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A World Without Kidney Disease Kidney disease is very expensive to treat. It costs about $90,000 each year for someone on dialysis. In the U.S, over $50 billion is spent on dialysis each year. The southeastern part of the U.S., called the “kidney belt,” has the highest rates of chronic...

Preventing Kidney Stones Kidney stones are quite common and can affect around 1 out of 5 males and 1 out of 10 females by the time they reach 70 years of age. The good news is that there are treatments available to manage most stones effectively. Additionally, there are steps you can take to...

The Burden of CKD in the US:  Over 30 million people (about the population of Texas) or approximately 15% of US adults are estimated to have chronic kidney disease CKD. More than half of them have advanced CKD.   Approximately 20% of dollars in traditional Medicare funding—$114 billion a year—are...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is when the kidneys stop working as well as they should. When they are working normally, the kidneys filter the blood and remove waste and excess salt and water. These wastes and fluids are combined to form urine. In people with CKD, the kidneys slowly lose...

A countless variety of therapeutic agents (prescription medications and over-the-counter drugs) or chemical substances can increase blood pressure. Non-prescription drugs or chemical substances that increase blood pressure: 1- Arthritis/pain medications: Motrin, ibuprofen, Advil, Aleve and aspirin. High doses of aspirin increases blood pressure. These medications increase salt and water retention...

  Resistant hypertension is high blood pressure that does not respond well to aggressive medical treatment. Hypertension is considered resistant when all of the following are true: Patient is taking three different blood pressure medications at the maximum dose. One of the blood pressure medications is a diuretic (removes fluid...

  Home blood pressure measurements (twice a day; in the morning and at bedtime for 7 days) correlate more closely with a patient’s true blood pressure than in-office blood pressure measurements, and are more predictive of adverse cardiovascular outcomes (stroke, heart attack and heart failure). The in-office blood pressure measurement...

Normal blood pressure is 120/80. A blood pressure above 120/80 is considered elevated. A blood pressure above 130/80 is considered high blood pressure. The goal of treatment for high blood pressure is a pressure less than 130/80. This is the goal for all patients, young or old, diabetic or non-diabetic,...