What Is Kidney Failure?
Kidney failure occurs when the kidneys stop working well enough to keep someone alive. Acute kidney injury (also called acute renal kidney failure) is the term commonly used to describe patients whose kidneys suddenly stop functioning as they normally should. This is characterized as “sudden loss of the ability of the kidneys to excrete wastes, concentrate urine, conserve electrolytes, and maintain fluid balance.”
There is no permanent treatment for kidney failure, only ways to help manage symptoms caused by failing kidneys and to keep a person as healthy as possible.
Kidney failure facts and figures:
- Experts report that there are five primary complications associated with chronic kidney diseases and damage: anemia, hyperlipidemia, poor nutrition, cardiovascular disease risk factors and osteodystrophy (abnormal growth of bone mass associated with disturbances in calcium and phosphorus metabolism).
- Patients with chronic kidney problems and high risk for kidney failure experience much higher rates of the diseases mentioned above, especially heart complications and anemia. For example, the overall prevalence of kidney disease-associated anemia is approximately 50 percent, and cardiovascular disease mortality rates are 10- to 100-fold higher among dialysis patients than healthy patients of the same age.
- Many patients with kidney failure visit a hospital due to sudden symptoms, and this is where their diagnoses take place. If a patient ends up in intensive care, acute kidney failure is associated with between 50 percent to 80 percent chance of mortality.
- Chronic kidney disease is recognized as a major risk factor for kidney failure, and currently a significant global health problem. In the U.S., about 14 percent of the adult population has some sort of chronic kidney disease, and this number is expected to rise with the growing elderly population.
- Dialysis is one treatment option for those with kidney failure, which is needed when a patient has only 10 percent to 15 percent of normal kidney function left.
Symptoms
Kidney failure symptoms normally include:
- Kidney pain, which feels like throbbing or tenderness below the rib cage or in the back/abdomen (sometimes called “flank pain”)
- Producing less urine than usual or sometimes not at all. A warning side of kidney disease, however, may be frequent urination, sometimes with blood or other color changes.
- Fluid retention and swelling due to imbalance of electrolytes, especially in the lower extremities, such as the legs, ankles or feet. The face and eyes may also appear puffy and swollen.
- Indigestion, nausea, loss of appetite and sometimes vomiting
- High blood pressure
- Cognitive and mood changes, mostly due to shifting electrolyte levels and dehydration. These can include confusion, trouble sleeping, anxiety, fatigue, trouble concentrating, weakness and brain fog.
- Rhabdomyolysis, which is a apid breakdown of skeletal muscle that causes muscle proteins and other muscle constituents to leak outside of cells and into the bloodstream.
While kidney failure is very serious, it doesn’t always mean that someone needs to be put on dialysis forever or they’re necessary at risk of dying. Depending on the state of someone’s overall health — along with age and how many risk factors the person is up against — it’s possible to live a fulfilling life even with severely damaged/failed kidneys.
Risk Factors and Causes
The kidneys can fail for a few different reasons, primarily due to high amounts of blood loss, dehydration (which affects electrolyte levels), reactions from taking certain medications/ingesting toxins, or due to a blockage developing in the channels leading to and from the kidneys.
Risk factors for experiencing kidney failure include:
- Having a history of diabetes, anemia, high blood pressure, heart disease or heart failure. These can all affect blood flow to the kidneys and contribute to inflammation.
- Suffering from any other form of kidney damage or disease, including having chronic kidney disease, kidney stones (which are very common) or sepsis, an infection that slows down blood reaching the kidneys. Chronic kidney disease is a general term for heterogeneous disorders affecting kidney structure and function, which when left untreated can contribute to failure.
- Consuming an unhealthy diet or being very overweight or obese. A poor diet can result in electrolyte imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, higher levels of inflammation and changes in blood pressure, just to name a few of the related negative effects.
- Being an older adult. Increasing age raises your risk for various kidney problems.
- Having a history of prostate disease (an enlarged prostate), liver damage or liver disease. This affects how the body dispels waste and processes toxins, drugs, hormones and/or chemicals.
- Experiencing trauma or an injury to the kidneys that causes sudden blood loss.
- Having low immune function due to another illness, such as a virus that causes changes in electrolyte levels. High amounts of emotional stress, frequent infections or fatigue can also lower immunity.
- Being treated in a hospital or intensive care unit, such as having surgery or undergoing an organ/bone marrow transplant.
- Taking medications that can sometimes lead to kidney problems, such as antibiotics, painkillers, blood pressure drugs or ACE inhibitors.
Conventional Treatment
While your doctor might suspect you have damaged kidneys or kidney failure based on discussing your symptoms, medical history and risk factors with you, tests like blood tests and urine sample tests are used to confirm a diagnosis.
Sometimes ultrasounds are also needed to look for signs of swelling and inflammation in the kidneys and digestive organs. Ultimately, doctors are able to know someone is experiencing kidney failure by measuring their electrolyte levels, especially levels of sodium/salt, potassium and calcium.
Management of kidney disease or failed kidneys varies according to stages of disease severity.
Once a diagnosis is made, kidney failure is typically treated in several ways:
- Restoring electrolyte levels and treating dehydration. Sometimes intravenous fluids are given to restore hydration, or diuretics are used if fluid retention and swelling is a problem.
- Altering medications that may be causing the problem
- If a blockage in the urinary tract is causing symptoms by not allowing the patient to urinate, then removing the blockage
- Treating any infection that’s related to symptoms, such as sepsis or an infection affecting other digestive organs
- Starting a program on dialysis if necessary
- Possibly prescribing medications to control levels of potassium, calcium, glucose or sodium. Medications can include Kayexalate and Kionex, which prevent the accumulation of high levels of potassium in your blood.