Neuropsychiatric conditions including depression, anxiety disorders, and cognitive impairment are prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). These conditions often make worse the quality of life and also lead to longer hospitalizations and higher mortality.
Anxiety and Panic Symptoms
Extreme anxiety and anxiety somatic symptoms such as breathlessness, palpitations, chest pain, sweating and fear of dying may occur in renal failure cases. Many a times, these symptoms are not associated with any triggers and may occur unexpectedly.
Depression, anxiety and other mental health issues are common among people living with kidney disease.
Renal failure may affect the peripheral nervous system, resulting in a neuropathy which shows a predilection for large diameter axons. This may be reversed by dialysis and transplantation.
Signs and symptoms of acute kidney failure may include: Decreased urine output, although occasionally urine output remains normal. Fluid retention, causing swelling in your legs, ankles or feet. Shortness of breath.
Kidney pain often feels like a dull ache that gets worse if someone gently presses on that area. While it is more common to feel kidney pain on only one side, some health problems may affect both kidneys and cause pain on both sides of your back.
A common symptom of kidney failure is delirium . This is a mental state that's marked by confusion and restlessness. It develops because the toxins that are accumulating are affecting the brain.
Kidney failure and depression share many of the same symptoms—like fatigue, sleep problems, poor appetite and difficulty concentrating. Kidney failure can also affect your relationships, employment and leisure time, resulting in symptoms of depression.
The results of the current study indicate that psychologic disorders of anxiety, depression, and stress, with their subscales, appeared in nearly 90% of patients with kidney cancer. Kidney cancer patients may experience any level of anxiety, depression, and distress at any stage of their disease after diagnosis.
People with kidney disease sometimes describe themselves as feeling like they have “brain fog”—a nice-ish way of saying they are muddled in their thinking, have trouble concentrating, and keep forgetting things. These symptoms can have several kidney disease-related causes.
Brain and Kidney
Researchers found a powerful link between poor kidney function and a decreased blood flow to the brain. In addition, those who have kidney problems are at a higher risk of dementia, stroke and memory problems.
While it's not a classic symptom of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), brain fog is fairly common among patients with kidney-related diseases. It can affect your ability to focus, learn, retain information, and maintain employment.
People with early kidney disease may not know anything is wrong. They can't feel the damage before any kidney function is lost. It happens slowly, and in stages. Early detection with the right treatment can slow kidney disease from getting worse.
There are usually no symptoms of kidney disease in the early stages. It may only be diagnosed if you have a blood or urine test for another reason and the results show a possible problem with your kidneys. At a more advanced stage, symptoms can include: tiredness.
Avoid processed foods and choose fresh fruits and vegetables instead. Follow a low-salt diet. Salt should be limited especially if you have high blood pressure, protein in your urine, or swelling, or difficulty breathing. Eating less than 2000 mg a day of sodium is recommended.
From the results of statistical tests, it was found that there was a significant correlation between stress levels and albumin creatinine ratio (p value = 0.002), where higher stress level, can impact to higher albumin creatinine ratio (correlation coefficient 0.406).
Anxiety and panic disorder may be the main presenting symptoms of pheochromocytoma. The diagnosis of pheochromocytoma should be excluded in cases of long-term panic disorder refractory to medications since the anxiety may be secondary to a catecholamine-secreting tumor.