Having kidney failure means that your kidneys unable to clean your blood of toxins as well as they should. Although kidney failure can be suspected from certain symptoms, unless very little urine is being made, it usually requires lab work to make the diagnosis.
Recognizing the Symptoms
The symptoms and signs of kidney failure depend on how quickly it happens and how much kidney function is remaining. Most of the time, it is a slow process occurs over many years without any symptoms at all. However, in the hospital it is not uncommon for it to happen quickly and resulting in fluid retention, difficult to control high blood pressure, arrhythmias, decreased mental alertness, muscle twitching, seizures, and coma.
The two most commonly used lab tests to diagnose kidney failure is blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and
serum creatinine (Cr). BUN comes from the break down of protein and creatinine comes mainly your muscle. With kidney failure, both of them are usually elevated.
Distinguishing the Different Types
There are three types of kidney failure and each is defined by how rapidly the kidney failures occur. If it happens very quickly (hours to days), it is called "acute" kidney failure. If it occurs slowly over years it is called “chronic” kidney failure. If the kidney failure occurs over weeks to months, it is called “rapidly progressive” kidney failure.
Knowing the Causes
There are many causes for kidney failure. With acute kidney failure, it is usually due to some sort of insult such as an overwhelming infection, low blood pressure, obstruction, toxin exposure, or a reaction to a medication. With rapidly progressive kidney failure, it is usually due to an autoimmune or inflammatory process called glomeronephritis. With chronic kidney failure, it is usually due to diabetes, high blood pressure, IgA nephropathy, polycystic kidney disease, or chronic obstruction.
Kidney failure may not result in complications unless most of the kidney function has been lost. If this happens there may be problems with fluid overload, high blood pressure, electrolyte disorders, nausea and vomiting, nerve and muscle toxicity and bleeding.
Treating Kidney Failure
The specific treatment depends on what the diagnosis is. However, many times, it involves stopping the offending agent or giving support during a difficult illness. Sometimes immune system suppression is indicated if it is due to inflammation or an autoimmune process. With a chronic disease, you may not be able to stop the process but you can try to slow the progression of the failure. Dialysis can be used to keep someone alive if the kidneys are too badly damaged or destroyed.
