During pregnancy there are women who suffer from kidney failure, in these cases there are greater chances of suffering from high blood pressure, preeclampsia, eclampsia ... Even those pregnant women who suffer from mild kidney disease can experience complications such as anemia or malnutrition.
We will tell you about the consequences of kidney disease, both for you and your baby. But as we always like to clarify, the main thing is that you have a control and are motorized. If, in addition, before you got pregnant you already had kidney disease, you will be considered a risk pregnancy. And you will still have more controls.
Symptoms and consequences of kidney diseases in pregnancy
The main cause of kidney problems during pregnancy is lack of protein suffered by the mother. The deficient filtration by the kidneys causes the nutrients, elementary for the mother and the baby, to be eliminated through the urine. So that this does not happen, the specialist will evaluate the mother's blood creatinine level from the beginning of the pregnancy, and will determine the treatment.
We tell you some symptoms that occur in pregnancy and that can alert you to kidney disease, so you can discuss it with your doctor:
- Changes in the frequency, amount, and color of urination.
- Fluid retention, causes bloating and a feeling of fatigue.
- Metallic taste in the mouth and ammonia breath.
- Arterial hypertension.
- Nausea and vomiting.
Due to the fact of being pregnant, you can already observe changes in kidney functionEven changes in the size of the kidneys can be observed.
Treatment for kidney disease during pregnancy
The stages of the Kidney disease is divided from 1 to 5, level 1 being the least harmful and 5 the most. It is at this last level that hemodialysis may be necessary. In any case, it is always the specialist who will assess the woman's situation. You should also be aware that kidney disease causes hormonal changes, just like pregnancy, so treatment may include steroids.
Any treatment will be done with care and taking into account the fetus, for which it will be monitored almost constantly. Kidney diseases in pregnancy, they also affect the health of the baby. The most serious consequences are a delay in intrauterine growth, low birth weight, premature births and even fetal death from placental infarcts.
Treatment of the mother's hypertension will continue, but care must be taken with medications that are contraindicated in pregnancy. About hemodialysis, which is often necessary, cannot be replaced by something else. Therefore it will be necessary to continue, and even to increase the frequency.
Chronic Kidney Disease, risk factor for pregnancy
Having chronic kidney disease is a risk factor for pregnancy. In fact, having disturbances of the ovarian cycle and fertility are common in women with kidney disease. Amenorrhea and anovulation is one of the most frequent elements in patients of childbearing age. But if you have become pregnant, your doctor will detail the consequences for you, as a mother, and for the baby. Keep in mind that if one of the parents, including the father, has suffered or suffers from kidney failure, the baby could also develop it throughout his life.
Most likely, your doctor will recommend wearing a comprehensive control of fluids and blood pressure figures, in addition to increasing the number of hemodialysis sessions per week. These data will be key. It is very important to maintain effective doctor-patient communication.
As we have pointed out, advances in medicine have made it possible to improve maternal and perinatal outcomes in patients with nephropathy. However, there are still complications that threaten the obstetric result, we know that they are measures that demand a lot from women, but they are things necessary for the pregnancy to proceed smoothly.