Usually, chronic kidney disease in its early stages has no symptoms. Why is that? Our kidneys have a greater ability to do their job than is necessary to maintain their health. For example, you can give one kidney and stay healthy. You can also have kidney damage without any symptoms because despite the damage your kidneys are still doing enough work to make you feel good. For many people, the only way to know if there’s a kidney disease is to test the kidneys with blood and urine.

People with chronic kidney disease also develop anemia, mineral-bone disorders, and malnutrition.