Can patients with chronic renal failure have sexual intercourse?

Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
Updated on March 22, 2025
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Patients with chronic renal failure can have sexual intercourse, but there are prerequisites. Since sexual activity is physically demanding and requires adequate cardiopulmonary function, patients can engage in sexual activity if they do not experience chest tightness or shortness of breath and their blood pressure is well controlled. If there are no obvious symptoms of fatigue, difficulty breathing, or chest tightness during sexual activity, there should be no significant problems. However, since the patients have chronic renal failure, it is advisable to avoid conception unless prepared for pregnancy. Pregnancy can further burden the kidneys in female patients and potentially exacerbate chronic renal failure. Male patients with chronic renal failure may be taking medications that could affect sperm quality. Therefore, contraception should be practiced unless preparations have been made.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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How to test for chronic renal failure?

The examinations for patients with chronic kidney failure are divided into several aspects: First, it is necessary to confirm the presence of chronic kidney failure and assess its severity. This requires blood tests for kidney function, observing levels of blood creatinine and urea nitrogen, and performing endogenous creatinine clearance tests to determine the degree of kidney failure; Second, it is important to determine whether there are complications associated with kidney failure. Therefore, routine blood tests are necessary to check for renal anemia, blood pressure measurements to observe if there is renal hypertension, and blood tests for electrolytes to check for any electrolyte disorders. These patients also need to have their parathyroid hormone levels checked and undergo iron metabolism tests to provide a basis for further treatment.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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Chronic Renal Failure Treatment Plan

The treatment of chronic renal failure primarily requires a clear understanding of the cause, and treatment targeting the cause is essential to slow the progression of chronic renal failure. The most common causes of chronic renal failure are diabetes, hypertension, and chronic nephritis. Therefore, for patients with chronic renal failure caused by diabetes, insulin is often needed to control blood sugar. For patients with hypertensive kidney disease, antihypertensive drugs are certainly necessary to control blood pressure. However, in the early stages of renal failure, ACE inhibitors or ARBs are the preferred choices. For patients with chronic nephritis in the early stages, corticosteroid medications are required for treatment. However, if the serum creatinine has already exceeded 256 micromoles per liter, treatment then focuses mainly on managing complications, and corticosteroids are no longer used. (Please use medications under the guidance of a doctor.)

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Written by Wu Ji
Nephrology
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Principles of Treatment for Chronic Renal Failure

The principles of treatment for chronic renal failure include early-stage non-dialysis conservative treatment as well as end-stage renal replacement therapy. Non-dialysis conservative treatment includes delaying the progression of kidney damage, which requires treating the primary disease, implementing nutritional support, and controlling factors that accelerate kidney disease progression, such as controlling high blood pressure, proteinuria, and hyperlipidemia. Additionally, it is necessary to eliminate metabolic waste from the body, and maintain the body's water, electrolyte, and acid-base balance. Renal replacement therapy includes hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and kidney transplant therapy.

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Written by Niu Yan Lin
Nephrology
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Diet for Patients with Chronic Renal Failure

Patients with chronic kidney failure should first pay attention to a low-salt and low-fat diet, with daily salt intake less than six grams, and try to eat less salty food such as pickled vegetables and preserved products. Additionally, due to the impaired excretion of potassium and phosphorus in patients with chronic kidney failure, it is necessary to eat less high-phosphorus and high-potassium foods. Common high-phosphorus foods include various marinated meats and other processed foods, and common high-potassium foods include fruits such as bananas, peaches, mangoes, and vegetables like green vegetables and potatoes. At the same time, it is important to maintain a high-quality, low-protein diet. If dialysis treatment has not yet been started, protein intake should be controlled at 0.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. If dialysis treatment has already begun, the standards can be appropriately relaxed.

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Written by Zhou Qi
Nephrology
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Can patients with chronic renal failure have sexual intercourse?

Patients with chronic renal failure can have sexual intercourse, but there are prerequisites. Since sexual activity is physically demanding and requires adequate cardiopulmonary function, patients can engage in sexual activity if they do not experience chest tightness or shortness of breath and their blood pressure is well controlled. If there are no obvious symptoms of fatigue, difficulty breathing, or chest tightness during sexual activity, there should be no significant problems. However, since the patients have chronic renal failure, it is advisable to avoid conception unless prepared for pregnancy. Pregnancy can further burden the kidneys in female patients and potentially exacerbate chronic renal failure. Male patients with chronic renal failure may be taking medications that could affect sperm quality. Therefore, contraception should be practiced unless preparations have been made.