Chronic kidney failure, or chronic kidney disease, refers to the gradual loss of function within the kidneys. The kidneys remove wastes and excess fluid from the blood. After these substances are removed from the blood, they can be excreted from the body in the form of urine. When chronic kidney disease reaches an extensive stage, high levels of dangerous wastes, fluid, and electrolytes will gradually build up in the body. Here, we'll look at what causes chronic kidney failure and how is it treated.

The Causes of Chronic Kidney Failure:

When it comes to answering the question, what causes chronic kidney failure and how is it treated, it's important to remember that chronic kidney failure happens when a condition or disease stops the kidneys from working as they should. This can cause the kidney damage to get excessively worse over a period of time, which could be months or years.

Diseases that are responsible for chronic kidney disease might include diabetes, high levels of blood pressure, inflammation in the filtering units of the kidneys, or an inflammation in the surrounding structures of the kidney. Other causes include recurrent infections in the kidney, a condition that causes urine to back up within the kidneys, or prolonged obstruction of the urinary tract.

Treatments for Chronic Kidney Failure:

Depending on the cause of kidney failure, there are certain types of the disease that can be treated. Treatment will often consist of measures that are designed to reduce the signs and symptoms, limit complications, and stop the disease from progressing too quickly. If you end up with complete kidney failure, you will need to get treated for end-stage kidney disease.

Typically, your doctor will look for ways to fight the cause of the kidney disease before it comes to kidney failure. However, when it comes to understanding what causes chronic kidney failure and how is it treated, it's worth noting that the two main treatments for end-stage failure are dialysis and a kidney transplant.

Dialysis refers to a process wherein wastes and extra fluid are artificially removed from the blood when it's no longer possible for your kidneys to do this by themselves. In hemodialysis, a machine will filter excess fluid and waste from your blood. On the other hand, there is also a form of dialysis wherein a tube is put into your abdomen to absorb excess fluid and waste. After some time, the solution drains from the body and takes the waste with it.

A kidney transplant is a solution that involves surgically removing your kidney and replacing it with a healthy kidney from a donor. Often, transplanted kidneys can come from deceased people, or living people as most people would be able to live with just one kidney. However, you will need to make sure that you take medication for the rest of your life to ensure that your kidney isn't rejected by your body. This medication will help to limit the function of your immune system so that it doesn't fight against the new kidney.