Polycystic kidney disease is inherited, so most patients have seen how it has affected their relatives. Young adult patients have no symptoms and need no drugs, but kidney function will slowly deteriorate
My journey on the “PKD path” started when I was a child, but my family’s journey began earlier. My grandmother died of polycystic kidney disease (PKD), and my mother was diagnosed as having it shortly after my birth, after having a cerebrovascular accident, which she surprisingly survived. The doctor told her that she shouldn’t be afraid: “She would be able to raise her own kids.” He was right; she only started dialysis after several years of having nausea and tiredness.