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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffChronic kidney failure can affect almost every part of your body. Potential complications may include:
- Fluid retention, which could lead to swollen tissues, congestive heart failure or fluid in your lungs (pulmonary edema)
- A sudden rise in potassium levels in your blood (hyperkalemia), which could impair your heart's ability to function and may be life-threatening
- Cardiovascular disease
- Weak bones that fracture easily
- Anemia
- Stomach ulcers
- Dry skin, changes in skin color
- Insomnia
- Decreased sex drive or impotence
- Damage to your central nervous system
- Decreased immune response, which makes you more vulnerable to infection
- Pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac-like membrane that envelops your heart (pericardium)
- Irreversible damage to your kidneys (end-stage kidney disease), requiring either dialysis or a kidney transplant for survival
Complications in children
Chronic kidney failure can cause children to stop growing normally. This complication occurs partly because failing kidneys have reduced production of erythropoietin, a hormone that helps generate red blood cells and metabolize human growth hormone. The kidneys also regulate the interactions of calcium and vitamin D, both of which are essential for bone growth. In chronic kidney failure, these interactions can become imbalanced, inhibiting growth.
Complications during pregnancy
If you have chronic kidney failure and you become pregnant, you'll face a number of potential complications. When you're pregnant, the amount of fluid in your body increases greatly, so your kidneys must work especially hard. This may lead to worsening high blood pressure and an increase in the waste products circulating in your blood.
These changes affect both you and your baby. Chronic high blood pressure means your baby receives less blood through the placenta, which can seriously affect growth. Waste products in your bloodstream may have an adverse effect on your baby as well.
In addition, pregnant women with chronic kidney failure are at high risk of preeclampsia, a serious condition of late pregnancy. Preeclampsia causes a dangerous rise in blood pressure. If not treated, it can lead to hemorrhages in the brain, liver or kidneys, and ultimately may be fatal for both you and your baby.
