Your kidneys are one of the most significant organs in the body. They are a pair of organs located towards your lower back and serve the purpose of filtering your blood to remove toxic and waste substances from the body. The toxic substances can be detrimental to your health if they are not removed out of the body.
What is a kidney failure?
Kidney failure is the condition where both of your kidneys or just one of them cannot serve their function to the required level of performance. This can be brought about by a myriad of factors that may interfere with the health and proper function of your kidney. Some of them include:
- Kidney trauma
- Some acute and chronic diseases
- Toxic exposure to environmental pollutants
- Severe dehydration
When your system is burdened with toxins and dangerous wastes resulting from a kidney failure, what follows are life threatening conditions that can be dangerous to your health. This is the reason why you should always seek the services of a doctor the moment you realize you have a kidney problem.
What causes kidney failure?
The following factors could predispose you to kidney failure
- Loss of blood flow to the kidney
Kidney failure is often prompted by a sudden loss of blood flow to the kidneys. Some of the diseases and conditions that may lead to loss of blood flow to the kidneys include:
- Heart attack
- Severe burn
- Dehydration
- Liver failure
- Allergic reactions
- Urine elimination problem
When your body finds it difficult to eliminate urine from the system, there is a consequent build up and overloading of the kidneys. Certain cancers can lead to blockage of urine passageways. Such cancers include prostate cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer, and bladder cancer. Other conditions which that can interfere with urination include
- Trauma on the nerves controlling urination
- Blood clots within the urinary tract
- Kidney stones
- Enlarged prostate
Other causes
Certain diseases and conditions can lead to kidney failure. They include:
- A clot of blood in the kidney
- Drug and alcohol
- Dyes used in certain imaging tests
- Chemotherapy drugs (medications that treat autoimmune diseases and cancer)
- Overload of toxins from heavy metals
- Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. (A disorder that causes blood clot in tiny vessels)
Types of kidney failure
Below are the types of kidney failure
Acute Prerenal kidney failure
Without enough flow of blood into the kidneys, the kidneys find it difficult to filter out the toxic wastes hence the occurrence of acute perennial kidney failure. This problem is usually solved once the problem leading to the low supply of blood has been determined.
Acute intrinsic kidney failure
Direct trauma causes this kind of kidney failure to either one of the kidneys or both of them. An accident or physical impact can lead to the trauma. Its causes are ischemia and toxic overload making it difficult for the kidney to perform its function in the right manner. Ischemia may be caused by
- Obstruction of renal blood vessel
- Shock
- Severe bleeding
- Glomerulonephritis
Chronic Prerenal kidney failure
This is the condition where the kidney begins to shrink thus losing its function. The primary cause of this is insufficient blood flowing into the kidneys.
Chronic intrinsic kidney failure
This usually occurs when there is a long-term damage to the kidneys as a result of intrinsic kidney diseases. Direct trauma causes these intrinsic kidney diseases to the kidneys like severe bleeding or insufficient oxygen.
Chronic post renal kidney failure
This is caused by a long-term blockage of the urinary tract thus hindering urination. The consequent is pressure which in turn cause kidney failure.
There is more to dehydration than just being very thirsty. When your body doesn’t get enough water, it cannot function properly. When you become dehydrated, it can be mild or severe. It all depends on how much fluid is missing from your body. It is normal to lose water throughout the day. It can happen when you sweat, when you cry, when you go to the bathroom, and even when you breathe. There are certain situations where you can lose too much water, and it can become a hazard to your health.