Kidney Disease

What is Kidney Disease?

Kidney disease refers to any ailment that affects the kidney's ability to filter out impurities in your blood and produce urine to remove waste and excess water from your body. People with severe kidney disease will cease to produce urine in sufficient quantities.

What Are the Symptoms of Kidney Disease?

There are many symptoms that may signal the onset of kidney disease. These include:

• Dark colored urine
• Unusual smell to the urine
• Nausea or vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Muscle weakness and fatigue
• More or less frequent urination
• Confusion or forgetfulness
• Muscle cramping

What are the Causes of Kidney Disease?

Kidney disease may be caused by many things. Conditions such as diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure can damage the kidneys and may result in them not functioning properly. Certain medications may also damage the kidneys if taken in excess or if they interact adversely with another medication.

Can Any Complications Arise if Left Untreated?

If left untreated, the symptoms of kidney disease will become more pronounced and may become fatal. These advanced symptoms include:

• Extreme fatigue and muscle weakness
• Frequent and intense nausea and vomiting
• Inability to concentrate
• Obvious confusion
• No urine production
• Muscle cramps and spasming
• Itchy, dry skin
• Metallic taste to foods

What Medications Treat Kidney Disease?

There are several classes of medications used to treat kidney disease, depending on the underlying causes of the disease. These include ACE Inhibitors (Captopril, Enalapril, Fosinopril, Lisinopril or Ramipril), and ARBs (Edarbi, Eprosartan, Irbesartan, Losartan, Olmesartan, or Valsartan)

Medications such as Aranesp, Procrit and Epogen to battle anemia, a common side effect of kidney disease, are also commonly prescribed. While these do not fight the kidney disease itself, they do help keep the rest of your body functioning properly.

Common medications may include