POLL: Causes of kidney failure / disease - Please see if yours is shown here.

[paddbear0000]

Type 1 diabetes. 

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Polycystic Kidney Disease. A routine medical for an insurance policy revealed proteinuria and subsequent clinical tests showed PKD. It was explained that it was hereditary but no-one in my family ever showed outward symptoms of kidney disease.

After two years of marking the rate of deterioration they said that the disease was unlikely to get to the point of dialysis until very late in life but in the last few years the rate accelerated and in June 2007 creatinine reach 600 (6.0 USA Measurement)  It was then explained that my kidney function was now only 10% and now it was time for dialysis.

 I was gobsmacked, shouldn't I be feeling unwell, shouldn't I be overloaded with fluid plus all the other symptoms. They explained that even though my energy levels were good, had full fluid output,never had a kidney infection and never experienced back pain which is common in PKD, that the kidneys were failing to process blood toxins from my body and that reason alone is enough to require dialysis.

So under protest I agreed. I chose PD and had the Tencoff fitted and here I am 15 months on. I still dialyse under mild protest because I am still symptomless except for intermittent bouts of insomnia and restless legs, in fact stuff dialysis over Christmas, I'm going to stay off it for about four days. I've done it before without any ill effects and no fluid gain.

[okarol]

When someone is given the reason for kidney failure as hypertension, isn't there an underlying cause? I know my grandparents had high blood pressure, but they were in their 70's and had life long high salt diets and weight issues, so I assumed that was the cause. I need to learn more.

[orphans_mom]

106 degree F fever and heart attack brought on by an infection in a pic line.

[qwerty]

I have chronic pylenonephritis so the doc's are always on the lookout.  Problem is I'm never symptomatic until it's severe enough with the first symtom being severe low back pain. By the time I'm symptomatic I usually end up hospitalized. Knock on wood I havent had to deal with what the majority of you have. Right now I'm on the caregiver end instead. 

[kimcanada]

Geez I had mine wrote down and now I can't find it, it only has about 37 letters in the name 

I will find out on Monday and post in your pole, I think this is VERY interesting!

Kimcanada

[tamara]

My Kidney Failure was caused by TTP at the age of 24. Here we are at the age of 33 transplanted WOOHOO   

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP or Moschcowitz disease) is a rare disorder of the blood-coagulation system, causing multiple blood clots to form in blood vessels around the body.Most cases of TTP arise from deficiency or inhibition of the enzyme ADAMTS13, which is responsible for cleaving large multimers of von Willebrand factor. This leads to hemolysis and end-organ damage, and may require plasmapheresis therapy.

Signs and symptoms

Classically, the following five symptoms are indicative of this elusive disease:

Fluctuating neurological symptoms, such as bizarre behavior (That's me at least I have a reason  ) , altered mental status, stroke or headaches (65%);
Kidney failure (46%);
Fever (33%);
Thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), leading to bruising or frank purpura;
Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (anemia, jaundice and a characteristic blood film).
A patient may notice dark urine from the hemolytic anemia. Because of the many small areas of ischemia produced by clots in the microvasculature, symptoms may be diffuse and fluctuating, including the classical bruising, confusion, or headache, but also nausea and vomiting (from ischemia in the GI tract or from central nervous system involvement), chest pain from cardiac ischemia, seizures, muscle and joint pain, etc.

[boxman55]

Mine by type two diabetes and high blood pressure...Boxman

[KT0930]

I answered early-on and never said in the thread what caused mine. I got an e. coli infection at the tender age of 10 months, and that led to hemolytic uremic syndrome - aka hemolytic uremic anemia - that was the downfall of my native kidneys, and what I put in the poll. Have lost both transplants to good ole chronic rejection.

[Wattle]

I also answered early-on and never said in the thread what caused mine.


Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). Inherited from my father, who had inherited it from his father. The odds are 50/50. I didn't win the lottery. 

[Slywalker]

I had to check other on the survey because no one every really gave me a firm diagnosis.  At the time they noticed my kidney failure it was just after I completed six months of chemo for breast cancer.  However, my mother died while doing dialysis (staff infection that went untreated) and we never knew what caused her kidney failure.  I went to a family reunion on her side a couple of years after her death and found some of her sisters and/or a couple of my cousins also had kidney failure.  Now one aunt is on hemodialysis and a cousin recently had a kidney transplant.   My original kidney specialist gave me a diagnosis that basically said it was hereditary.  The biopsy of my kidneys only showed scar tissue of an unknown origin.  My kidneys were also classified as "small" and the docs predicted for some reason they stopped growing when I was in my early teens.  So, my mother's kidney failure was not diagnosed until she was in her late 50's.  Mine was when I was 44.  I hold firmly to the belief that the chemo accelerated my kidney failure. 
Recently my 25 year old daughter was diagnosed with "stage 2" kidney failure.  The bad DNA has been passed on - but only on the female side of the family. 
Big mysteries.

Sandyb

[GuyIncognito]

I put myself down in the Other category... the Neph's say it is a disease is similar to Alports but without the cysts, It effects about 50% of the family, male and female.

[MelissaJean]

Even though I voted 'other' (my kidney failure was due to medications from Cystic Fibrosis and anti-rejection meds from my lung transplant), it was soo interesting (and sad) to see how many causes of kidney failure there are.   Hugs to everyone 

[knmiller]

I had a bad case of strep throat in college that I felt wasn't all that bad.  Unfortunately, it later turned into IgA Nephropathy...  Lesson to be learned from all of this...If you get a sore throat, get your butt to the doctor and don't sit on it.  I learned the hard way.

[Loretta]

This is a good topic.

My causes could be listed but I don't know the medical terms for what caused mine.  I lost my left kidney to blood clots in the renal vein in 1989.  I have continued to have clotting problems but what causes the problems have never been diagnosed.
I lost the other kidney  in Jan 2007 due to an alergic reaction to the antibiotic I had to take for repeated MERCA infections.
I am currently having problems with the right kidney because of scare tissue due to the treatment of cancer in the kidney.
Loretta

[LightLizard]

i'm still not sure what eaxactly caused my kidneys to fail.
at age two, in 1951, i developed pernicious anemia. i was given a complete blood transfusion to save my life.
in '51, there was no knowledge of hepatitis C, and so it wasn't screened back then.
i motored along for over 50 years before it took me out. perhaps it was hypertension, caused by my immune system's attempt to fight the hep C virus. maybe it was the six weeks of interferon i was given, before the gut bleed it caused almost did me in and they stopped the treatments. i would like to know, but i have a feeling that my neph is unsure, as well.

[rimbo74]

I know there are more than 3 Alports people out there....

the must not be checking in very much.  Guess the same goes for me.   

[okarol]

A related thread -  "Why are you on dialysis?...in short?" --> http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=1717.0     

[bolta72]

So I have my interview with the transplant surgeon and he tells me my kidney failure was not caused by high blood pressure and all my other tests come back negative as far as the cause goes. 

[okarol]

So I have my interview with the transplant surgeon and he tells me my kidney failure was not caused by high blood pressure and all my other tests come back negative as far as the cause goes. 

So they have no idea? 

[vandie]

My doctors were never able to pinpoint the cause of my kidney failure.  Perhaps an infection or a medication years ago.  The biopsy showed a lot of scarring but gave them no indication of the cause.

xoxo

[isurvived]

By all indications, mine was caused by unrecognized high blood pressure. Since everyone in my immediate family has high blood pressure, I am inclined to agree with the diagnosis.

[okarol]

 

[Chris]

Well I had type 1 diabetes with high blood pressure = double whammy

[twirl]

PKD
grandfather
mother
me, not my twin or older sister
my daughter, Stasie (Stacy)
my daughter- Melissa and a diaprhmatic hernia at birth ( she has one working lung but she is a cheerleader and an drill team officier
my son- we do not know and he would worry too much, he doesn't want to know now
            He is on his way to play football at A&M, we are really Texas Fans, but that's what he wants (children will turn on you)
            He is going to be some kind of an engineer