Kidney failure: symptoms, causes, and treatment

Posted By Suborna Fermi Posted on Jul 10, 2023

Kidney failure is considered as the last stage of a chronic kidney disorder. A kidney failure eventually indicates that your kidney has lost the ability to filter the blood, and it only can survive with a dialysis, or a kidney transplant.

There are many types of kidney failure such as acute prerenal kidney failure, acute intrinsic kidney failure, chronic prerenal kidney failure, chronic intrinsic kidney failure, and chronic post-renal kidney failure. Untreated kidney failure can be severely life-threatening, which is why it is important to know the symptoms of kidney failure. All symptoms and causes of kidney failure are discussed below for you.

Symptoms of kidney failure

Early stages of kidney failure may not cause any noticeable symptoms. Study showed, most of the people are not aware that they have any kidney disease. As the kidney disease progresses, then you might see symptoms. The symptoms are:

• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Back Pain
• Frequent urination
• Short of breath
• Chest pain
• Swelling in face, hands, and feet
• Difficulty in concentrating
• Poor appetite
• Dry and itchy skin
• High blood pressure

Causes of kidney failure

Our kidney helps to filter the blood, and removes the wastes through the urine. Many health conditions can interfere in between this filtering process. Some possible causes of kidney failure are:

• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Urinary tract infection
• Blood clots in the urinary tract
• Heart disease
• Heart attack
• Multiple myeloma
• Liver disease
• Autoimmune kidney disease
• Kidney injury
• Kidney stones
• Glomerular disease
• Severe dehydration
• Anti-inflammatory medication
• Sepsis
• Lupus
• Chemotherapy
• Heavy metal poisoning
• Alcohol and smoking

Treatment of kidney failure

Your doctor will give you multiple tests to diagnose kidney failure. Some tests include urinalysis test, blood tests, kidney scans, kidney biopsy, chest X-ray, and GFR.

There are assorted options of treatments available for kidney failure. However, which treatment you need depends on the stage of your kidney failure. Some common treatments are:

• Dialysis: This process is done with a machine to remove the wastes and excess fluid from the blood. Along with this, you may need to have a low sodium and potassium diet.
• Kidney transplant: Kidney transplant is a process where your damaged kidney will be transplanted with a fresh and healthy kidney from a donor.

Along with all the treatments you have to take a diet low in sodium, potassium, and phosphorus. Besides, with the treatment you may need to stop consuming alcohol. However, do remember kidney failure does not occur over a night, they happen for a number of health conditions. Therefore, it is important to take care of your health in every possible way.