Causes of Kidney Failure :
Acute renal failure develops when either the blood supply to the kidney decreases (e.g. when blood pressure drops to very low levels), the kidneys are damaged (e.g. due to decreased blood supply, infection or toxic drugs), or when there is an obstruction to the flow of urine (e.g. stone in the ureters).
Chronic renal failure can result from many causes :
Diabetes :
About 1/3 to 1/2 of all people with diabetes develop CRF. The reason why the remaining diabetic people do not develop CRF is not clear. However, it is clear that those who have well controlled diabetes have less chance of developing CRF. Even in those who develop CRF, a good control of diabetes can slow down the rate of progression of CRF to ESRD. Therefore, it is very important to control Diabetes even if there are no symptoms. Diabetes is the commonest cause of ESRD and accounts for 30% of all cases of ESRD.
High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) :
Blood Pressure (BP) must be well controlled. Poorly controlled blood pressure not only affects the kidneys but also the heart and the brain. Many dislike the idea of taking medicines permanently thinking that the medicines will have side effects. In fact, considering long-term benefits of well controlled BP, the side effects of BP medicines are negligible. Poorly controlled high blood pressure accounts for 10% of all cases of ESRD.
Glomerulonephritis :
This is a condition where the filters (glomeruli) of the kidney are damaged. The initial symptoms are swelling of the legs and face . Normally, there should be no swelling of the legs – even after prolonged standing or sitting. Therefore, swelling of the legs should not be taken lightly and one should immediately contact his/her doctor. Glomerulonephritis is the cause of ESRD in 20 – 25% of all cases of ESRD.
Urinary tract infection :
Infection can occur anywhere along the urinary tract which includes the kidneys, ureters, bladder and the urethra. The most common is infection in the bladder and urethra which is the lower urinary tract. This does not harm the kidneys. When infection occurs repeatedly in the kidneys – the upper urinary tract, it causes progressive damage to the kidneys and eventually kidney failure.
Kidney stones :
This is not uncommon in our country. If stones causing obstruction to the flow of urine are not promptly treated, it can lead to progressive loss of renal function. Obstruction will cause CRF only if both kidneys are damaged.
Hereditary Kidney Diseases :
The most common hereditary kidney disease leading to ESRD is polycystic kidney disease (PKD). A separate booklet on PKD describes this condition in further details. Once CRF develops, invariably though not always, there is a progressive loss of kidney function and eventually almost entire kidney function is irreversibly lost. For all practical purposes the kidneys are dead.
This stage is called End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). At this stage, it is not possible to manage with just dietary modification and medicines; life-long dialysis or renal transplantation becomes mandatory for a person to survive. There have been a few exceptional cases where a diagnosis of ESRD was made and eventually the patient had a recovery of his kidney function. In these instances actually, there was an error in the diagnosis. Once ESRD develops, no therapy (allopathic, ayurvedic, homeopathic, unani, etc.) can revive the kidneys. Just as a dead person cannot be made alive, dead kidneys cannot be revived. Unfortunately, a few practitioners of other modality of medicine (ayurvedic, homeopathic, unani, naturopathy etc.) offer false hope to patients with ESRD, who, not wanting dialysis or transplant, resort to their therapy and deteriorate so much that at times it may be difficult to salvage them. It must be stressed, that once ESRD develops, dialysis and transplantation are the only treatment options at present. One should not fall a prey to any other from of treatment. However, one certainly could take another opinion to confirm the diagnosis of ESRD.
Source : Narmada Kidney Foundation
Link :http://www.narmadakidney.org/INDEX.ASP?PAGE=FAILURE