How do I tell if my kidney has failed?I was born with only one functioning kidney, I made annual visits to a doctor to keep an eye on it until recently when the doctor said I did not have to come for another three years or so due to it being in good shape. But sadly, I worry about everything, a lot. And would greatly appreciate it if someone could give me the symptoms of a failed kidney, mainly symptoms that I would experience immediately/shortly after failure so that I can get myself to a hospital as soon as possible if needed.
Posted by clayton
Lack of urine, not using the bath room in a timely fashion. Pain in the lower back or kidney area.
Posted by House825
There are usually no symptoms of early kidney failure. It has to be very advanced before symptoms begin appear. Those would be excessive swelling in the feet and legs; extreme itching; nausea; not thinking clearly, feeling tired, and a poor appetite..
I have been on dialysis. When I say "excessive swelling", I'm talking about where you can take your finger and push it into the swollen portion of your leg and leave a big indentation. I don't mean a tiny bit of swelling after you ate too much Chinese food and that's gone the next morning. By itching, I mean constant itching that doesn't go away. By feeling tired, I mean that you have true anemia, not the kind that can be helped with diet. I used to come home from work, sleep 3 hours, wake up for an hour, and then go to bed for the night. My appetite was so poor that the only things I wanted were things with a great deal of flavor, like spicy Mexican food.
These symptoms come on somewhat slowly. You would have plenty of time to have them checked on.
You can do fine with one kidney - I am following a transplant. The really important things you want to do are to avoid the main causes of chronic kidney failure: diabetes and high blood pressure. I'd go for a yearly checkup including labs to make sure your blood sugar is normal and that your blood pressure is normal.
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