Phosphorus and Chronic Kidney Disease

When you have chronic kidney disease, you need to make changes in your diet, including:
 Limiting fluids
 Eating a low-protein diet (this may be recommended)
 Restricting salt, potassium, phosphorous, and other electrolytes
 Getting enough calories if you are losing weight
High levels of phosphorus and bone disease
Because unhealthy kidneys are no longer able to remove phosphorus from the blood and get rid of the excess in urine, high levels of phosphorus (hyperphosphatemia) is a problem for people with stage 4 and 5 kidney disease, especially stage 5 (also known as end stage renal disease or ESRD).
High levels of phosphorus in the blood can cause:
 bone and heart problems that lead to hospital stays and in some cases death
 too much PTH to be released, which over time can weaken bones and make them more likely to break and develop renal osteodystrophy
 low blood calcium, which causes calcium to be taken from the bones
 calcification or hardening of tissues when phosphorus and calcium form hard deposits in the heart, arteries, joints, skin or lungs that can be painful and lead to serious health problems
 bone pain
 Itching
Treatments for controlling phosphorus
People with kidney disease are urged to eat foods that are low in phosphorus. This will help keep the blood level of phosphorus in a healthy range.
Dialysis treatments remove some phosphorus from the blood. It is important that the patient stay on dialysis for their full treatment time for best results. Between dialysis treatments, patients should be careful to limit how much phosphorus they eat.

Depending on your stage of kidney disease, your doctor may also prescribe a medicine called a phosphate binder. This helps to keep phosphorus from building up in your blood. A phosphate binder can be helpful, but you will still need to watch how much phosphorus you eat. Ask your doctor if a phosphate binder is right for you.