Nephritis (kidney inflammation) and neuropathy

An interesting article from eHOW health (see link below) about the link between kidney inflammation (Nephritis) and neuropathy. It is clearly explained how the relationship between the kidneys and the nervous system is a close one, although that may not be immediately apparent.

Relationship Between Nephritis & Neuropathy
By Michael Drwiega, eHow Contributor

Kidneys regulate the blood's contents, affecting the entire body, including the nerves

Nephritis, or inflammation of the kidneys, can affect more than the nervous system. Neuropathy, a disease of the nerves, may appear to have nothing to do with the kidneys. Yet kidneys and nerves are intimately related. In fact, symptoms you might consider neurological, from fatigue, disorientation and delirium to cramps, convulsions, impaired heart rate or tingling in the hands and feet, could indicate kidney failure---something that might have begun with nephritis.

Movement, sensation, heart rate, mood, thinking---the kidneys affect them all

Kidneys
The relationship between nephritis and neuropathy reflects the function of the kidneys. This includes clearing wastes from the body, maintaining the body's acid-base balance and regulating the concentration of potassium in blood, according to "Understanding Pathophysiology," by Sue Huether and Kathryn McCance." By damaging the delicate loops, tubules and vessels by which the kidneys filter blood, nephritis can impede these functions.

You can lose three quarters of your kidney function before suffering symptoms

Nerves
Initially, nephritis may produce no symptoms. In fact, symptomatic changes in kidney disease do not usually appear until renal function declines to less than 25 percent of normal, note Huether and McCance. If allowed to worsen, however, nephritis will lead to renal failure. This will cause an accumulation of wastes in the blood, as well as a disruption in the acid-base balance and potassium concentration. Any of these three dysfunctions will have neurological consequences, note Huether and McCance.

Uremic symptoms include anorexia, nausea, vomiting and weight loss

Uremia
Urea, a waste product resulting from the breakdown of protein, is the chief nitrogenous constituent of urine, notes "Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary." A decline in kidney function impairs the excretion of urea, which causes uremia, a syndrome that includes elevated levels of urea in the blood, according to Huether and McCance. Just how uremia causes neuropathy is not well understood, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Undeniably, though, uremia is associated with widespread impairment of neural functions, note Huether and McCance.

Cellular activities depend on a precise balance between acid and base

Acidosis
The normal functioning of the body, including the nervous system, depends on maintaining the blood's acid-base balance. On a scale of zero to 14, the acid-base balance of the blood usually lies at 7.4. A drop to 7, or rise to 7.8, would kill a person in minutes, indicates the book "Biology," by Neil Campbell, Jane Reece, and Lawrence Mitchell. Excessive acid in the blood (acidosis), which may issue from kidney failure, causes neurological changes, note Huether and McCance.

Besides impairing the nervous system, abnormal potassium levels can cause cardiac arrest

Hyperkalemia
Acidosis can impair nerve function indirectly, through causing excessive accumulation of potassium in the blood (hyperkalemia). In acidosis, hydrogen ions force potassium ions out of cells into the spaces between cells, according to Huether and McCance. Unable to excrete the excess potassium, the kidneys cannot prevent its accumulation. Because nerve impulses depend on a balance between sodium and potassium, hyperkalemia can impair nerve transmission, the consequences of which can be fatal, note Huether and McCance.

Neuropathy due to renal disease may begin insidiously, before symptoms appear

Development
Since neuropathy exists in 65 percent of patients who initiate dialysis, the National Kidney Foundation suggests that it begins to develop at some earlier phase of kidney disease. Nerve conduction tends to slow down as the kidneys fail and, eventually, damage to the cells of peripheral nerves appears, reports the National Kidney Foundation.


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