What is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)?

Let's start by learning what your kidneys do. Most people have two kidneys, and they're each about the size of your closed fist. Your kidneys filter about 200 quarts of your blood each day, removing materials and fluid that your body doesn't need. They also help produce hormones that your body does need.

So your kidneys do important work. In fact, you could call them the gatekeepers of your body, since they guard your bloodstream, taking harmful things out and allowing helpful things in. Sometimes, an injury or illness can cause you to lose some of your kidney function. Diseases such as diabetes or high blood pressure can hurt the blood vessels in your kidneys. This may lead to a condition doctors call Chronic Kidney Disease, or CKD. CKD permanently reduces your kidney's ability to do their job of gate keeping or cleaning your blood. So fluids and other unwanted materials can build up and make you feel sick.