Hypertension ===> Kidney damage ===> anemia? Say Whaaaa?

[usedtobe]

No, I'm looking for neither diagnosis nor confirmation thereof, OK?

New doc, new suspicions, new tests, etc.

Among the tests: Ultrasonic scan of kidneys. Technicion seemed to spend a lot more time on the right than the left.

Result: the right is damaged - it sonded like the Dr. was saying the lower section had been partially "erased".

Createnine (sp)-eliminatio test.

Am now told the kidney damage is confirmed, and the kidney damage is the cause of my (chronic) anemia.

WTF?

First: hypertension can damage kidneys. duh. but dissolve them? Is this posssible? If so, I would have expected (gray hair, osteoarthritis, yep, old) to have heard of that bit of medical bizarreness.

Second: Damaged kidney/reduced renal function causes anemia?!? Can anyone please explain the mechanism of THAT bit of both bizarre and scary biology?

Agsin, not looking for diagnosis, but explanation...

[The Second Stone]

Having recently suffered from very severe anemia and having wiki'd anemia, I can tell you that there are over 130 causes of anemia. Consult with a specialist and follow recommendations.

[outlierrn]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythropoietin

here's a start

[usedtobe]

Originally Posted by outlierrn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythropoietin

here's a start

Thanks!


Made it almost 1/2 the way through before becoming completely befuddled...

Guess I'll need to ask what stage of renal disease I've got, and why no treatment for the anemia, assuming the hormone is no worse than the annoying-but-not-critical level of anemia

[Chief Pedant]

Originally Posted by usedtobe

No, I'm looking for neither diagnosis nor confirmation thereof, OK?

New doc, new suspicions, new tests, etc.

Among the tests: Ultrasonic scan of kidneys. Technicion seemed to spend a lot more time on the right than the left.

Result: the right is damaged - it sonded like the Dr. was saying the lower section had been partially "erased".

Createnine (sp)-eliminatio test.

Am now told the kidney damage is confirmed, and the kidney damage is the cause of my (chronic) anemia.

WTF?

First: hypertension can damage kidneys. duh. but dissolve them? Is this posssible? If so, I would have expected (gray hair, osteoarthritis, yep, old) to have heard of that bit of medical bizarreness.

Second: Damaged kidney/reduced renal function causes anemia?!? Can anyone please explain the mechanism of THAT bit of both bizarre and scary biology?

Agsin, not looking for diagnosis, but explanation...

Try this link: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/anemia/

You gotta knock off half to two thirds of your kidney mass* before you get secondary anemia. The hypertension doesn't dissolve the kidneys but it sort of scars them down so they are a shadow of their former robust selves, so to speak. The part that isn't showing up is probably so damaged it's all shrunk down. If there's anemia from loss of renal mass though, the remaining kidneys are damaged also.

Creatinine is a metabolic product cleared (eliminated) through the kidneys, so checking how well it's eliminated is a nice proxy for how well the kidneys are functioning to clear out the stuff they are supposed to eliminate. There is a rough correlation between Creatinine Clearance (how well is the kidney working to filter blood?) and EPO production (how well are the cells that make this hormone doing?) but they are two different types of functions so they don't exactly march in lockstep.

*Technically not the mass itself, but the function, but you get the idea.