Every Step of the Way
Living with a medical condition that affects your kidneys can impact your whole life. The skilled nephrology experts that make up your care team are health care professionals who are both knowledgeable and involved in every aspect of managing and treating your condition. If you have a chronic kidney condition or are undergoing hemodialysis, you may be helped by dialysis nurses, patient care technicians, renal dietitians, social workers and dialysis technical staff.
Your multidisciplinary team of doctors will include kidney and high blood pressure specialists collaborating with one another to ensure you get the best possible care available for your condition. This may include the expertise of specialists in cardiovascular medicine, critical care medicine, urology, pathology, endocrinology, pharmacy, obstetrics and gynecology, or other areas, as needed.
Having such a highly skilled, flexible team of medical experts working together to get you exactly the care you need means you and your case are the focus. Treatment plans are crafted with your wishes in mind and you’re included and empowered in your own care at every step.
We’re here to help you find the right physician or a location that’s convenient for you.
Whole-Person Health Care
- Kidney Failure
-
The main function of the kidneys is to remove waste from the body in the form of urine, but they also work as a filtering system, balancing the blood’s electrolyte content by filtering water and salt. When one or both kidneys are unable to work properly, this is commonly referred to as kidney failure. There are two types of kidney failure:
- Acute kidney failure — a rapid loss of function in kidneys, which can occur suddenly from something like poisoning or injury
- Chronic kidney failure — a gradual loss of function, which happens over time. This kind of kidney failure can take years to cause noticeable damage
Some of the most common causes include:
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Symptoms of Kidney Failure
-
Kidney diseases often begin with no symptoms. As the diseases progress, here are some signs you may be experiencing kidney failure:
- Altered consciousness
- Breath that smells like urine
- Fatigue, insomnia
- Fluid retention
- High blood pressure
- Loss of appetite, malnutrition
- Low temperature
- Low urine output or no urine output in severe cases, frequent urination
- Muscle cramps and twitches
- Nausea, vomiting
- Seizures, coma
- Shortness of breath
- Sores, bad taste in the mouth
- Swollen and numb hands and feet, itchy skin
- Yellowish-brownish skin tone
- Treatments for Kidney Failure
-
Chronic kidney diseases are not typically reversible, but there are treatments that work to preserve as much kidney function as possible. When acute renal failure is present, treatment plans will usually focus on the illness or injury that caused the underlying problem. Treatments may include:
- Blood pressure medications
- Dialysis
- Diuretics to flush out the kidneys, increase urine flow and rid the body of excess sodium
- Doing daily weight checks
- Eating a high-carbohydrate, low-protein diet
- Kidney transplant
- Medications to control high phosphorus levels
- Medicine to treat anemia
- Restricting fluids
- Sodium polystyrene sulfonate or insulin in dextrose to control high potassium levels
- Risks for Kidney Failure
-
Some conditions may lead to a higher risk of kidney failure. Those risks include:
- Cancer
- Condition that obstructs urine flow
- Enlargement of the prostate gland
- Genetics: Polycystic kidney disease and type 1 diabetes
- Glomerulonephritis
- High blood pressure
- HIV
- Liver failure, jaundice
- Long-term use of pain medications containing aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in high doses
- Lupus or other autoimmune diseases
- Polycystic kidney disease
- Pyelonephritis
- Race: African American
- Recent open-heart surgery
- Recent surgery on an abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Respiratory failure
- Preventing Kidney Failure
-
Here are steps you can take to help support your kidneys and improve your kidney function:
- Avoiding long-term and frequent use of pain medications
- Controlling blood sugar, especially if you have diabetes
- Getting regular blood pressure checks
- Limiting cholesterol and sodium in your diet
- Limiting protein in your diet, if you have chronic kidney disease
- Limiting your potassium intake if you have severe kidney disease
- Taking medication to control high blood pressure
One of America’s Best Hospitals
AdventHealth Orlando is recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s best hospitals for kidney failure treatment.
Uniquely Dedicated to You
We know the path to a kidney transplant is long. That's why, the AdventHealth Transplant Institute, formerly Florida Hospital Transplant Institute, provides a dedicated and experienced team to guide your personalized journey every step of the way.
Built Just for Them
Extra special patients deserve extra special care. Our pediatric transplant surgeons work closely with our network of pediatric specialists to ease your mind, calm your nerves and deliver the best care possible for your child. Kids are dreamers. We want to give them back their dreams. We also don't want them to grow up too fast. That's why we try to lighten the heavy reality of their transplant experience while providing expert care and support for families.
The Most Compassionate Support
Hope. Help. And Healing.
Kidney health is a journey. At AdventHealth, we’ll help make it a well-guided one with state-of-the-art technology, best-in-class facilities and a dedicated team to support you every step of the way.