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How long will one live with stage 4 kidney failure?

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 12:55 am
by clairedavas
If someone has suffering from stage 4 kidney failure, is it sure the patient will go to stage 4 kidney failure? What is the different between stage 4 & 5kidney failure?

Re: How long will one live with stage 4 kidney failure?

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 1:23 pm
by wagolynn
Hi clairdavas,

How long can you live with kidney failure? - without treatment a very short time measured in weeks (two or three at the most), is the usual answer.

It is almost inevitable that stage 4 will become stage 5.
The kidneys are on their last gasp in stage 4 so inevitably they progress to stage 5.
The only question is when, the time scale depends on the root cause of failure, and the individual.

The 'cure' is a transplant, life can be sustained, and the patient kept healthy enough to undergo a transplant by dialysis.
Dialysis can, and in some cases, doe's keep people going for tens of years.
The situation is made more complicated because kidney failure weakens the immune system making the patient more susceptible to other health issues.

There is some very reliable, and useful information on these websites;

http://www.kidneypatientguide.org.uk/contents.php

http://www.edren.org/ explore the 'hand book'.

Any information you find on the internet should be treated as suspect, until you are sure it is from a reliable source, there is a lot of rubbish out there.

Best wishes.

Re: How long will one live with stage 4 kidney failure?

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 1:29 pm
by Thumps
I lived with stage four kidney failure for a fair few years before I tipped over into needing a transplant. The speed of deterioration really depends on the nature of the cause, your overall health and how you look after yourself.

The links posted above are great, as is this one but I hope you're also having more detailed conversations with your doctor or medical team.