Newly Diagnosed? Information is Power

Contributors: Micheli Bevilacqua, MD, FRCPC, MHA, CHE and Andrea Rudy

Four million people in Canada are living with kidney disease, and the number of people living with endstage kidney disease has grown 29% since 2012. More than 53,000 Canadians are currently living with end-stage kidney disease, for which there is no cure.*

Receiving a diagnosis of kidney disease can be overwhelming and, expectedly, will lead to many questions. Armed with answers and information, however, can return a sense of control and even help delay or possibly avoid kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplantation. Symptoms may not appear until permanent damage has occurred, so it’s incredibly important to understand the stage you’ve been diagnosed at and what your options are.

*data provided by The Kidney Foundation of Canada

While damaged kidneys don’t heal, preventing or slowing down further damage remains critical. In most cases, being able to do so depends on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and managing other medical conditions.

In the early stages of chronic kidney disease, lifestyle changes, such as getting more exercise, stopping smoking and cutting down on sodium, managing other medical conditions, and taking medications as directed by your doctor may be all the treatment needed to slow the damage to the kidneys. People often go for many years, or all of their life, without needing other forms of treatment. The kidneys are so good at doing their job that even diseased kidneys can keep you healthy for a long time. Damage to the kidneys may be slowed down or even stopped if you take steps to preserve your kidney function.

Having a trusted source for information—both the latest resources and a place to enter personal case details—is helpful for managing kidney disease. The Kidney Foundation of Canada provides the Living with Reduced Kidney Function manual, which is updated regularly, for all newly diagnosed patients across the country. This comprehensive resource contains background material on kidneys and CKD, information on how to support your kidney health, manage medication and diet, develop a personal care plan, and places to enter your personal health details.

Every case is different, so the more you know, the more you can feel empowered.

More than one in four new end-stage kidney disease patients are late diagnoses, which means they started dialysis only a few months after diagnosis and first seeing a nephrologist. The damage can occur over many years or happen very quickly, depending on the source, with diabetes and high blood pressure as the two leading causes. If you have diabetes or high blood pressure, the best way to halt or delay end-stage renal disease is to properly manage these health conditions. Doctors can diagnosis kidney disease with blood and urine tests, a kidney ultrasound and possibly a kidney biopsy or other specialized tests.

What does the future hold?

Recent advancements in both slowing progression of chronic kidney disease and the treatment of end-stage kidney disease have drastically improved the long-term outlook for people living with this condition. With treatment, patients can lead fruitful, high-quality lives for many years. The success rate for kidney transplants is high, and for those on a transplant waitlist, being on dialysis can help them live a life as close to normal as possible for many years.

Research has shown that people have better health outcomes when they are involved in seeking answers to many of their questions for themselves, by understanding their disease, participating in decision-making and playing an active role in their treatment and care.

This article is republished from the Kidney Magazine.