10 Most Common CKD Symptoms

10 Most Common CKD Symptoms

The most common symptom of CKD is no symptoms. In other words, it is a ‘silent killer’ like early diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Most, initially, don’t know they have it.

Here are 10 of the most common symptoms of CKD:

1. Urinary symptoms – relatively rare (surprisingly). Foamy urine can be a sign of CKD with increased protein in your urine
2. High blood pressure (BP) – most people with CKD have high blood pressure
3. Shortness of breath and ankle swelling (red flag symptoms) – you need to see a doctor soon
4. Tiredness
5. Pain – while body (especially bone) pain
6. Muscle weakness
7. Not being hungry – poor appetite, especially with food that has little taste (or tastes metallic)
8. Itching – whole body
9. Poor concentration and sleeping
10. Other (non-specific) – including a feeling of deep cold, leg cramps and restless legs.

This could be CKD (or a bad day!)

Why is it hard to tell you have CKD?

It is notoriously difficult to know you if have chronic kidney disease (CKD), especially in its early stages. When the CKD is mild and the kidney function ‘OK’ – well, good enough; e.g. CKD 1-3 – you can have no symptoms. Or, if you have some, there are reasons you ignore them:

1. The body can cope with early CKD, with some reduced kidney function. So it can maintain a balance for quite a while when you are in the early stages, leading to little/no symptoms
2. Vague symptoms. Even if you do have symptoms, they can be quite vague (e.g. tiredness, or off food) and you may link them with other things (rather than problems with your kidneys) – e.g. you are fed up with something else, working too hard, children are a handful etc
3. Other diseases. Those symptoms, being vague, are common to other chronic diseases (heart failure, anaemia etc). So the wrong diagnosis is made. Or you may have both (e.g. CKD can cause anaemia) and the doctors focus on the ‘wrong’ disease (the anaemia).

So at this stage, CKD is usually only picked up on routine blood tests for another condition, or because you have new vague symptoms.

The golden rule with kidneys and possible CKD is .. if in doubt, have a blood test.”

Summary

We have described the 10 most common CKD symptoms. But. Often there are none. And the diagnosis is made either as part of blood tests looking for another condition, or because you have new persistent vague symptoms. If in doubt, have a blood test.