Chronic kidney disease

For a lay person:

Chronic kidney disease is a gradual loss of kidney function over months or years. Early stages often cause no symptoms; later the build-up of waste and fluid causes tiredness, swelling, nausea and itching.

For a trained medical person:

Reduced GFR or markers of kidney damage for over three months, most often from diabetes and hypertension. Staged by GFR and albuminuria. Management slows progression (blood pressure control, RAAS blockade, SGLT2 inhibitors) and treats complications, with dialysis or transplantation for kidney failure.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Qi and yin deficiency; Liver and Kidney Yin Deficiency; Spleen-kidney qi deficiency; Spleen and Kidney Yang Deficiency; Yin and Yang Deficiency; Turbidity flooding the triple burner; Damp-Heat Invading the Spleen; Liver wind internally stirring. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: Many herbs are cleared by the kidneys and some are toxic to them; people with kidney disease must not take herbs without their kidney doctor's agreement.