to The History of Dialysis on DaVita’s website “It wasn’t until World War Two that major advancements in treating chronic kidney disease using dialysis” (“DaVita”1).

“Dialysis is a treatment that filters and purifies the blood using a machine. This helps keep your body in balance when the kidneys can’t do their job. Dialysis has been used since 1940s to treat people with kidney problems”. (“National Kidney Foundation”). The History of

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The history of dialysis also states that, “Dr. Willem Kolff is considered the father of dialysis, he created the first dialyzer and treated more than a dozen people with no success in 1945, when a 67-year-old woman in uremic coma regained consciousness after eleven hours of hemodialysis with Kolff’s dialyzer. Her first words? “I’m going to divorce my husband!” thanks to Kolff, she did in fact follow through on her plan and lived seven more years before dying of another ailment” (“History of Dialysis”).

The number one causes of chronic kidney disease is diabetes. “diabetes mellitus both insulin dependent and non-insulin dependent occurs when the body cannot produce and or use insulin, the hormone necessary for the body to process glucose” (“Kidney Failure, Chronic”3). Long-term diabetes can cause damage to the kidneys, eventually leading to failure. The kidney damage can lead to many other health conditions including amputation. Diabetes is a disease that can be hereditary but in some cases, can be prevented or treated with a healthy diet and exercise. There is also juvenile diabetes and some cases children have been administering dialysis due to chronic kidney disease and other health related issues.

The second leading cause of chronic kidney disease is high blood pressure. High blood pressure is both cause and a result of kidney failure. “The kidneys can become stressed and ultimately sustain permanent damage from blood pushing through them at excessive pressure over a long period of time” (“Kidney Failure, Chronic”3). High blood pressure is a Health condition that can also be hereditary. One possible treatment for high blood pressure is to eat a healthy diet and exercise. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “high blood pressure can be treated with, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other foods that are heart healthy and lower in salt/sodium” (“Health and Human Services”18).

There are also many other factors that can lead to chronic kidney disease. These factors temporary or permeant, from major physical damage to many other underlying heath factors.

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 “Less common cause of chronic kidney failure is cancer, obstruction such as kidney stone, pyelonephritis reflux nephropathy, systemic lupus erythematosus, amyloidosis, and sickle cell anemia” (“Kidney Failure, Chronic”). Sadly, another cause or factor is life style choices, such as

unhealthy diet and drug use. According to Simone Bedford and Elaine Jones “the argument of people with these extreme lifestyle choices will most likely be the last to receive a live organ (Simon Bedford and Elaine Jones, 23.07.14 / Vol 110.30 10 July. 2014: 16).

There are five stages of chronic kidney disease. “Stage one is kidney damage with normal kidney function. Stage two is kidney damage with mild loss of kidney function. Stage three is mild-to-sever loss of kidney function. Stage four is severe loss of kidney function. Stage five is kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplant for survival” (“Kidney Disease Statistics”). Once you have chronic kidney disease, your kidney function declines with the result being your kidneys cannot remove waste and fluid on their own and you develop end-stage kidney disease.  At this point, you need dialysis or a kidney transplant.  

“The Kidneys are a pair of organs, each the size of a fist, located on either side of your spine. They’re responsible for purifying your blood by removing waste and excess fluid buildup in your body. When the kidneys don’t work properly, dialysis is used to perform the function of the kidneys. Failure to remove waste and excess fluid will not only lead to many mental and physical problems it will ultimately lead to death” (“Dialysis”). So, one could say that, without dialysis, a person suffering from chronic kidney disease will die and without receiving a kidney transplant, that person’s only option for life is dialysis.

Hemodialysis is the most frequently prescribed type of dialysis treatment. Most dialysis is done in an outpatient dialysis center. “Treatment involves circulating the patients’ blood outside of the body through an extracorporeal circuit or dialysis circuit. The patients’ blood leaves and enters the body through two needles inserted into the patient’s vein, called an access

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site, and is pushed through the blood compartment of the dialyzer. Once the patients’ blood is in the dialyzer, excess fluid and toxins are pulled out of the blood stream and into the dialysate compartment, where they are carried out of the body” (Kidney Failure, Chronic”3).  Also there is one other form of dialysis is peritoneal dialysis. “Peritoneal dialysis is a catheter surgically