This was posted in the Vasculitis Face Book group, it makes interesting reading Just follow this link.
12 Kidney Disease Symptoms For Men And Women... - Vasculitis UK
12 Kidney Disease Symptoms For Men And Women That You Should Absolutely NEVER Ignore
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Suzym2u
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Thanks for this link. I have some of these symptoms - especially nasty taste/ metallic mouth, achy legs and hypertension and very recently breathless feeling although I'm not chesty or asthmatic. I do have a large, irregular cyst on one of my kidneys but it hasn't grown in two years. It isn't regularly monitored despite a nephrologist once telling me it should be watched - but having had abdominal scans for other reasons I asked the sonographer to check.
My kidney function tests are all within normal range so this seems to be the indicator used by my doctors for all being well. I only have a diagnosis of RA/ connective tissue disease so far but just started my first BP drug - Ramipril - so will get my kidney function tested next week. It's always hard to know what to mention to the GP in a short visit if you have multiple symptoms, so I've assumed the blood tests are enough to indicate if there's a problem. Is this a reasonable assumption to make?
in reply to
Hi TT,
Your kidneys can be sustaining damage long before it shows up in the U&E's. The most important thing is to get your urine dipsticked for the presence of blood and protein. If this is clear then the chances of kidney problems are negligible.
The above article is good but the problem is that these symptoms aren't confined to renal disease, lots of other conditions can cause the same symptoms. I do think that every Rheumatology clinic should test urine samples at every appt, I know that multi disciplinary Vasculitis clinics do, but of course they usually have nephrologists too!
in reply to
Thanks Keyes. I don't think my pee routinely has blood and protein in it (it gets checked once or twice a year at rheumatology spots in both places I've attended). But it did during all four of my hospital stays this year - which is one of the reasons I was kept in and given IV antibiotics twice - both times for sepsis - once UTI and once for post op wound infection/ blood poisoning.
But the rheumatology nurse didnt comment on my urine sample five weeks ago so I'm assuming it's clear again and therefore my kidneys are too. It is very confusing though as the new GP asked me if I have chronic kidney disease or not when she was prescribing the BP med. She has my records so presumably she should know as much as I do - which is actually not that much! Tx
