Chronic Renal Failure

Chronic Renal Failure is the progressive failure of one’s kidneys. In other words, as time goes on with a patient with chronic renal failure, the kidneys begin to die. To compensate for the failure in the kidneys, the remaining good cells try to overcompensate. The remaining nephrons of the kidney go through a process known as hyperfiltration. This is a case where the remaining nephrons filter the blood as much as possible. However, doing this results in those nephonrs weakening much faster and therefore, failing quicker.

While the kidneys are shrinking over time due to the failure, an individual doesn’t start experiencing kidney failure until 70% of the kidneys have already been destroyed. When this happens, the person will begin to have more difficulty processing fluids.

Causes of Chronic Renal Failure

The causes of chronic renal failure vary from case to case. The doctor will obviously conduct tests to try and determine what it was that caused it so that they can cut that activity out to try and save as much of the kidney as possible. While there are numerous different causes of chronic renal failure, some of the most prevalent are:

* Diabetes

* Hypertension

However, chronic renal failure is also caused by other things such as multiple myeloma. In the end, multiple different things, when combined, can help cause chronic renal failure.

Symptoms of Chronic Renal Failure

Because the kidney’s job is to filter the blood and get anything negative out of it, when there is renal failure, the results can be felt everywhere. Some people think that it’s just pain in the kidney area, but the truth is, it is not uncommon for there to be chest pain as well as skin reactions. Here are the symptoms:

* Neurological Responses: Mood changes, cognitive impairment, seizures and other things brought on by neurological issues.

* Gastrointestinal Responses: Vomiting, food distaste and nausea.

* Pulmonary Responses: Fluid in the lungs and breathing difficulties.

* Cardiovascular Responses: Chest pain due to inflammation of the pericarditis, fluid developing around the heart.

* Skin: Generalized itching.

If these are symptoms that are popping up, it is incredibly important to go to the doctor and determine what exactly is going on.

Treatment of Chronic Renal Failure

There are a few different treatments that a doctor might prescribe to try and fix it. There’s no medication to cure renal failure; however, there are medications to cure the causes of renal failure. One of the biggest treatments a doctor will do is prescribe a drug that will help keep hypertension controlled. Because high blood pressure is one of the biggest causes, if they can treat the hypertension, the renal failure might stop being an issue.

Another big treatment is to watch the person’s diet. If they can get the diabetes under control and not have an issue there, the renal failure might not become an issue any longer. This usually requires a massive life style change and a complete change in diet. Eating healthy will ensure the diabetes doesn’t get out of control and therefore, ensure that the chronic renal failure doesn’t progress farther.