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When it’s your kidneys
For people in the United States who have kidney disease, who have diabetes or high blood pressure and have never been told how their kidneys are, or who are facing dialysis, and for the people beside them. Who should be tested. The two tests, and what the numbers mean. How to protect the kidneys you have. The common pain relievers that can damage them. The four choices if kidneys fail. Living on dialysis. A transplant. And how Medicare covers kidney failure at any age. Take only what you need today.
Right now
- Chest pain, or trouble breathing? Call 911. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases lists chest pain and shortness of breath among the symptoms of advanced kidney disease.
- Had a kidney transplant, and you have a fever of more than 100 degrees or aren’t feeling well? The same institute says to call your transplant center right away.
- On peritoneal dialysis, with belly pain, a fever, or cloudy used solution? It says to seek immediate care if you have signs of infection.
- Can’t get to dialysis because of a storm, a flood or another emergency? Medicare says your ESRD Network can help you get your treatments. Call 1-800-633-4227 for your Network’s contact information.
- Thinking about ending your life? Call or text 988, at any hour.
More help
- To keep your own numbers: Blood pressure log and Blood sugar log.
- To keep your medicines straight: My medicines: a list and a daily check.
- To get ready for the visit: Get ready for your appointment.
- No doctor, or no way to pay: When you need a doctor and can’t pay and When a medical bill is too much.
- Diabetes and the heart: When blood sugar goes too low or too high, When it might be a heart attack and When it might be a stroke.
- If you can’t work: Applying for disability benefits and Ask for what helps you work.
- Food: When you need food.
- Looking after someone: When you’re caring for someone.
- A card to carry: My emergency card.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- When pain doesn’t go away: pain that has lasted for months: describing it so a doctor hears it, treatments that are not medicine, and what pain does to sleep and mood.
- When the heaviness won’t lift: what depression is and the ways it can look that aren’t sadness, seeing a doctor, and finding help you can afford.
- When someone you love is dying: someone who is dying: hospice and palliative care, what Medicare pays for, keeping them comfortable, what you may see near the end, and what to say.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, nurse, dietitian or lawyer has reviewed it, and it was not written by someone who has kidney disease: an AI has never sat in a dialysis chair, and cannot know what that costs a person. The facts come from pages read on October 6, 2026: the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (niddk.nih.gov: What Is Chronic Kidney Disease in Adults? and Causes, both last reviewed February 2025; Tests & Diagnosis, Managing and Preventing, all October 2016; Healthy Eating for Adults with Chronic Kidney Disease, January 2025; What Is Kidney Failure?, Choosing a Treatment, Hemodialysis, Peritoneal Dialysis, Kidney Transplant and Conservative Management, all January 2018; Financial Help for Treatment of Kidney Failure, February 2020); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Chronic Kidney Disease Basics, Testing, and Risk Factors, all May 15, 2024); Medicare.gov (End-Stage Renal Disease; dialysis services and supplies; kidney transplants; kidney disease education); and MedlinePlus. Several of those pages are years old, and the page says so where it uses them. The longest of them (the dialysis, transplant and treatment-choice pages) were searched for the parts used here, not read end to end. The page says whose words it is passing on, and what is marked “ours” is our own suggestion and not from any of these. Where the sources differ: the kidney institute calls a GFR of “15 or less” kidney failure and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says “less than 15”; the page gives both. What we did not read: the National Kidney Foundation’s site (the page we tried did not open), the American Kidney Fund, any ESRD Network’s own page, how the transplant waiting list works, living donation, children’s kidney disease, acute kidney injury, kidney stones, polycystic kidney disease, any state’s Medicaid or kidney program rules, the newer kidney medicines, and any price. So the page does not describe them. We did not call any number. Numbers and coverage rules change: check with the source before you rely on one. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick or choose is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). It was checked by programs, not yet used by people. Scarlet Beast is not a clinic, a dialysis center, an insurance agency or a government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].