Symptoms of uremia

Uremia is a general term for a series of poisoning symptoms that occur in the late stage of chronic renal failure. It does not refer to a single disease. Uremia is generally treated by renal dialysis, which is very painful for patients. So what are the symptoms of uremia? In the early stages of uremia, due to the accumulation of urea in the body, symptoms such as anorexia vomiting, inattention, general fatigue, and low body temperature will appear.

The patient may also experience significant weight loss, ascites and cerebral edema. The risk of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease in patients with uremia is 20 times higher than that of ordinary people. Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death in patients with uremia. Patients may develop heart failure, myocardial damage, and sterile pericarditis. When they breathe, the exhaled gas has a strong smell of urine, which is due to the bacterial decomposition of urea.

It may also be accompanied by shortness of breath, deep breathing and even lung calcification. Uremia can cause serious damage to the human gastrointestinal tract, often leading to gastrointestinal bleeding due to gastric mucosal erosion or peptic ulcer. In the early stages of uremia, patients will experience symptoms of anemia due to a lack of erythropoietin in the body, which is called renal anemia. Malnutrition will aggravate the degree of anemia.

In the late stage of uremia, patients will experience abnormal platelet function leading to bleeding, mainly manifested as ecchymosis and cerebral hemorrhage. Symptoms of the neuromuscular system include sleep disturbance, memory loss, and apathy in the early stages. In severe cases, hallucinations and mental abnormalities may occur, accompanied by limb numbness and muscle tremors and spasms. Uremia can even cause serious bone lesions.

Uremia often leads to renal osteodystrophy, among which osteoporosis is extremely common. Osteitis fibrosa cystica caused by uremia can easily lead to rib fractures. Currently, kidney transplantation is the best method to treat uremia. However, due to the severe shortage of healthy kidney donors, in my country, basically one kidney is available for every 150 patients. Therefore, this has become a bottleneck for completely curing uremia.