Kidney failure – symptoms

Acute kidney failure: symptoms

Acute kidney failure in many cases begins with nonspecific symptoms such as rapid fatigue, difficulty concentrating and nausea. The urinary excretion goes back. If the excreted amount of urine is less than 500 milliliters in 24 hours, doctors speak of an oliguria. If the patient withdraws less than 100 ml of urine during the same period, anuria is present.

The declining urine excretion leads to water retention in the tissue, so-called edema. They form mainly in the legs. Later, the water, which the sick kidneys can no longer excrete, also stores in other organs, for example in the lungs (pulmonary edema), which causes shortness of breath.

Acute kidney failure changes the composition of the blood salts (blood electrolytes). Especially important is the increase in potassium: This so-called hyperkalemia can cause life-threatening arrhythmia, dizziness and short loss of consciousness.

The cause of acute renal insufficiency may influence the symptoms: for example, prerenal renal insufficiency triggers symptoms of dehydration such as thirst, low blood pressure, dry mucous membranes and poorly filled neck veins. Some patients also experience nausea, vomiting and / or diarrhea. In contrast, a postrenal kidney failure is characterized mainly by colicky pain in the lower abdomen.

Chronic kidney failure: symptoms

The type of chronic kidney failure (chronic renal insufficiency) depends mainly on the underlying disease (such as diabetes or hypertension). The sequelae, which result from the kidney weakness, characterize the symptoms in later stages.

initial stage

Initially, chronic kidney failure does not cause any symptoms for a long time: as long as kidney function is only slightly limited, the patient usually does not notice it. Some people complain about uncharacteristic symptoms such as poor performance and tiredness. Another sign of chronic kidney failure may be frequent urination, with urine very light and poorly concentrated.

Advanced stage

In the further course, chronic kidney failure is often accompanied by the following symptoms:

• High blood pressure (hypertension) – occurring for the first time or increasingly difficult to adjust
• low urine levels (less than half a liter per day – about one and a half liters per day are normal)
• sometimes red-colored urine (due to decomposition products of the red blood pigment)
• foaming urine when urinating (hint at protein in the urine)
• Fluid accumulation (edema) in the body, especially on the legs and eyelids
• increased susceptibility to infections
• Anemia (renal anemia) and associated fatigue, weakness, concentration problems, decreasing exercise capacity and paleness or café-au-lait-staining of the skin (dirty yellow skin color)
• bone pain
• Muscle aches
• Itching and burning in the legs
• Nausea and vomiting
• diarrhea

The progression of chronic renal insufficiency gradually damages almost all organs and organ systems of the body – medical experts speak here of the uremic syndrome. It leads to pathological changes in the cardiovascular system, hematopoietic system, gastrointestinal tract, nervous system, endocrine system as well as the skin and bones. The complaints become increasingly serious, the more the kidneys lose their function. Finally, in terminal renal failure symptoms such as severe shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, drowsiness, somnolence, convulsions and coma.