Does Edema Mean You Have Experienced CKD

All of us know that if one person is suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD), he or she may have the symptoms of edema, anemia, itchy skin or high blood pressure. And edema is the most common symptom in CKD patients. However, if one person have the symptom of edema, can we make sure definitely that she or he has experienced kidney disease. About this question, we can from the following aspects to determine if she or he has CKD.

On one hand, the kidneys are responsible for producing urine, filtering waste product and toxins out of the body, and maintaining the normal level of fluid and electrolytes. When kidney function is deteriorated, excess fluid builds up in your body, causing edema. In this case, due to decline of kidney function , we can say it may cause edema.

On the other hand, there are other reasons which can also lead to edema. These include the following:

1. Inflammation or injury can lead to edema.

For example, a twisted ankle, a bee sting or a skin infection will lead to edema in the involved area. In some cases, increased fluid from the body vessels aims to let more infection-fighting white blood cells to enter the affected area.

2. Medical conditions or problems lead to edema.

1) Low albumin (hypoalbuminemia)

Albumin and other proteins in the blood play the role of sponges to keep fluid in the body. Low albumin may contribute to edema.

2) Allergic reactions

Edema is a usual part of allergy. In response to allergic exposure, the body allows nearby blood vessels leaking fluid into the affected area.

3) Critical illness

When burns, life-threatening infections or other critical illness occur, there will appear a whole body reaction, fluid leaking into tissues almost everywhere. Then the whole body may have the symptom of edema.

4) Edema and pregnancy

Because of an increase in blood volume during pregnance and pressure from the growing womb, the edema in legs is the most common symptom during pregnance.

5) Medications and edema.

A plenty of medications can cause edema, Including:

NSAIDs (ibuprofen,naproxen)

Calcium channel blockers

Corticosteroids (prednisone, methylprednisolone)

Pioglitazone and rosiglitazone

pramiprexole

Up to now, we have known that there are many causes of edema, so if you have edema, you should not worry about it very much, while the first the thing you should do is to go to a hospital to do thorough body tests. It your laboratory tests shows that your kidneys are damaged, and because of your damaged kidneys, you have the symptom of edema. In that case, you should treat your edema radically. That is to say, you should repair your kidney function in time which can come to the result of treating primary and secondary aspects of a disease at the same time. However, if you experience edema because of any other causes, you should not worry, you can just consult your doctor and take some medicine prescribed by your doctor.

We come to the conclusion that not all edema is caused by chronic kidney disease, and as long as a person has the symptom of edema, we can not say she or he is suffering from CKD.