Kidney Failure From Severe Dehydration
Severe dehydration is one of the most common causes of reversible kidney failure. Dehydration can be a serious life-threatening disorder. Read Hospitalized for Dehydration if you would like to understand what to expect when hospitalized for dehydration. Kidney failure is one of the most common complications of dehydration.
During the early stages of every dehydration, your kidneys essentially shut themselves down to preserve water. Once the dehydration is corrected, the kidneys start to open up and quickly get your urine production back to normal. The blood tests I mentioned earlier help decide whether the kidney failure is still in the early rapidly reversible state. If the ratio of BUN to Cr is equal to or more than 20, your kidney failure from dehydration is likely in the early rapidly reversible stage.
When the treatment of dehydration is delayed for several days, your kidneys go into the second stage of kidney failure. Small tubes inside the kidneys start to die off and you have structural damage inside the kidneys. This type of kidney failure is medically called Acute Tubular Necrosis or ATN. Necrosis simply means dying off. ATN is still reversible in most cases, but it takes longer to recover from. The tubes that die off will have to regenerate so that the kidney failure can ultimately be reversed. It may take a few weeks to reverse the kidney failure when ATN is present.
Questions You May Want To Consider Asking Your Doctor Include:
- What type of prostate problem do I have?
- Is more testing needed and what will it tell me?
- If I decide on watchful waiting, what changes in my symptoms should I look for and how often should I be tested?
- What type of treatment do you recommend for my prostate problem?
- For men like me, has this treatment worked?
- How soon would I need to start treatment and how long would it last?
- Do I need medicine and how long would I need to take it before seeing improvement in my symptoms?
- What are the side effects of the medicine?
- Are there other medicines that could interfere with this medication?
- If I need surgery, what are the benefits and risks?
- Would I have any side effects from surgery that could affect my quality of life?
- Are these side effects temporary or permanent?
- How long is recovery time after surgery?
- Will I be able to fully return to normal?
- How will this affect my sex life?
- How often should I visit the doctor to monitor my condition?
Related Resources
Prostate Cancer Prevention: How To Reduce Your Risk
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, with 1 in 9 men being diagnosed throughout their lifetime.
While it is more common in men over the age of 65, younger men can also fall victim to it. Many men live in fear of a prostate cancer diagnosis.
However, by taking certain steps and eliminating specific risk factors, there are several things you can do for prostate cancer prevention. Follow these 7 steps to reduce your risk of prostate cancer and improve your overall health.
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Tests Used To Check The Prostate
This first step lets your doctor hear and understand the “story” of your prostate concerns. You’ll be asked whether you have symptoms, how long you’ve had them, and how much they affect your lifestyle. Your personal medical history also includes any risk factors, pain, fever, or trouble passing urine. You may be asked to give a urine sample for testing.
What Is The Urolift Procedure
The UroLift procedure takes less than an hour and is performed in a urologist’s office under local anesthesia.
At the start of the procedure, the urologist inserts a special device into the patient’s urethra. When the device reaches the prostate, it releases multiple small implants. Each implant is made of a nickel-titanium capsular tab and a stainless steel urethral tab that are held together by a polyester suture.
These implants “lift” or push away prostate tissue that is blocking the urethra. As a result, the urethra is widened, allowing urine to pass easily out of the body.
A unique advantage of the UroLift procedure is that, unlike medications and other surgeries used to treat BPH, it does not cause sexual side effects such as erectile or ejaculatory problems.
A disadvantage of the UroLift procedure is that while the implants are intended to be permanent, some patients develop recurrent symptoms, requiring a repeat procedure or another type of prostate surgery.
Besides a UroLift procedure, other minimally invasive procedures used to treat the symptoms of BPH include:
- Water vapor thermal therapy : Uses energy stored in steam to remove prostate tissue
- Transurethral microwave thermotherapy: Uses heat to destroy prostate tissue
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Can An Enlarged Prostate Be Cured
An enlarged prostatealso referred to as benign prostatic hyperplasia is a common condition among men as they grow older. It is characterized by the natural enlargement of the prostate, a small gland situated between the bladder and penis. The urethra, or the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the penis, is surrounded by the prostate, and often becomes squeezed and compressed as a result of prostate enlargement. This can cause a weakened urine stream and related issues like a frequent urge to urinate and difficulty sleeping through the night.
Prostate enlargement tends to come with age. While its difficult to completely reverse an enlarged prostate, there are several treatments that can relieve symptoms, reduce the size of the prostate and help restore normal urine flow. In fact, many men with prostate enlargement are able to achieve a positive quality of life with non-surgical treatments.
Talking With Your Doctor
Different kinds of doctors and other health care professionals manage prostate health. They can help you find the best care, answer your questions, and address your concerns. These health care professionals include:
- Family doctors and internists
- Physician assistants and nurse practitioners
- Urologists, who are experts in diseases of the urinary tract system and the male reproductive system
- Urologic oncologists, who are experts in treating cancers of the urinary system and the male reproductive system
- Radiation oncologists, who use radiation therapy to treat cancer
- Medical oncologists, who treat cancer with medications such as hormone treatments and chemotherapy
- Pathologists, who identify diseases by studying cells and tissues under a microscope
View these professionals as your partnersâexpert advisors and helpers in your health care. Talking openly with your doctors can help you learn more about your prostate changes and the tests to expect.
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Q: What Are The Treatment Options For Bph
A: The goal of treatment for an enlarged prostate is to shrink the prostate, open up that urinary channel, and ultimately decrease or eliminate your symptoms. That can be accomplished via medication or a number of different procedures.
Typically we start with medication, the most common one being Flomax®. For many men, thats enough. However, your prostate grows throughout your life. There may come a point that it outgrows your medication. If that happens, your urologist will help you choose the best procedure for your unique situation.
Can Prostate Cancer Be Completely Cured
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men. The average age of diagnosis is 66 year olds, although it may affect younger men as well. By age 80, more than half of all men have some cancerous growth in their prostate.
Due to routine screening of prostate-specific antigen levels in the United States, nearly 90% of prostate cancers get detected in early stages. In most cases, the cancer is confined only to the prostate and does not spread to other organs. With the widespread use of screening tests in the United States, early diagnosis of prostate cancer has become much easier.
When found early, there are several treatment options available and prostate cancer has a high chance of getting cured. Moreover, prostate cancer is a slow-growing cancer that takes many years to become big enough to cause symptoms. It also takes quite long to spread to other organs. This gives sufficient time for the doctors to treat it.
Oncologists recommend patients to not rush and take some time to understand the various treatment options available after consulting with more than one doctor. Patients can discuss various modes of treatment with the doctor and select the most appropriate option for their prostate cancer.
The 5-year survival rate for most men with local or regional prostate cancer is nearly 100%. There are more than three million survivors of prostate cancer in the United States today.
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Innovations In Treatment Of Bph
New procedures are less invasive than many older choices, with good results and comfortable recovery.
Although there is no cure for benign prostatic hyperplasia , also known as enlarged prostate, there are many useful options for treating the problem. Treatments focus on prostate growth, which is the cause of BPH symptoms. Once prostate growth starts, it often continues unless medical therapy is started. The prostate grows in two different ways. In one type of growth, cells multiply around the urethra and squeeze it, much like you squeeze a straw. The second type of growth is middle-lobe prostate growth in which cells grow into the urethra and the bladder outlet area. This type of prostate growth typically requires surgery.
The first line of care for treating BPH is often medication. Doctors may prescribe an alpha blocker to relax the prostate, a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor to reduce the prostate’s size, or both. While medications are helpful for many patients, some may impact a man’s sexual function or only reduce, not eliminate symptoms if the patient has a moderate to severe case of BPH.
In cases where patients have moderate to severe BPH or have a middle-lobe growth and need further treatment, there are a range of BPH-related surgical procedures, including ones that are less invasive than older surgeries. A patient and his doctor will choose the best option based on the size and shape of the prostate, as well as the patient’s preference and overall medical condition.
The Path To Better Prostate Health
Because the PAE procedure does not involve surgery or physical removal of part of the prostate, patients will not see results immediately. The first changes are seen most commonly one to two months after the procedure, with continued improvement until about four months.
The most common side effects of PAE immediately after the procedure include urethral burning and increased urinary frequency. These side effects usually stop within a week.
The good news? According to Dr. Isaacson, about 75 to 80 percent of men treated with PAE experience a significant and lasting improvement.
UNC Medical Center is one of just a few hospitals in the U.S. that offers PAE to patients who are not enrolled in a clinical trial. Appointments for evaluation are available in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Hillsborough and Siler City. You can make an appointment or .
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Are Prostatitis And Bph The Same Prostate Gland Problem
The answer to this question is yes and no, because both may have some similar health symptoms , but each prostate problem have different causes. Yes, BPH is by definition an enlarged prostate, and no, because the cause is not an infection/inflammation like prostatitis. However, not all enlarged prostates are due to BPH. An enlarged prostate may be caused by BPH, prostatitis, and prostate cancer.
Are The Treatments For Prostatitis And Bph Different
The treatment for an enlarged prostate and prostatitis are very different.
BPH treatment may include an interactive questionnaire to determine the extent of your symptoms. The results of the questionnaire may influence what medications or other treatments you may need. Drugs used to treat BPH include:
- Alpha receptor blockers
- Phosphodiesterase inhibitors
- Anticholinergic agents
Some patients with more severe prostatic enlargement may need surgery. A transurethral resection of the prostate is the usual procedure to reduce pressure on the urethra by reducing the size of the prostate.
Treatment for prostatitis depends on the type.
- Bacteria acute and chronic prostatitis are typically treated and cured with antibiotics like fluoroquinolones or trimethoprim. These infections typically take longer to cure so you may have to take antibiotics for as long as 4-8 weeks. Some infections of the prostate gland are resistant or unresponsive to treatment so antibiotics like gentamicin or doxycycline may need to be injected directly into the gland.
- Type III, chronic bacterial prostatitis and pelvic pain syndrome, is treated similarly with antibiotics, however, alpha-blockers and NSAIDs , for example, aspirin, ibuprofen , naproxen also are used.
- Type IV, asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis, in most patients requires no treatment. However, some doctors prescribe antibiotics and NSAIDs for this condition.
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Can Enlarged Prostate Be Reversed
Prostate enlargement is a common reproductive health condition, which is medically known as benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH. Clinical BPH is a common cause of urinary tract infections among aging men, wherein its prevalence increases upon reaching 40 years old.
In this post, youll learn if its possible to reverse an enlarged prostate, so youll be guided accordingly when it comes to the necessary steps you need to do if ever you or your loved one has BPH.
An Enlarged Prostate Can Be Reversed With Medications
The prostate gland naturally increases in size as a man advances in age. Due to the small blood vessels pathological activity in the prostate tissue, the urethra becomes constricted and obstructed, causing urinary symptoms, such as difficulty or painful urination, frequent urination , dribbling urine, weak urine stream, and the feeling of not being able to completely empty the urinary bladder.
Its a good thing that an enlarged prostate can be reversed with the help of medications and supplements. With the right combination of medications, the signs and symptoms of BPH can be reduced or eliminated depending on the severity of urethral blocking caused by an enlarged prostate gland.
Here are the medication and alternative drug options to treat BPH:
An Enlarged Prostate Can Be Reversed With Thermobalancing Therapy
An Enlarged Prostate Can Be Reversed With Prostatic Artery Embolization
An Enlarged Prostate Can Be Reversed With Healthy Lifestyle
How The Prostate Changes As You Age
Because the prostate gland tends to grow larger with age, it may squeeze the urethra and cause problems in passing urine. Sometimes men in their 30s and 40s may begin to have these urinary symptoms and need medical attention. For others, symptoms aren’t noticed until much later in life. An infection or a tumor can also make the prostate larger. Be sure to tell your doctor if you have any of the urinary symptoms listed below.
Tell your doctor if you have these urinary symptoms:
- Are passing urine more during the day
- Have an urgent need to pass urine
- Have less urine flow
- Feel burning when you pass urine
- Need to get up many times during the night to pass urine
Growing older raises your risk of prostate problems. The three most common prostate problems are inflammation , enlarged prostate , and prostate cancer.
One change does not lead to another. For example, having prostatitis or an enlarged prostate does not increase your risk of prostate cancer. It is also possible for you to have more than one condition at the same time.
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How Has The Treatment Of Bph Evolved
Over the past 10 years a number of new and exciting additions to our management options have emerged. These now allow patients to choose what is right for them. There is no one size that fits all and the decision over the most appropriate treatment option depends upon a number of features including:
Kidney Failure From Sepsis
Kidney failure is very common in sepsis, but it can be reversed most of the time with the proper treatment of sepsis. If you would like to understand what sepsis is, please read this article: Low blood pressure and a fever, think sepsis. In summary, sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication from an infection where the body can get overwhelmed and crash down.
Patients with severe sepsis and kidney failure may need intensive care in the ICU. The treatment is focused on treating the infection and supporting the body to maintain good blood circulation. If a good blood circulation with normal blood pressure is restored, the kidneys start to recover, and the kidney failure can be ultimately reversed back to normal.
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Tips For Relieving Bph Symptoms
Four simple steps can help relieve some of the symptoms of BPH:
For more on advances in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate diseases, read the Annual Report on Prostate Diseases from Harvard Medical School.