Forty Years Abuse of Baking Soda, Rhabdomyolysis, Glomerulonephritis, Hypertension Leading to Renal Failure: A Case Report

We present a patient who had ingested sodium bicarbonate for treatment of alcoholic dyspepsia during forty years at increasing doses. During the last year he had used more than 50 grams daily. He presented with metabolic alkalosis, epileptic convulsions, subdural hematoma, hypertension and rhabdomyolysis with end stage renal failure, for which he had to be given regular intermittent hemodialysis treatment. Untreated hypertension and glomerulonephritis was probably present prior to all these acute incidents. Examination of the kidney biopsy revealed mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis and arterial wall thickening causing nephrosclerosis together with interstitial calcinosis. The combination of all these pathologic changes might be responsible for the development of progressive chronic renal failure ending up with the need for continuous intermittent hemodialysis treatment.