Kidney failure occurs when your kidneys are not working well. The
kidneys cannot filter out toxins from your blood and will build up. The worse
the kidney failure the more the toxins will build up
Kidney failure is detected by checking the blood for toxins normally
cleared by the kidneys such as Urea and Creatinine. In kidney failure, the
level of Urea and Creatinine in the blood will be raised. Ultrasound is usually
done to check the size and texture of the kidneys as well as to look for stones
or blockage to the kidneys. If both kidneys are shrunken, it usually means that
the kidney failure has been present for sometime and the kidney damage is
irreversible.
Ultrasound is not sensitive to detect early kidney failure. The kidneys
will shrink only after the kidney damage has been present for a long time so a
normal ultrasound does not always mean that the kidneys are normal.
If both kidneys failed, toxins build up in your blood.
Often people with mild kidney failure do not feel unwell. The condition
is sometimes detected only during medical examination, urine or blood tests. In
chronic kidney failure the kidney fails slowly and most patients do not feel
ill until the kidneys have failed almost completely.
Symptoms of kidney failure are unfortunately vague and happen late.
Often kidney failure does not cause any problems until the kidneys have almost
completely failed. You may feel tired, less energetic, have poor appetite,
nauseated and itchy. You also become more pale and your skin may darken and
develop swelling in the feet or may be puffy in the face. Eventually you may
start to vomit and become breathless. You can become pale and your skin may
darken.
Most patients can still pass urine even when the kidney failure is very
bad. It can take several years for dialysis patients to completely stop passing
urine.
There are two types of kidney failure - acute kidney failure and chronic
kidney failure. In acute kidney failure the kidney stops functioning suddenly.
In many cases the kidney will recover if treated quickly. In chronic renal
failure however there is long-standing kidney damage and scarring and it cannot
be reversed even with medication.
Discuss with your doctor about definitive treatment for your kidney
disease. However many kidney diseases cannot be cured and treatment will not
cure any damage already present in the kidneys.
