Stay in the Blood, PLEASE

Let’s finish out this lazy, hazy summer month of August with another reader question. This one was quite straight forward:

“Any advice to slow down protein leaking into urine. Hard to build muscle when you keep excreting protein”

The condition of leaking protein into your urine is called proteinuria. That’s almost self-explanatory. The root of the word actually says protein while the suffix (group of related letters added to the end of a word which changes its meaning) is defined as,

“-uria.

1. suffix meaning the “presence of a substance in the urine”: ammoniuria, calciuria, enzymuria.
2. combining form meaning “(condition of) possessing urine”: paruria, polyuria, pyuria.

Thank you to the Medical Dictionary at https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/-uria for the definition of uria.

Okay, so we know that protein is leaking into the urine. Not good. Why? We need it in our blood, not excreted in our urine. The following is from a previous blog on proteinuria. I used the dropdown menu in “Topics” on the right side of the blog page to find it or any other topic listed there. You can, too.

“According to WebMD at https://www.webmd.com/men/features/benefits-protein#1:

‘Protein is an important component of every cell in the body. Hair and nails are mostly made of protein. Your body uses protein to build and repair tissues. You also use protein to make enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals. Protein is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood.’”

Got it. Our reader is correct; it is hard to build muscle if you’re “excreting protein.” Now what? I usually stick to medical sites but this comment from Healthfully at https://healthfully.com/170108-how-to-reduce-excess-protein-in-the-kidney.html caught my eye.

“Continue monitoring how much protein your kidneys are spilling for several months. Since colds and infections can cause transient increases in protein, you will want at least several months of data.”

As Chronic Kidney Disease patients, we usually have quarterly urine tests… or, at least, I do. My urine protein level is included. I did not know that colds and infections are a factor here. Here’s an old urine analysis of mine. You can see Protein, Urine fourth from the bottom.

Component	Your Value	Standard Range
Color, Urine	Yellow	Colorless, Light Yellow, Yellow, Dark Yellow, Straw
Clarity, Urine	Clear	Clear
Glucose, Urine	Negative mg/dL	Negative mg/dL
Bilirubin, Urine	Negative	Negative
Ketones, Urine	Negative mg/dL	Negative mg/dL
Specific Gravity, Urine	1.013	1.007 – 1.026
Blood, Urine	Negative	Negative
pH, Urine	7.0	5.0 – 8.0
Protein, Urine	Negative mg/dL	Negative mg/dL
Urobilinogen, Urine	<2.0 mg/dL	<2.0 mg/dL
Nitrite, Urine	Negative	Negative
Leukocyte Esterase, Urine	Negative	Negative

Let’s say our reader did not have a cold or infection. What else could she do to slow down this loss of protein via her urine?

The American Kidney Fund at http://www.kidneyfund.org/kidney-disease/kidney-problems/protein-in-urine.html suggests the following:

“If you have diabetes or high blood pressure, the first and second most common causes of kidney disease, it is important to make sure these conditions are under control.

If you have diabetes, controlling it will mean checking your blood sugar often, taking medicines as your doctor tells you to, and following a healthy eating and exercise plan. If you have high blood pressure, your doctor may tell you to take a medicine to help lower your blood pressure and protect your kidneys from further damage. The types of medicine that can help with blood pressure and proteinuria are called angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs).

If you have protein in your urine, but you do not have diabetes or high blood pressure, an ACE inhibitor or an ARB may still help to protect your kidneys from further damage. If you have protein in your urine, talk to your doctor about choosing the best treatment option for you.”

So far, we’ve discovered that frequent urine testing, determining if you have a cold or infection, keeping your diabetes and blood pressure under control, and/or ACE inhibitors may be helpful. But here’s my eternal question: What else can slow down the spilling of protein into our urine?

The Kidney & Urology Foundation of America, Inc. at http://www.kidneyurology.org/Library/Kidney_Health/Proteinuria.php has some more ideas about that:

“In addition to blood glucose and blood pressure control, restricting dietary salt and protein intake is recommended. Your doctor may refer you to a dietitian to help you develop and follow a healthy eating plan.”

As CKD patients, we know we need to cut down on salt intake. I actually eliminate added salt and have banned the salt shakers from the kitchen. No wonder no one but me likes my cooking. You do lose your taste for salt eventually. After all these years, I taste salt in restaurant food that makes that particular food unpalatable to me.

Hmmm, it seems to me that a list of high protein foods might be helpful here.

POULTRY…

• Skinless chicken breast – 4oz – 183 Calories – 30g Protein – 0 Carbs – 7g Fat
• Skinless chicken (Dark) – 4 oz – 230 Calories – 32g Protein – 0 Carbs – 5g Fat
• Skinless Turkey (White) – 4 oz – 176 Calories – 34g Protein – 0 Carbs – 3.5g Fat
• Skinless Turkey (Dark) – 4 oz – 211 Calories – 31g Protein – 0 Carbs – 8.1 g Fat

FISH…

• Salmon – 3 oz – 119 Calories – 17g Protein – 0 Carbs – 5.5g Fat
• Halibut – 3 oz – 91 Calories – 18g Protein – 0 Carbs – 3g Fat
• Tuna – 1/4 cup – 70 Calories – 18g Protein – 0 Carbs – 0g Fat
• Mackerel – 3 oz – 178 Calories – 16.1g Protein – 0 Carbs – 12g Fat
• Anchovies (packed in water) – 1 oz – 42 Calories – 6g Protein – 1.3g Fat
• Flounder – 1 127g fillet – 149 Calories – 30.7g Protein – 0 Carbs – 0.5g Fat (High Cholesterol)
• Swordfish – 1 piece 106g – 164 Calories – 26.9g Protein – 0 Carbs – 1.5g Fat (High Cholesterol)
• Cod – 1 fillet 180g – 189 Calories – 41.4g protein – 0 Carbs – 0.3g Fat (High Cholesterol)
• Herring – 1 fillet 143g – 290 Calories – 32.9g Protein – 0 Carbs – 3.7g Fat (High Cholesterol)
• Haddock – 1 fillet 150g – 168 Calories – 36.4g Protein – 0 Carbs – 0.3g Fat (High Cholesterol)
• Grouper – fillet 202g – 238 Calories – 50.2g Protein – 0 Carbs – 0.6g Fat (High Cholesterol)
• Snapper – 1 fillet 170g – 218 Calories – 44.7g Protein – 0 Carbs – 0.6g Fat (High Cholesterol)

BEEF…

• Eye of round steak – 3 oz – 276 Calories – 49g Protein – 2.4g Fat
• Sirloin tip side steak – 3 oz -206 Calories – 39g Protein – 2g Fat
• Top sirloin – 3 oz – 319 Calories – 50.9g Protein – 4g Fat
• Bottom round steak – 3 oz – 300 Calories – 47g Protein – 3.5g Fat
• Top round steak – 3 oz – 240 Calories – 37g Protein – 3.1g Fat

PORK…

• Pork loin – 3 oz – 180 Calories – 25g Protein – 0 Carbs – 2.9g Fat (High in cholesterol)
• Tenderloin– 3 oz – 103 Calories – 18g Protein – 0.3g Carbs – 1.2g Fat (High in cholesterol)

GAME MEATS…

• Bison – 3 0z – 152 Calories – 21.6g Protein – 0 Carbs – 3g Fat
• Rabbit – 3 oz – 167 Calories – 24.7g Protein – 0 Carbs – 2.0g Fat
• Venison (Deer loin broiled) – 3 oz – 128 Calories – 25.7g Protein – 0 Carbs – 0.7g Fat

GRAINS…

• Cooked Quinoa – 1/2 cup – 115 Calories – 4.1g Protein – 22 Carbs – 2g Fat
• Cooked Brown Rice – 1/2 cup – 106 Calories – 2.7g Protein – 23 Carbs – 0.7g Fat
• Regular Popcorn (Air Popped no oil) – 1 cup – 60 Calories – 2g Protein – 11 Carbs – 0.6g Fat
• Steel cut Oatmeal – 1 cup – 145 Calories – 7g Protein – 25g Carbs – 2.5g Fat
• Multi grain bread – 1 slice – 68.9 Calories – 3.5g Protein – 11.3g Carbs – 0.2g Fat

BEANS (All nutrition values calculated for cooked beans)…

• Tofu – 1/2 cup – 98 Calories – 11g Protein – 2g Carbs – 6g Fat
• Lentils – 1/2 cup – 119 Calories – 9g Protein – 20g Carbs – 0.3g Fat
• Black beans – 1/2 cup – 115 Calories – 7.8g Protein – 20 Carbs – 0.4g Fat
• Kidney beans – 1/2 cup – 111 Calories – 7.2g Protein – 20.2 Carbs – 0.4g Fat
• Lima beans – 1/2 cup – 110 Calories – 7.4g Protein – 19.7 Carbs – 0.3g Fat
• Soy beans – 1/2 cup – 133 Calories – 11g Protein – 10 Carbs – 5.9g Fat

DAIRY…

• Skim milk – 1 cup – 90 Calories – 9g Protein – 12g Carbs – 4.8g Fat
• Low fat Yogurt – 1 cup – 148 Calories – 12g Protein – 17Carbs – 3.2g Fat
• Non fat Yogurt – 1 cup – 130 Calories – 13g Protein – 16.9 Carbs – 0.4 Fat
• Cheddar cheese – 1 oz – 116 Calories – 7g Protein – 0.4 Carbs – 9.2g Fat
• Low fat Cottage Cheese – 1/2 cup – 82 Calories – 14g Protein – 3.1g Carbs – 0.7g Fat
• One large egg – 73 Calories – 6.6g Protein – 0 Carbs – 6g Fat
• Low fat Milk – 1 cup – 119 Calories – 8g Protein – 12 Carbs – 4.6g Fat

NUTS & SEEDS…

• Raw Almonds – 1 oz about 22 whole – 169 Calories – 22g Carbs – 6.2g Protein – 1.1g Fat
• Raw Pistachios – 1 oz about 49 Kernels – 157 Calories – 7.9g Carbs – 5.8g Protein – 1.5g Fat
• Pumpkin seeds – 1 oz – 28g about 100 hulled seeds – 151 Calories – 5g Carbs – 6.0g Protein – 2.4g Fat
• Raw Macadamia nuts – 1 oz about 10- 12 kernels – 203 Calories – 4g Carbs – 2.2g Protein – 3.4g Fat
• Chia seeds – 1 oz – 137 Calories – 12.3g Carbs – 4.4g Protein – 0.9g Fat
• Walnuts – 1 cup in shell about 7 total – 183 Calories – 3.8g Carbs – 4.3g Protein – 1.7g Fat
• Raw Cashews1oz – 28g – 155 Calories – 9.2g Carbs – 5.1g Protein – 2.2g Fat

MORE HIGH PROTEIN FOODS…

• Natural peanut butter – 1 oz – 146 Calories – 7.3g Protein – 10g Carbs – 1.6g Fat
• Natural almond butter – 1 tbsp – 101 Calories – 2.4g Protein – 3.4 Carbs – 0.9g Fat
• Natural cashew butter – 1 tbsp – 93.9 Calories – 2.8g Protein – 4.4 Carbs – 1.6g Fat
• Hummus – 1 oz – 46.5 Calories – 2.2g Protein – 4.0g Carbs – 0.4g Fat
• Tempeh Cooked – 1 oz – 54 Calories – 5.1g Protein – 2.6g Carbs – 1.0g Fat

There’s a vegan list on the same site. Be leery of protein sources that are not on your kidney diet.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

 

Diabetic Neuropathy or Not: I WILL Dance Again

I come from a family of dancers. My parents and their siblings were all light on their feet and danced from the time they were teens right up until just before their deaths. It was a delight to watch them. The tradition continued with me… and my youngest who actually taught blues dancing for several years.

Ah, but then my neuropathy appeared. This was years before the diabetes diagnosis. Hmmm, there’s still a question as to whether or not the diabetes was caused by the pancreatic cancer. After all, the pancreas does produce insulin.

I just reread the above two paragraphs and see so much that needs some basic explanation. Let’s start with those explanations this week. How many of you know what neuropathy is? I didn’t either until I was diagnosed with it. According to my favorite dictionary since college a million years ago, The Merriam-Webster Dictionary at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neuropathy defines neuropathy as:

“damage, disease, or dysfunction of one or more nerves especially of the peripheral nervous system that is typically marked by burning or shooting pain, numbness, tingling, or muscle weakness or atrophy, is often degenerative, and is usually caused by injury, infection, disease, drugs, toxins, or vitamin deficiency “

If you clicked though on ‘peripheral nervous system’ in the dictionary definition, you know it means,

“the part of the nervous system that is outside the central nervous system and comprises the cranial nerves excepting the optic nerve, the spinal nerves, and the autonomic nervous system”

Since the neuropathy was so minor before the pancreatic cancer, I wasn’t even aware of it until my neurologist did some testing. I knew my feet were tingly sometimes, but I thought they had fallen asleep. It did sort of feel like that.

Then, I started chemotherapy in March. The tingling became so bad that I couldn’t feel my feet under me and had to rely on a cane to keep my balance. We thought it was the chemo drugs causing the neuropathy. Uh-oh, that was just about when my hands became affected, too, and my A1C (Remember that one? It’s the blood test for the average of your blood glucose over a three month period.) rose all the way to 7.1.

Healthline at https://www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/ac1-test#understanding-the-results tells us,

“Someone without diabetes will have about 5 percent of their hemoglobin glycated [Gail here: that means glucose bonded to hemoglobin]. A normal A1C level is 5.6 percent or below, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

A level of 5.7 to 6.4 percent indicates prediabetes. People with diabetes have an A1C level of 6.5 percent or above.”

Mind you, during chemotherapy I’d been ordered to eat whatever I could. Getting in the calories would cut down on the expected weight loss. In all honesty, I’m the only person I know what gained weight while on chemotherapy.

Now, what is this about the pancreas producing insulin? Might as well get a definition of insulin while we’re at it. MedicineNet at https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3989 offered the simplest explanation:

“A natural hormone made by the pancreas that controls the level of the sugar glucose in the blood. Insulin permits cells to use glucose for energy. Cells cannot utilize glucose without insulin.”

That would explain why my energy is practically nil, but it also seems to indicate that I won’t be able to do anything about it until after the surgery to remove the tumor. Although, when I start radiation next week, I may be able to go back to the diabetic diet. By the way, after following the Chronic Kidney Disease diet for 11 years, none of the new – off the CKD diet – foods I tried are appealing to me.

But I digress. So, what now? I need to dance; it’s part of who I am. My oncologist referred me to Occupational Therapy. Now I have exercises and tactile surfaces to explore that may be helpful. But what about those who are not going through chemotherapy, but do have diabetic neuropathy? Remember diabetes is the number cause of CKD.

Oh, my goodness. It looks like there are as many ways to treat neuropathy as there are different kinds of neuropathy. I hadn’t expected that. EverydayHealth at https://www.everydayhealth.com/neuropathy/guide/treatment/ gives us an idea of just how complicated choosing the proper treatment for your neuropathy can be:

“What Are the Main Ways That Neuropathy Is Treated?

Treating neuropathy in general focuses first on identifying and then addressing the underlying condition to help prevent further damage and give nerves the time they need to heal to the extent that they can.

“The treatment for the neuropathy is to reverse whatever it is that is causing the neuropathy,” says Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. “We try to reverse the insult to the nerves first and then do symptomatic control.”

For people with diabetic neuropathy, the first step physicians take is getting the person’s blood glucose level under control, says Matthew Villani, DPM, a podiatrist at Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford, Florida.

This treatment approach aims to remove the “insult” created by the excess sugar to peripheral nerves throughout the body — but especially the extremities, Dr. Segil explains.

Here are some other ways diabetic neuropathy may be treated:

• Pain, burning, and tingling are treated with over-the-counter and prescription medication such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), topical creams, COX-2 inhibitors, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and opioids. [Gail again, as CKD patients we’re out on the NSAIDS.]

• Numbness or complete loss of sensation can lead to complications such as ulcers, sores, and limb amputations. It is addressed by monitoring the affected areas — often the feet — for injuries and addressing wounds before they become more serious, as well as prescribing protective footwear and braces.
• Orthostatic hypotension (a drop in blood pressure upon standing up), which is an autonomic symptom, can be treated with increased sodium intake, a vasopressor such as ProAmatine (midodrine) to constrict blood vessels, a synthetic mineralocorticoid such as fludrocortisone to help maintain the balance of salt in the body, or a cholinesterase inhibitor such as pyridostigmine, which affects neurotransmitters.
• Gastroparesis, a delayed emptying of the stomach, is another autonomic symptom, which can be treated with medication to control nausea and vomiting, such as Reglan (metoclopramide), Ery-Tab (erythromycin), antiemetics, and antidepressants, as well as pain medication for abdominal discomfort.
• Motor neuropathy symptoms can include weakness and muscle wasting, particularly in the lower extremities, as well as deformities of the feet and loss of the Achilles’ heel tendon reflex. Treatments can include physical therapy to regain strength, as well as braces and orthotics.

I’ve got to think about this. Any questions? Well, then,

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Clinical Trials Day

By now, you probably all know that I chose a clinical trial to treat my pancreatic cancer. But did you know that today, May 20th, is Clinical Trials Day? What’s that, you ask? Let’s find out together. According to The Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) at http://www.clinicaltrialsday.org/:

“WHY MAY 20?

Clinical Trials Day is celebrated around the world in May to recognize the day that James Lind started what is often considered the first randomized clinical trial aboard a ship on May 20, 1747.

HERE’S THE STORY

May, 1747.

The HMS Salisbury of Britain’s Royal Navy fleet patrols the English Channel at a time when scurvy is thought to have killed more British seamen than French and Spanish arms.

Aboard this ship, surgeon mate James Lind, a pioneer of naval hygiene, conducts what many refer to as the first clinical trial.

Acting on a hunch that scurvy was caused by putrefaction of the body that could be cured through the introduction of acids, Lind recruited 12 men for his ‘fair test.’…

---

From The James Lind Library:

Without stating what method of allocation he used, Lind allocated two men to each of six different daily treatments for a period of fourteen days. The six treatments were: 1.1 litres of cider; twenty-five millilitres of elixir vitriol (dilute sulphuric acid); 18 millilitres of vinegar three times throughout the day before meals; half a pint of sea water; two oranges and one lemon continued for six days only (when the supply was exhausted); and a medicinal paste made up of garlic, mustard seed, dried radish root and gum myrrh.…

Those allocated citrus fruits experienced ‘the most sudden and good visible effects,’ according to Lind’s report on the trial.

Though Lind, according to The James Lind Library, might have left his readers ‘confused about his recommendations’ regarding the use of citrus in curing scurvy, he is ‘rightly recognized for having taken care to “‘compare like with like’’, and the design of his trial may have inspired ‘and informed future clinical trial design.'”

I’ve written about James Lind before, so you may want to re-read the 8/20/18 blog to read more about him and his experiments.

Time travel to 2019 with me, if you will, to read what Antidote.Me has to offer in the way of Chronic Kidney Disease Clinical Trials.

****

Headline: Chronic Kidney Disease Research: How to Get Involved

By Nancy Ryerson

May 20 is Clinical Trials Day. Every year, patient advocates and research groups participate to raise awareness of how clinical trial participation drives research progress. You may know that new treatments for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) can’t move forward without clinical trial volunteers, but you may not know how to find active, relevant trials in your area.

Below, you’ll find answers to commonly asked questions about finding CKD clinical trials, including who can join, how to find trials, and the kinds of questions CKD research aims to answer.

How can I find Chronic Kidney Disease clinical trials near me?

There are currently 171 research studies for CKD looking for volunteers in the United States. All clinical trials are listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, but because the website was developed with researchers in mind rather than patients, it can be difficult for patients to navigate. Antidote is a clinical trial matching company that provides a patient-friendly clinical trial search tool to health nonprofits and bloggers, including this blog. With the Antidote tool, you can answer a few questions about your medical history and where you’d like to find a trial to receive a list of trials you may qualify for in your area. You can also sign up to receive alerts when new trials are added near you.

Who can join CKD clinical trials?

 It’s a common misconception that clinical trials only need volunteers who have been recently diagnosed to take part. It’s also untrue that clinical trials are only a “last resort” for patients who have exhausted other options. In reality, clinical trials can be a care option for patients at any point after diagnosis. CKD trials need volunteers with mild, moderate, and severe kidney disease to participate in different trials. Some trials also look for patients with specific comorbidities, such as hypertension. 

What does CKD research typically focus on? 

Clinical trials for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) research potential new treatments to slow or stop CKD, as well as treat common conditions associated with CKD, such as anemia or hypertension.

CKD clinical trials aren’t limited to research into new drugs, either. For example, a kidney-friendly diet can make a significant difference in reducing kidney damage, and more research is needed into specific interventions that can help. Research studies are also looking into the impact exercise can have on CKD symptoms and progression.

Clinical trials may also be observational. These kinds of trials don’t test an intervention – a drug, diet, lifestyle change, etc. Instead, participants are divided into groups and observed for differences in outcome. 

Do clinical trials always use a placebo? 

In clinical trials, placebos – also known as “sugar pills” – help researchers understand the effectiveness of an experimental treatment. While they can be an important part of the research process, it’s also understandable that patients hope they won’t receive the placebo in a clinical trial.

If you’re considering taking part in a trial but you’re concerned about receiving a placebo, it’s important to know that not all trials use one. Many trials test a potential new treatment against the standard of care, for example. In some trials that use a placebo, everyone in the trial may receive the study drug at some point during the trial. 

I don’t have time to participate in a clinical trial.

Time restraints are another reason many patients hesitate to participate in clinical trials. While some clinical trials may require weekly site visits, others may only ask participants to come in every month or so. Some trials may also offer virtual visits online or home visits to help reduce the number of trips you’ll need to take to get to a site. When you’re considering joining a clinical trial, ask the study team any questions you have about the trial schedule, reimbursement for travel, or anything else about participation.

Interested in finding a trial near you? Use the SlowItDownCKD trial search, powered by Antidote, to start your search. (Gail here: It’s at the bottom right hand side of the blog roll.)

Ladies and Gentleman, start your motors! I hope you find just the right CKD Clinical Trial for you.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Don’t Know Much about FSGS…

Being on chemotherapy is very tiring, so I stay home a lot and delve into anything that catches my eye, like FSGS. I’ve seen the letters before and had sort of a vague idea of what it might be, but what better time to explore it and whatever it may have to do with Chronic Kidney Disease than now?

Let’s start at the beginning. FSGS is the acronym for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. Anything look familiar? Maybe the ‘glomerul’ part of glomerulosclerosis? I think we need to know the definition of glomerulosclerosis to be able to answer that question. The National Institutes of Health’s U.S. National Library of Congress’s Medline Plus at https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000478.htm defines it this way:

“Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis is scar tissue in the filtering unit of the kidney. This structure is called the glomerulus. The glomeruli serve as filters that help the body get rid of harmful substances. Each kidney has thousands of glomeruli.

‘Focal’ means that some of the glomeruli become scarred. Others remain normal. ‘Segmental’ means that only part of an individual glomerulus is damaged.”

So, we do know what the ‘glomerul’ part of glomerulosclerosis means. It refers to the same filters in the kidneys we’ve been discussing for the past eleven years: the glomeruli. This former English teacher can assure you that ‘o’ is simply a connective between the two parts of the word. ‘Sclerosis’ is a term you may have heard of in relation to the disease of the same name, the one in which the following occurs (according to Encarta Dictionary):

“the hardening and thickening of body tissue as a result of unwarranted growth, degeneration of nerve fibers, or deposition of minerals, especially calcium.”

Wait a minute. When I first started writing about CKD, I approached NephCure Foundation… not being certain what it was, but seeing Neph in its name. They were kind enough to ask me to guest blog for them on 8/21/11. By the way, as of August 15, 2014, NephCure Foundation became NephCure Kidney International. That makes the connection to our kidneys much more clear.

Back to FSGS. The NephCure Kidney International website at https://nephcure.org/ offers us this information:

“How is FSGS Diagnosed?

FSGS is diagnosed with renal biopsy (when doctors examine a tiny portion of the kidney tissue), however, because only some sections of the glomeruli are affected, the biopsy can sometimes be inconclusive.

What are the Symptoms of FSGS?

Many people with FSGS have no symptoms at all.  When symptoms are present the most common include:

Proteinuria – Large amounts of protein ‘spilling’ into the urine

Edema – Swelling in parts of the body, most noticeable around the eyes, hands and feet, and abdomen which causes sudden weight gain.

Low Blood Albumin Levels because the kidneys are removing albumin instead of returning it to the blood

High Cholesterol in some cases

High Blood Pressure in some cases and can often be hard to treat

FSGS can also cause abnormal results of creatinine in laboratory tests. Creatinine is measured by taking a blood sample. Everyone has a certain amount of a substance called creatinine floating in his or her blood. This substance is always being produced by healthy muscles and normally the kidneys constantly filter it out and the level of creatinine stays low. But when the filters become damaged, they stop filtering properly and the level of creatinine left in the blood goes up.”

Whoa! Look at all the terms we’ve used again and again in the last eleven years of SlowItDownCKD’s weekly blog: proteinuria, edema, albumin, cholesterol, high blood pressure, and creatinine. This is definitely something that we, as CKD patients, should know about.

Okay. Let’s say you are diagnosed with FSGS. Now what? The National Kidney Organization at https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/focal was helpful here:

“How is FSGS treated?

The type of treatment you get depends on the cause. Everyone is different and your doctor will make a treatment plan that is right for your type of FSGS. Usually, treatments for FSGS include:

• Corticosteroids (often called “steroids”)
• Immunosuppressive drugs
• ACE inhibitors and ARBs
• Diuretics
• Diet change

Corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs: These medications are used to calm your immune system (your body’s defense system) and stop it from attacking your glomeruli.

ACE inhibitors and ARBs: These are blood pressure medications used to reduce protein loss and control blood pressure.”

Diuretics: These medications help your body get rid of excess fluid and swelling. These can be used to lower your blood pressure too.

Diet changes:  Some diet changes may be needed, such as reducing salt (sodium) and protein in your food choices to lighten the load of wastes on the kidneys.”

I think we need another definition here. Yep, it’s Plasmapheresis. Back to the Encarta Dictionary.

“a process in which blood taken from a patient is treated to extract the cells and corpuscles, which are then added to another fluid and returned to the patient’s body.”

Let’s go back to The NephCure Kidney International website at https://nephcure.org/ for a succinct summary of FSGS Facts.

“More than 5400 patients are diagnosed with FSGS every year, however, this is considered an underestimate because:

• a limited number of biopsies are performed
• the number of FSGS cases are rising more than any other cause of Nephrotic Syndrome…

NephCure estimates that there are currently 19,306 people living with ESRD due to FSGS…, in part because it is the most common cause of steroid resistant Nephrotic Syndrome in children,… and it is the second leading cause of kidney failure in children…

NephCure estimates that people of African ancestry are at a five times higher diagnosis rate of FSGS…

About half of FSGS patients who do not respond to steroids go into ESRD each year, requiring dialysis or transplantation…

Approximately 1,000 FSGS patients a year receive kidney transplants… however, within hours to weeks after a kidney transplant, FSGS returns in approximately 30-40% of patients….”

As prevalent and serious as this sounds, please remember that FSGS is a rare kidney disease. Knowing what we now know just may help you keep your eyes open for it.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Chemo and My Kidneys

 As most of you know, I am extremely protective of my kidneys. When I was first diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease 11 years ago, my eGFR was only 39. Here’s a quick reminder of what the eGFR is from my first CKD book, What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease:

“GFR: Glomerular filtration rate [if there is a lower case ‘e’ before the term, it means estimated glomerular filtration rate] which determines both the stage of kidney disease and how well the kidneys are functioning.”

39. That’s stage 3B, the lower part of stage 3B. During the intervening 11 years, I’ve been able to raise it to 50 (and sometimes higher for short periods) via vigorously following the renal diet, exercising, avoiding stress as much as possible, maintaining adequate sleep, and paying strict attention to the medications prescribed for me. While the medications were the ones I had been taking for high blood pressure prior to being diagnosed with CKD, they worked in my favor.

This excerpt from The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK492989/ will explain why:

“The decision of whether to reduce blood pressure levels in someone who has chronic kidney disease will depend on

• how high their blood pressure is (when untreated),
• whether they have diabetes, and
• how much protein is in their urine (albumin level).

A person with normal blood pressure who doesn’t have diabetes and hardly has any albumin in their urine will be able to get by without using any blood-pressure-lowering medication. But people who have high blood pressure, diabetes or high levels of albumin in their urine are advised to have treatment with ACE inhibitors (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors) or sartans (angiotensin receptor blockers). In people who have diabetes, blood-sugar-lowering medication is also important.”

When I was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer early last month, it changed my medical priorities. With my nephrologist’s blessing, my primary focus was the cancer… not my kidneys. It took constant reminders to myself not to be so quick to say no to anything that I thought would harm my kidneys. In other words, to those things I’d been saying no to for the last 11 years.

For example, once diagnosed with CKD, I ate very little protein keeping to my five ounce daily limitation. Not anymore. Protein is needed to avoid muscle wasting during chemotherapy with a minimum requirement of eight ounces a day. I even tried roast beef and other red meats. After 11 years, they no longer agreed with me so I eat ground turkey, chicken, cheese, and am considering soy.

Another change: I preferred not to eat carbohydrates, but was warned not to lose weight if I could help it. All of a sudden I’m eating Goldfish, bread, and pasta. I can’t say that I’m enjoying them, but I am keeping my weight loss to a minimum. Other limitations like those on potassium and phosphorous have also gone by the wayside. I’ve eaten every childhood favorite, foods that I’ve avoided for the last 11 years, and anything that might look tempting in the last month, but none of them really taste that good. I like the foods on the renal diet now.

Oh, the only thing I have not increased is salt. My daughter takes me to my chemotherapy sessions. There’s a Jewish style restaurant across the street and we showed up early one day. I wanted to try a toasted bagel with butter, the way I ate it before CKD. The damned thing was salty! I hadn’t expected that.

Back to chemo and my kidneys. I admit it. I was nervous. What was this combination of poisons going to do to my kidneys? If it was so caustic that I had to have a port in place so that it wouldn’t be injected directly into my veins for fear of obliterating them, what about my kidneys?

I anxiously awaited my first Comprehensive Blood Panel, the blood test that includes your GFR. Oh, oh, oh! My kidney function had risen to 55 and my creatinine had lowered to 1.0. Let me explain just how good this was.

A GFR of 55 is the higher part of stage 3A. 60 is where stage 2 of CKD begins. My kidneys were functioning better on chemo. And the creatinine? Let’s get a quick definition of that first. According to The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease-ckd/tests-diagnosis:

“Creatinine. Creatinine is a waste product from the normal breakdown of muscles in your body. Your kidneys remove creatinine from your blood. Providers use the amount of creatinine in your blood to estimate your GFR. As kidney disease gets worse, the level of creatinine goes up.”

Yet, mine went down. How? I asked and it was explained that all the hydration used to clear my veins of the caustic chemotherapy had worked this magic. I had two hours of hydration before the chemo-therapy  itself, two hours afterward, and another two hours the next day. My kidneys had never been this hydrated!

But wait, there’s more. I have diabetes. The pancreas is the organ that produces insulin. Could my diabetes be from the tumor blocking the production of insulin by my pancreas? I truly don’t know, but my glucose level is within the standard range for the first time since I’ve been diagnosed with diabetes.

Would I recommend chemotherapy to raise your GFR, and lower your creatinine and your glucose level? Of course not. But I am feeling so very lucky that my kidneys are not coming to any harm during the chemotherapy necessary to save my life. I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I am.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

I’m Finally Ready to Let National Kidney Month Go

As you already know, I’ve been posting the chapter I contributed to the book 1in9 as my contribution to National Kidney Month. This will probably be the final post of that chapter, unless I decide to post the biography that goes along with the chapter at a later date.

Most of you are aware that I now have pancreatic cancer and the chemo effects are getting in my way. I’m hoping that I’ll not be feeling them so severely in the near future and will be able to research some new material for you. Right now, that’s just not possible. You may have noticed that my Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages no longer contain original posts. That’s due to the same reason.

But let’s complete the book chapter:

When I was diagnosed back in 2008, there weren’t that many reader friendly books on anything having to do with CKD. Since then, more and more books of this type have been published. I’m laughing along with you, but I don’t mean just SlowItDownCKD 2011, SlowItDownCKD 2012 (These two were The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1, until I realized how unwieldy both the book and the title were – another learning experience), SlowItDownCKD 2013, SlowItDownCKD 2014 (These two were formerly The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2), SlowItDownCKD 2015, SlowItDownCKD 2016, and SlowItDownCKD 2017. By the way, I’m already working on SlowItDownCKD 2018. Each book contains the blogs for that year.

I include guest blogs or book review blogs to get a taste of the currently available CKD news. For example, 1in9 guest blogged this year. Books such as Dr. Mandip S. Kang’s, The Doctor’s Kidney Diets (which also contains so much non-dietary information that we – as CKD patients – need to know), and Drs. Raymond R. Townsend and Debbie L. Cohen’s 100 Questions & Answers about Kidney Disease and Hypertension.

I miss my New York daughter and she misses me, so we sometimes have coffee together separately. She has a cup of coffee and I do at the same time. It’s not like being together in person, but it’s something. You can find support the same way via Facebook Chronic Kidney Disease Support Groups. Some of these groups are:

Chronic Kidney Disease Awareness

Chronic Kidney Disease in India

CKD (Kidney Failure) Support Group International

Dialysis & Kidney Disease

Friends Sharing Positive Chronic Kidney Disease

I Hate Dialysis

Kidney Disease Diet Ideas and Help

Kidney Disease Ideas and Diets1

Kidney Disease is not a Joke

Kidney Disease, Dialysis, and Transplant

Kidney Warriors Foundation

Kidneys and Vets

Mani Trust

Mark’s Private Kidney Disease Group

P2P

People on Dialysis

Sharing your Kidney Journey

Stage 3 ‘n 4 Kidneybeaners Gathering Place

The Transplant Community Outreach

UK Kidney Support

Women’s Renal Failure

Wrap Up Warm for Kidney Disease

What I hit over and over again in the blogs is that diabetes is the foremost cause of CKD with hypertension as the second most common cause. Simple blood and urine tests can uncover your CKD – if you’re part of the unlucky 96% of those in the early stages of the disease who don’t know they have it.

Each time I research, I’m newly amazed at how much there is to learn about CKD…and how many tools you have at your disposal to help slow it down. Diet is the obvious one. But if you smoke or drink, stop, or at least cut down. If you don’t exercise, start. Adequate, good quality sleep is another tool. Don’t underestimate rest either; you’re not being lazy when you rest, you’re preserving whatever kidney function you have left. I am not particularly a pill person, but if there’s a medication prescribed that will slow down the gradual decline of my kidney function, I’m all for it.

I was surprised to discover that writing my SlowItDownCKD book series, maintaining a blog, Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest accounts of the same name are not enough for me for me to spread the word about CKD screening and education. I’m determined to change this since I feel so strongly that NO ONE should have this disease and not be aware of it.

That’s why I’ve brought CKD awareness to every community that would have me: coffee shops, Kiwanis Clubs, independent bookstores, senior citizen centers, guest blogging for the likes of The American Kidney Fund and The National Kidney Foundation, being interviewed by publications like the Wall Street Journal’s Health Matters, The Center for Science in The Public Interest, and The United Federation of Teachers’ New York Teacher, and on podcasts such as The Renal Diet Headquarters, Online with Andrea, The Edge Podcast, Working with Chronic Illness, and Improve Your Kidney Health.

I’ve been very serious about sharing about CKD before it advances to end stage… meaning dialysis. To that end, I gathered a team for the National Kidney Foundation of Arizona Kidney Walk one year. Another year, I organized several meetings at the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Education is vital since so many people are unaware they even have the disease.

You can slow down the progression of the decline of kidney function. I have been spending a lot of time on my health and I’m happy to say it’s been paying off. There are five stages. I’ve stayed at the middle one for over a decade despite having both high blood pressure and diabetes. That’s what this is about. People don’t know about CKD. They get diagnosed. They think they’re going to die. Everybody dies, but it doesn’t have to be of CKD. I am downright passionate about people knowing this.

Thanks for taking the time to finish the chapter. The more people who know about Chronic Kidney Disease, the more people can tell others about it. I’d hate for anyone to be part of the 90% of those with CKD who don’t know they have it.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

To Continue…

National Kidney Month is just flying by. This is actually the last week and I doubt I’ll be able to post the rest of the 1in9 chapter before next month. But then again, it’s always Kidney Month for those of us with Chronic Kidney Disease. By the way, thank you to the reader who made it a point of telling me she can’t wait to read the rest of the chapter. Sooooo, let’s get started!

***

Nephrologist switch. The new one was much better for me. He explained again and again until I understood and he put up with a lot of verbal abuse when this panicky new patient wasn’t getting answers as quickly as she wanted them. Luckily for me, he graciously accepted my apology.

After talking to the nephrologist, I began to realize just how serious this disease was and started to wonder why my previous nurse practitioner had not caught this. When I asked her why, she responded, “It was inconclusive testing.” Sure it was. Because she never ordered the GFR tested; that had been incidental! I feel there’s no sense crying over spilled milk (or destroyed nephrons, in this case), but I wonder how much more of my kidney function I could have preserved if I’d known about my CKD earlier.

According to the Mayo Clinic, there are 13 early signs of chronic kidney disease. I never experienced any of them, not even one. While I did have high blood pressure, it wasn’t uncontrollable which is one of the early signs. Many, like me, never experienced any noticeable symptoms. Unfortunately, many, like me, may have had high blood pressure (hypertension) for years before CKD was diagnosed. Yet, high blood pressure and diabetes are the two leading causes of CKD. I find it confusing that uncontrollable high blood pressure may be an early sign of CKD, but hypertension itself is the second leading cause of CKD.

Here’s the part about my researching. I was so mystified about what was happening and why it was happening that I began an extensive course of research. My nephrologists did explain what everything meant (I think), but I was still too shocked to understand what they were saying. I researched diagnoses, descriptions of tests, test results, doctors’ reports, you name it. Slowly, it began to make sense, but that understanding only led to more questions and more research.

You’ve probably already guessed that my world changed during that first appointment. I began to excuse myself for rest periods each day when I went back East for a slew of family affairs right after. I counted food groups and calories at these celebrations that summer. And I used all the errand running associated with them as an excuse to speed walk wherever I went and back so I could fit in my exercise. Ah, but that was just the beginning.

My high blood pressure had been controlled for 20 years at that time, but what about my diet? I had no clue there was such a thing as a kidney diet until the nutritionist explained it to me. I’m a miller’s granddaughter and ate anything – and I do mean anything – with grain in it: breads, muffins, cakes, croissants, all of it. I also liked lots of chicken and fish… not the five ounces per day I’m limited to now.

The nutritionist explained to me how hard protein is on the kidneys… as is phosphorous… and potassium… and, of course, sodium. Out went my daily banana—too high in potassium. Out went restaurant burgers—larger than my daily allowance of protein. Chinese food? Pizza? Too high in sodium. I embraced an entirely new way of eating because it was one of the keys to keeping my kidneys functioning in stage 3.

I was in a new food world. I’d already known about restricting sodium because I had high blood pressure, but these other things? I had to keep a list of which foods contain them, how much was in each of these foods, and a running list of how much of each I had during the day so I knew when I reached my limit for that day.

Another critical piece of slowing down CKD is medication. I was already taking meds to lower my blood pressure when I was first diagnosed with CKD. Two more prescriptions have been added to this in the last decade: a diuretic that lowers my body’s absorption of salt to help prevent fluid from building up in my body (edema), and a drug that widens the blood vessels by relaxing them. I take another drug for my brand new diabetes. (Bye-bye, sugars and most carbs.) The funny thing is now my favorite food is salad with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I never thought that would happen: I was a chocoholic!

Exercise, something I loved until my arthritis got in the way, was also important. I was a dancer. Wasn’t that enough? Uh-uh, I had to learn about cardio and strength training exercise, too. It was no longer acceptable to be pleasantly plumb. My kidneys didn’t need the extra work. Hello to weights, walking, and a stationary bike. I think I took sleep for granted before CKD, too, and I now make it a point to get a good night’s sleep. A sleep apnea device improved my sleep—and my kidney function rose.

I realized I needed to rest, too. Instead of giving a lecture, running to an audition, and coming home to meet a deadline, I slowly started easing off until I didn’t feel like I was running on empty all the time. The result was that I ended up graciously retiring from both acting and teaching at a local college, which gave me more time to work on my CKD awareness advocacy.

***

There’s so much more to tell you about my personal CKD journey… and you’ll read more of it next week. Although, I should remind you that the entire book is available in print and digital on both Amazon.com and B&N.com, just as the entire SlowItDownCKD series of books is.

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

A long time reader mentioned she had a kind of kidney disease I wasn’t familiar with, so I decided to find out what I could about it. Are you aware of Uromodulin Kidney Disease?

This is what the U.S. National Library of Medicine at https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/uromodulin-associated-kidney-disease had to say:

“Uromodulin-associated kidney disease is an inherited condition that affects the kidneys. The signs and symptoms of this condition vary, even among members of the same family.

Many individuals with uromodulin-associated kidney disease develop high blood levels of a waste product called uric acid. Normally, the kidneys remove uric acid from the blood and transfer it to urine. In this condition, the kidneys are unable to remove uric acid from the blood effectively. A buildup of uric acid can cause gout, which is a form of arthritis resulting from uric acid crystals in the joints. The signs and symptoms of gout may appear as early as a person’s teens in uromodulin-associated kidney disease.

Uromodulin-associated kidney disease causes slowly progressive kidney disease, with the signs and symptoms usually beginning during the teenage years. The kidneys become less able to filter fluids and waste products from the body as this condition progresses, resulting in kidney failure. Individuals with uromodulin-associated kidney disease typically require either dialysis to remove wastes from the blood or a kidney transplant between the ages of 30 and 70. Occasionally, affected individuals are found to have small kidneys or kidney cysts (medullary cysts).”

Since this is inherited, I suspect the only way to prevent it is gene editing. I researched gene editing a bit but discovered there is quite a bit of controversy as to the legal and ethical aspects of this procedure right now. However, this doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.

The only other information I could find was far too technical for this lay person to understand, much less explain. Readers, do you have more information?

Something else that was new to me this week: pitaya or dragon fruit. I always buy myself a birthday present and this was mine for this year. By the way, thank you to all the readers who took the time to wish me well on my 72^nd yesterday. Back to pitaya.

According to Healthline (Thank you again for the two awards.) at https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/dragon-fruit#what-it-is, pitaya is:

“Dragon fruit is a tropical fruit native to Mexico and Central America. Its taste is like a combination of a kiwi and a pear…. Dragon fruit is a low-calorie fruit that is high in fiber and provides a good amount of several vitamins and minerals…. Dragon fruit contains several antioxidants that protect your cells from damage. These include betalains, hydroxycinnamates, and flavonoids…. Animal studies suggest that dragon fruit may improve insulin resistance, liver fat, and heart health. However, the results of human studies are inconsistent…. To date, there have been two reported cases of a severe allergic reaction to dragon fruit.”

I like that it contains less sugar and calories than other tropical fruits, but I didn’t find the taste appealing. It was bland with just a hint of a woody aftertaste. Was it too ripe? Not ripe enough? Surprisingly, my Utah raised son-in-law loves it and jumped at the chance to finish mine.

I ran into what might have been more new information this past week when the P.A. taking my husband’s blood pressure used a wrist monitor on his right wrist. I was always told an arm cuff monitor was better because the pressure was only taken through one bone, whereas there are two in the wrist. I was also told that the left arm was best because it was closer to the heart. This advice was from my PCP’s nurse and that of my nephrologist. However, this P.A. insisted the wrist monitor measures atomic movement of the blood so it didn’t matter whether a wrist or arm cuff were used, nor which arm was used. It didn’t sound right to me.

This is from SlowItDownCKD 2014 and may be helpful here:

“Well, what about the different kinds of blood pressure monitors? I use a wrist monitor which my PCP is simply not thrilled with.  Her feeling is that I’m taking my pressure through two bones, the radius and the ulna, as opposed to only one bone, the humerus, with an arm device. There’s also the finger monitor, but that could be a problem if you have thin or cold fingers.

There are manual and battery operated versions of these monitors.  If you use an arm monitor, be aware that larger cuffs are available if needed. The one thing most blood pressure sites agree upon is that it’s not a good idea to rely on drugstore monitors for your readings.”

I have been researching for over two hours. I cannot find anything about atomic movement within the blood being measured by a blood pressure monitor of any kind. I’ve been to professional pages, checked studies, and even looked at advertisements. So, unless you have other information, I do believe I’ve been had. I just can’t wait to meet this young man at the follow up appointment in two weeks when I’ll ask him for resources and the monitor manufacturers’ information.

On another note, I’ve written about KDIGO during the last two years. This is from SlowItDownCKD 2017 and was repeated in the Sept. 17^th blog in 2018.

“This stands for KIDNEY DISEASE | IMPROVING GLOBAL OUTCOMES. Their homepage at KDIGO.org states:

‘KDIGO MISSION – Improving the care and outcomes of kidney disease patients worldwide through the development and implementation of global clinical practice guidelines.’”

So why mention it again, you ask? Well, you know how I’m always saying I’m not a doctor and neither are you, but doctors need to know what we, as kidney patients, need to say? KDIGO is now inviting patients – including those with CKD – to join their patient network. What better way to be heard as a kidney patient? I joined and I hope you will, too. The link to join is:

https://sydneypublichealth.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_72LdurS2QicQFKd.

This is the announcement the Dr. Joel Topf (on Twitter as @kidney_boy) brought to my attention:

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

At the Heart of the Matter

Happy New Year! Here’s wishing you all a very healthy one. I, on the other hand, found myself in the cardiologist’s office the very first week of 2019. That was odd for me.

It all started when I asked my very thorough primary care physician what – if anything – it meant that my blood pressure reading was ten points higher in one arm than the other. By the way, she’s the one that suggested I take my blood pressure on a daily basis. Her nurse always used the left arm to take the reading, so I did too. Then I got curious about what the reading on the other arm would be and how much difference there would be between arms. I expected a point or two, not ten.

Although my readings had always been a bit high, they weren’t high enough to warrant extra attention… until I mentioned the ten point difference to my PCP. BAM! I had an appointment with the cardiologist.

This information in last year’s April 23’s blog will explain why:

“We know that hypertension is the number two cause of CKD. Moderating our blood pressure will (hopefully) slow down the progression of the decline of our kidney function. Kidney & Urology Foundation of America, Inc. at http://www.kidneyurology.org/Library/Kidney_Health/High_Blood_Pressure_and_Kidney_Disease.php explains this succinctly:

‘High blood pressure makes your heart work harder and, over time, can damage blood vessels throughout your body. If the blood vessels in your kidneys are damaged, they may stop removing wastes and extra fluid from your body. The extra fluid in your blood vessels may then raise blood pressure even more. It’s a dangerous cycle.’

And heart rate? The conclusion of a study published in the Journal of Nephrology reads:

‘Heart rate is an independent age-dependent effect modifier for progression to kidney failure in CKD patients.’

You can read the entire study at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232714804_Heart_rate

So we know that blood pressure and heart rate are important for Chronic Kidney Disease patients. Just in case you’ve forgotten, heart rate is a synonym for pulse which is the number of times your heart beats a minute.

MedicineNet at https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=154135 offers more about what the difference between readings from both arms MAY mean:

“People whose systolic blood pressure — the upper number in their reading — is different in their left and right arms may be suffering from a vascular disease that could increase their risk of death, British researchers report.

The arteries under the collarbone supply blood to the arms, legs and brain. Blockage can lead to stroke and other problems, the researchers noted, and measuring blood pressure in both arms should be routine.

‘This is an important [finding] for the general public and for primary care doctors,’ said Dr. William O’Neill, a professor of cardiology and executive dean of clinical affairs at the University of Miami Miller School Of Medicine.

‘Traditionally, most people just check blood pressure in one arm, but if there is a difference, then one of the arteries has disease in it,’ he said.

The arteries that run under the collarbone can get blocked, especially in smokers and diabetics, he noted. ‘If one artery is more blocked than the other, then there is a difference in blood pressure in the arms,’ O’Neill explained.

‘Doctors should, for adults — especially adult smokers and diabetics — at some point check the blood pressure in both arms,’ he said. ‘If there is a difference it should be looked into further.’

The report appears in the Jan. 30 online edition of The Lancet. ”

Notice I capitalized may. That’s because, in my case, there apparently was no blockage. My cardiologist had a different view of things. He felt there wasn’t a problem unless the difference in readings between your two arms is more than 20 points and that your blood pressure would have to be much higher than my slightly elevated blood pressure before this could be considered a problem.

He made note of my diabetes and congratulated me for taking such good care of myself, especially since I’m a caretaker. I must have looked puzzled because he went on to explain that caretakers sometimes have a sort of martyr complex and are convinced they cannot take the time away from the person they’re caring for to care for themselves. And, yes, he did use the oxygen masks in an airplane analogy to point out how important it is for caretakers to care for themselves first.

Now that I’ve wandered on to the subject of caretakers, seemingly continuing the thread from last week’s blog, here’s a health screening from Path to Wellness that may interest you if you live in Arizona. I urge you to take part yourself and bring anyone you think may be affected or has someone in their lives that may have CKD.

What: The National Kidney Foundation of Arizona will host a FREE health screening, aiming to identify chronic diseases in their early stages in those at highest risk.

When: Saturday, January 26, 2019, 8:30am- 12:00pm (appointments highly recommended**)

Where: Betty Fairfax High School (8225 S. 59th Ave., Laveen, AZ 85339)

Individuals who are 18 years or older and have a family member with diabetes, high blood pressure or chronic kidney disease, OR have high blood pressure or diabetes themselves are urged to attend this important event. Early detection means the possibility of preventing further, life-risking damage to the kidneys.

**Appointments may be scheduled by calling the National Kidney Foundation of Arizona at (602) 840-1644 (English) or (602) 845-7905 / (602)845-7912 (Spanish).

OR

Visit https://azkidney.org/pathtowellness and register online!

This medical screening includes immediate onsite results and medical education and is provided at absolutely no cost. The event is staffed with medical professionals, with the ability to screen 200 attendees.

About Path to Wellness: The Path to Wellness program is the product of a community collaboration between the National Kidney Foundation of Arizona and Cardio Renal Society of America. This January screening is provided in partnership with Adelante Healthcare and the Phoenix Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Sorority, Inc., and generously funded by the BHHS Legacy Foundation. Path to Wellness screenings are unique in that they try to target areas of cities where the high demographics of under-insured or at-risk individuals may have an opportunity to detect chronic health problems early on, in a cost-free environment. The screenings also offer the unique advantage of both on-site results, and post-screening education on chronic disease management.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

A Different Kind of Fatigue

Busy with the holidays? Chanukah has passed, but we still have Christmas, Kwanzaa, and the New Year coming up. Feeling like you’re just too tired to deal with them? Maybe even fatigued? What’s the difference, you ask. Let’s go to Reuters at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fatigued-tired-s-idUSCOL75594120070207 for the answer:

“’People who are tired,’ Olson [Dr. Karin Olson, with the faculty of nursing at the University of Alberta] explained, ‘still have a fair bit of energy but are apt to feel forgetful and impatient and experience muscle weakness following work, which is often alleviated by rest.

People who are fatigued, on the other hand, experience difficulty concentrating, anxiety, a gradual decrease in stamina, difficulty sleeping, and increased sensitivity to light. They also may skip social engagements once viewed as important to them.’”

Got it. When I was describing how tired I was to another caretaker, her suggestion was to have my adrenals checked. Hmmm, what does that have to do with Chronic Kidney Disease I wondered. Let’s find out.

First of all, what and where are the adrenals? As I reported in SlowItDownCKD 2016,

“According to Reference.com, a new site for me at https://www.reference.com/science/function-adrenal-gland-72cba864e66d8278:

“Adrenal glands are triangular-shaped, measure approximately 1.5 inches high and 3 inches long and are composed of two parts, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. The outer part is the adrenal cortex, which creates cortisol, aldosterone and androgen hormones. The second part is the adrenal medulla, which creates noradrenaline and adrenaline.

Cortisol is a hormone that controls metabolism and helps the body react to stress, according to Endocrineweb. It affects the immune system and lowers inflammatory responses in the body. Aldosterone helps regulate sodium and potassium levels, blood volume and blood pressure. Androgen hormones are steroid hormones that are converted to female or male hormones in other parts of the body.

Noradrenaline helps regulate blood pressure, increasing it during times of stress, notes Endocrineweb. Adrenaline is often associated with the adrenal glands, and it increases the heart rate and blood flow to the muscles and the brain.”

Okay then, is adrenal fatigue exactly what it sounds like? According to Dr. James L. Wilson at http://adrenalfatigue.org/what-is-adrenal-fatigue/:

“Adrenal fatigue is a collection of signs and symptoms, known as a syndrome, that results when the adrenal glands function below the necessary level. Most commonly associated with intense or prolonged stress, it can also arise during or after acute or chronic infections, especially respiratory infections such as influenza, bronchitis or pneumonia. As the name suggests, its paramount symptom is fatigue that is not relieved by sleep but it is not a readily identifiable entity like measles or a growth on the end of your finger.

You may look and act relatively normal with adrenal fatigue and may not have any obvious signs of physical illness, yet you live with a general sense of unwellness, tiredness or ‘gray’ feelings. People experiencing adrenal fatigue often have to use coffee, colas and other stimulants to get going in the morning and to prop themselves up during the day.”

I still wanted to know what the connection to CKD was. LiveStrong at https://www.livestrong.com/article/139350-adrenal-glands-kidneys/ had the following to say about the connection:

“Blood Pressure

The adrenals and kidneys also work together to regulate blood pressure. The kidneys make renin, which is a chemical messenger to the adrenals. The renin put out by the kidneys signals the adrenals to make three hormones: angiotensin I, angiotensin II and aldosterone. These hormones regulate fluid volumes, vascular tension and sodium levels, all of which affect blood pressure.

Prednisone

Many kidney patients take prednisone to minimize the amount of protein spilled into the urine by the kidneys. Prednisone also has a powerful effect on the adrenal glands.

Prednisone acts as a corticosteroid, just like the ones produced by the adrenals. When patients take prednisone, the adrenals cease producing corticosteroids. When patients stop taking prednisone, they gradually taper the dosage down to give the adrenal glands the opportunity to ‘wake up’ and start producing corticosteroids again”.

I don’t take prednisone and my blood pressure is under control via medication. Where does this leave me… or you if you’re in the same situation?

I went to WebMD at https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/adrenal-fatigue-is-it-real#1 for more information.

“Your body’s immune system responds by slowing down when you’re under stress. Your adrenal glands, which are small organs above your kidneys, respond to stress by releasing hormones like cortisol. They regulate your blood pressure and how your heart works.

According to the theory, if you have long-term stress (like the death of a family member or a serious illness), your adrenal glands can’t continuously produce the extra cortisol you need to feel good. So adrenal fatigue sets in.”

This makes sense to me, although adrenal fatigue is not accepted by the Endocrine Society as a diagnose and there are warnings that accepting it as one may mask another problem (read disease) with the same symptoms. I am a caretaker as well as a CKD patient. I am under constant stress even when I’m sleeping. You’ve heard of sleeping with one eye open? I sleep with one ear open, but I do sleep so I can rule out tiredness.

While writing this blog has helped me understand what adrenal fatigue is and how it might affect me, I’m still going to keep my cardiology appointment to explore why my blood pressure is often ten points higher in one arm than another. That’s also a possible heart problem. Maybe adrenal fatigue is affecting how my heart is working … or maybe it’s a blockage somewhere. Why take a chance?

In the meantime, I intend to partake of as many of those holiday party invitations as I can. I can always come home early if I have to or I can rest before they start. Here’s hoping you do the same whether or not you think you have adrenal fatigue.

Oh, there’s still plenty of time to order any of my books on Amazon.com or B&N.com in time for the remaining holidays. There are links to the right of the blog for the kidney books. Click on these links for the fiction: Portal in Time and Sort of Dark Places.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Happy Holidays!

The holiday season is upon us full strength right now, but you have Chronic Kidney Disease. You don’t need the stress associated with the holiday season. The National Kidney Fund at https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/Stress_and_your_Kidneys explains why:

“As the blood filtering units of your body, your kidneys are prone to problems with blood circulation and blood vessels. High blood pressure and high blood sugar can place an additional strain or burden on your kidneys. People with high blood pressure and diabetes are at a higher risk for kidney disease. People with kidney disease are at higher risk for heart and blood vessel disease. If you already have heart and blood vessel disease and kidney disease, then the body’s reactions to stress can become more and more dangerous. Therefore, whether your goal is to prevent heart and/or kidney disease, or improve your health while living with heart and/or kidney disease, managing stress is an important part of maintaining your overall health.”

So what’s a CKD patient to do? First, you need to identify that you are stressed. In an article on caretaker stress at https://www.davita.com/education/ckd-life/caregiver/caregiver-stress-and-chronic-kidney-disease, DaVita outlined some of the symptoms. These are the same whether you’re the patient or the caretaker. I happen to be both a CKD patient and my Alzheimer’s husband’s caretaker, although we call me his care partner as suggested by the Alzheimer’s Association.

Physical signals

• Inability to sleep or sleeping too much
• Weight gain or loss
• Feeling tired all the time
• Change in posture—walking with your head down or with a stooped posture
• Chronic headaches, neck pain or back pain

Emotional signals

• Anger
• Frequent crying spells
• Inability to think clearly or concentrate
• Excessive mood swings
• Feelings of sadness that don’t go away

Behavioral signals

• Withdrawing from usual activities and relationships
• Quitting or changing jobs frequently
• Becoming more impulsive and over-reacting to things
• Using alcohol or drugs to feel better

Uh-oh, I recognize quite a few of these in myself. How about you?

Today is the last day of the eight day Chanukah celebration for us and all of you who celebrate this holiday. We usually throw a blowout party for anywhere from 30 to 50 people. But just a couple of months ago, we hosted a blowout pre-wedding potluck party for my daughter and her fiancé … and it was wonderful. Yet, it was clear that we can no longer handle undertaking such large parties. I had expressed my doubts last year about how long we’d be able to keep up the Chanukah party.

I was getting more and more stressed dealing with Bear’s medical issues and my own and then the party, so I did what I consider the logical thing to do, I delegated. We’ll still have the party, but a friend of my daughter’s will be hosting it. Instead of assigning different foods to specific guests, we’ve asked them to let us know what they’re be bringing. No prepping of the house (Shiloh sheds an entire other dog every few days) and no post party clean up. More importantly, no stress. I just bring the religious articles necessary and toss in a batch of cranberry chicken as my food contribution. Easy-peasy.

My very capable neighbor came in with cookies she’d just baked the other day. She knows about Bear’s sweet tooth. We started chatting as we’re wont to do and she brought up the point that she finds delegating stressful. Amy wants to make sure whatever it is that’s being delegated is done and done well, so she has to be careful about who she choices. I see her point, but I think that if you know your friends and family and how responsible (or not) each is, this shouldn’t be a problem.

But enough about me. What else can you do to reduce your stress at this time of year?

One thing is make sure you aren’t overeating. Avoiding comfort eating can be a real struggle. According to Baylor College of Medicine’s Dr. Sreedhar Mandayam in an article at https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-11-overeating-holidays-bad-kidneys.html,

“For people with kidney disease, even eating normal amounts of food puts stress on their kidneys. If you consume large amounts of carbohydrates, protein or fat the stress on an overworked, half functioning kidney will get even worse and can accelerate your kidney dysfunction.”

How about exercising? This is when I get on the exercise bike and watch a good movie. Why? The Mayo Clinic at  https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469 explains far better than I could:

Exercise increases your overall health and your sense of well-being, which puts more pep in your step every day. But exercise also has some direct stress-busting benefits.

• It pumps up your endorphins. Physical activity helps bump up the production of your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Although this function is often referred to as a runner’s high, a rousing game of tennis or a nature hike also can contribute to this same feeling.
• It’s meditation in motion. After a fast-paced game of racquetball or several laps in the pool, you’ll often find that you’ve forgotten the day’s irritations and concentrated only on your body’s movements.

As you begin to regularly shed your daily tensions through movement and physical activity, you may find that this focus on a single task, and the resulting energy and optimism, can help you remain calm and clear in everything you do.

• It improves your mood. Regular exercise can increase self-confidence, it can relax you, and it can lower the symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety. Exercise can also improve your sleep, which is often disrupted by stress, depression and anxiety. All of these exercise benefits can ease your stress levels and give you a sense of command over your body and your life.

 

Of course, you could give yourself permission to curl up with a good book for half an hour or so. You might like Portal in Time or Sort of Dark Places for sheer escapism or any of the SlowItDownCKD series (including What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease) for edifying yourself. Oh, the shameless self-promotion here! All are available on Amazon although,personally, if I’m stressed, I want pure escapism.

 

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Say That Again

I have been uttering that phrase for years, maybe even a decade. Each time I went for a hearing test, I was told I was getting there, but I didn’t need hearing aids yet. This year it changed. I’ll bet it’s because I have CKD.

This is from SlowItDownCKD  2011:

“Research shows that hearing loss is common in people with moderate Chronic Kidney Disease. As published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases and highlighted on the National Kidney Foundation web site, a team of Australian researchers found that older adults with moderate Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) have a higher prevalence of hearing loss than those of the same age without CKD.”

How moderate CKD and hearing are connected is another matter, one that apparently isn’t as well documented. Here’s what I found on Timpanogos Hearing and Balance’s website at https://utahhearingaids.com/hearing-loss-likely-individuals-chronic-kidney-disease/ and the other sites I searched. This comes from the same Universtiy of Sydney study I cited in my 2011 blog.  A study that was completed in 2010… eight years ago.

“The link between hearing loss and CKD can be explained by structural and functional similarities between tissues in the inner ear and in the kidney. Additionally, toxins that accumulate in kidney failure can damage nerves, including those in the inner ear. Another reason for this connection is that kidney disease and hearing loss share common risk factors, including diabetes, high blood pressure and advanced age.”

Wait a minute. I wrote about this in SlowItDownCKD 2014, too:

“Suddenly it became clear. If toxins are – well – toxic to our bodies, that includes our ears. My old friend The Online Etymology Dictionary tells us the word toxic is derived directly from late Latin toxicus, which means ‘poisoned.’

Now I got it. Moderate CKD could be poisoning our bodies with a buildup of toxins. Our ears and the nerves in them are part of our body. Damaged nerves may cause hearing loss. I’d just never thought of it that way before. Sometimes all it takes is that one last piece of the puzzle to fall in place.

Hmmm. High blood pressure is the second most common leading cause of CKD and it can also lead to hearing loss. Let’s take a look at that.

According to WebMD

‘Certain illnesses, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, put ears at risk by interfering with the ears’ blood supply.’

I went right to What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease to figure out how since it includes a diagram from The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health that demonstrates how high blood pressure is caused… and if you read on, you’ll read about the problems high blood pressure causes….and this sentence:

‘Humans have 10 pints of blood that are pumped by the heart through the arteries to all the other parts of the bodies.’

That would include the ears. Moderate CKD might mean that blood is tainted by the toxins our compromised kidneys could not rid us of.”

I was frustrated at not finding any more recent research, but sometimes you just have to take what you can get… like now.

I thought of an online hearing test I’d heard (Ouch! Poor word choice there.) about and decided to give it a try since it asked questions rather than having you listen to sounds as you would in an audiologist’s office. Here are my results from the  Better Hearing Institute at http://www.betterhearing.org/check-your-hearing

“SUMMARY

 Your hearing loss would be described as: Mild Hearing Loss. A hearing test may be necessary to monitor your hearing loss.

DETAIL REPORT

 Your Check Score: You scored 21 out of a possible 60 points. The remainder of this report will tell you what your score means.

Your Check Norm: Your score of 21 is at the 19 percentile of people with hearing loss in the United States, where low percentages mean lower hearing losses and high percentages mean more serious hearing losses compared to other people with hearing loss….

Subjective Hearing Loss Description: Based on the responses of more than 10,000 people with hearing loss and their family members, they would describe your hearing loss as: Mild Hearing Loss.

What Your Hearing Loss Means for Your Quality of Life: Research has shown that the higher your predicted hearing loss, the more likely the following quality-of-life factors may be negatively affected:

• irritability, negativism and anger
• fatigue, tension, stress and depression
• avoidance or withdrawal from social situations
• social rejection and loneliness
• reduced alertness and increased risk of personal safety
• impaired memory and ability to learn new tasks
• reduced job performance and earning power
• diminished psychological and overall health

What should you do next? Based on your score, we recommend the following: A hearing test may be necessary to monitor your hearing loss. Now hearing loss is situational, and the next step you take is dependent on your need to hear in various listening situations. Some people can live with mild hearing losses. Others, such as teachers and therapists whose auditory skills are very important for their everyday work, require corrective technology — such as hearing aids — even when their hearing loss is at mild levels. It becomes important for them to do something about their hearing loss so they can function adequately in their work environment….

References:

To review the study this report is based on visit:
http://www.betterhearing.org/hearingpedia/bhi-archives/eguides/validity-and-reliability-bhi-quick-hearing-check

To review research on hearing loss and quality of life visit:
www.betterhearing.org/hearingpedia/counseling-articles-tips/impact-treated-hearing-loss-quality-life as well as the following publication conducted by the National Council on the Aging (NCOA):
Hearing Aids and Quality of Life”

My audiologist will be introducing me to hearing aids in the new year. I thought I had considered all the ramifications of CKD. And, frankly, I thought I understood what was happening to my kidneys. It looks like I did understand the loss of some kidney function… just not how that would affect the rest of my body.

I don’t know whether to break out the duct tape or the crazy glue to keep this aging body in one piece. Are you laughing? Good, because I wanted to have this Chanukah blog leave you in a good mood. I know, I’ll break out the dreidles in your honor. Happy Chanukah!

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Something New and Entirely Different

I sit here trying to write this week’s blog and being interrupted every five minutes by a long involved commentary about one thing or another. Why do I tolerate it? Because it’s Bear, my Bear, my husband who is interrupting. Why not just ask him not to, you say. Well, it’s involved. Basically, it’s because he has Alzheimer’s, doesn’t know how long winded he’s being, and feels terribly insulted when I ask him not to interrupt so I can write.

Sometimes, we can have a conversation without the interruptions and without the involved commentary. Obviously, not right now, but during one of these conversations, I explained to him that I had been asked to write about his Alzheimer’s but felt I needed to preserve his privacy. This good man blew that up. He said something to the effect that if it’s going to help even one person to know what he experiences, what I experience, with this disease, then I was obliged to write about it. His privacy wasn’t more important than that.

Now you have just an inkling of why I love him… and I do, Alzheimer’s or not. Since this is my kidney disease blog, it would make sense to look for any connections between Alzheimer’s and kidney disease. If they exist, that is.

I was not happy to find the following on The National Kidney Foundation’s page at https://www.kidney.org/news/ekidney/august08/Dementia_august08

“People with albuminuria were about 50% more likely to have dementia than people without albuminuria, Dr. Joshua I. Barzilay, at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, and his research team report. The association between the two conditions was still strong after controlling for age, education and risk factors, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and cholesterol levels. There was a weaker relationship between albuminuria and mild cognitive impairment.”

By now it’s common knowledge to my readers that diabetes is the foremost cause of Chronic Kidney Disease with high blood pressure (hypertension) being the second.

How about some reminders right about now?

The American Diabetes Association at http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/common-terms/?loc defines the most common type of diabetes in the following manner:

“diabetes mellitus (MELL-ih-tus)
a condition characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from the body’s inability to use blood glucose for energy. In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas no longer makes insulin and therefore blood glucose cannot enter the cells to be used for energy. In Type 2 diabetes, either the pancreas does not make enough insulin or the body is unable to use insulin correctly.”

As for high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, The National Library of Medicine PubMed Health was able to help us out:

“It happens when the force of the blood pumping through your arteries is too strong. When your heart beats, it pushes blood through your arteries to the rest of your body. When the blood pushes harder against the walls of your arteries, your blood pressure goes up.”

Keep this in mind for later. Here’s the definition of albumin from What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease:

Albumin: Water soluble protein in the blood.

As mentioned in SlowItDownCKD 2013, “according to the physicians’ journal BMJ: ‘albuminuria [is] leakage of large amounts of the protein albumin into the urine.’”

Many of us with CKD have albuminuria at one time or another. Does that mean that 50% of us are going to develop dementia? No, not at all. According to the National Kidney Foundation, that 50% of us with albuminuria are MORE LIKELY to develop dementia, not GOING TO.

I get it. By now, most of you are probably asking what Alzheimer’s has to do with dementia. I popped right over to the Alzheimer’s Association’s (my new best friend) website at https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-alzheimers  for an explanation.

“Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. Symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks.”

I’ll bet you want a definition of dementia now. Let’s go to Healthline.com at https://www.healthline.com/health/dementia for one:

“Dementia is a decline in cognitive function. To be considered dementia, mental impairment must affect at least two brain functions. Dementia may affect:

• memory
• thinking
• language
• judgment
• behavior”

It’s not surprising that the two definitions look so much alike. Alzheimer’s is one of the ten kinds of dementia that I know about. Different websites have different numbers for how many different kinds of dementia there are. I used the information from MedicineNet at https://www.medicinenet.com/dementia/article.htm#what_are_alzheimers_vascular_and_frontotemporal_dementia

Did you keep the definition of albumin in mind? The key word in that is protein… and that’s where the connection between Alzheimer’s and CKD lies. The information is from an unusual source for me to use, Science Magazine at https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/alzheimer-s-protein-may-spread-infection-human-brain-scans-suggest:

 “Tau is one of two proteins—along with β-amyloid—that form unusual clumps in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists have long debated which is most important to the condition and, thus, the best target for intervention. Tau deposits are found inside neurons, where they are thought to inhibit or kill them, whereas β-amyloid forms plaques outside brain cells.”

I realize this is getting very technical and may concentrate on particular elements of this connection in future blogs, but right now, I’d like to remind you that the National Kidney Fund is hosting a webinar “Eating healthy with diabetes and kidney disease” in recognition of National Diabetes Awareness Month on Wednesday, November 28, 2018 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EST.

Again, diabetes… the number one cause of Chronic Kidney Disease. Read more about CKD, diabetes, and hypertension (as well as many other topics) in the SlowItDownCKD series and What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease. All eight books are available in print and digital on Amazon.com and B & N.com.

Did you know that the first day of Chanukah is December 3^rd? We start celebrating Chanukah the night before the first day and celebrate for eight nights… and there are eight books. What a coincidence! (Just planting a seed here, folks.)

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

How Does That Work Again?

I’ve had so many questions lately about how clinical trials work that when Antidote asked me if I’d consider including their infograph in a blog, I jumped at the chance. There’s even more information about clinical trials at https://www.antidote.me/what-are-clinical-trial-phases.

I’ve written about Antidote before… and I’ve written about clinical trials before. It seems more and more people are becoming interested in the process for a multitude of diseases, not only Chronic Kidney Disease.

As a newly diagnosed diabetes patient, I’ve noticed clinical trials for diabetes. A family member has Alzheimer’s; his neurologist keeps an eye out for clinical trials for him. Whatever your disease is, you can search for clinical trials.

While this is not everyone’s cup of tea, it is a chance to help others who may develop the same diseases in the future. Who knows, maybe the new treatment will be FDA approved during your own lifetime and help you with your own disease.

In case you are one of those people who have always wondered just what the FDA is, their website is https://www.fda.gov. That’s right: it’s a government site which is part of the U.S. Health and Human Services. What’s that? You’d like a more precise definition?

No problem. This is from the United States of American Government website at https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/food-and-drug-administration and offers basic information about the FDA.

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. The FDA also provides accurate, science-based health information to the public.

                                                                                                                                                      Agency Details

Acronym: FDA

Website: Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Contact: Contact the Food and Drug Administration

 Report a Problem with a Product

Main Address: 10903 New Hampshire Ave.
Silver Spring, MD 20993

Toll Free: 1-888-INFO-FDA (1-888-463-6332)

Forms: Food and Drug Administration Forms

Government branch: Executive Department Sub-Office/Agency/Bureau

By the way, they are also responsible for both recalls and safety alerts for the treatments they’ve approved.

In the infograph above, you’ll notice, “Sometimes, only healthy volunteers participate.” in Phase 1. Should you decide to apply for a clinical trial, you need to keep this in mind to save yourself a bit of heartache. I firmly believe in paying back for the wonderful things in my life and have applied for several clinical trials for other diseases in an effort to do so. I must have missed the small print because I was rejected for having CKD.

I wanted to help eradicate or ameliorate whatever the disease was. Sometimes it was a disease that was ravaging a loved one. It was just a little bit of a heartbreak not to be able to do so.

As for Phase 2, I went to the blog’s site at gailraegarwood.wordpress.com to use the antidote widget at the bottom of the right side of the page. It’s the turquoise one. You can’t miss it. Face Palm! You can also go directly to www.antidote.me to search for clinical trials.

Why Antidote? It’s simply an easier way to find a clinical trial. This is from SlowItDownCKD 2017:

“Antidote Match™

Matching patients to trials in a completely new way
Antidote Match is the world’s smartest clinical trial matching tool, allowing patients to match to trials just by answering a few questions about their health.

Putting technology to work
We have taken on the massive job of structuring all publicly available clinical trial eligibility criteria so that it is machine-readable and searchable.

This means that for the first time, through a machine-learning algorithm that dynamically selects questions, patients can answer just a few questions to search through thousands of trials within a given therapeutic area in seconds and find one that’s right for them.

Patients receive trial information that is specific to their condition with clear contact information to get in touch with researchers.

Reaching patients where they are
Even the smartest search tool is only as good as the number of people who use it, so we’ve made our search tool available free of charge to patient communities, advocacy groups, and health portals. We’re proud to power clinical trial search on more than a hundred of these sites, reaching millions of patients per month where they are already looking for health information.

Translating scientific jargon
Our platform pulls information on all the trials listed on clinicaltrials.gov and presents it into a simple, patient-friendly design.

You (Gail here: this point is addressed to the ones conducting the clinical trial) then have the option to augment that content through our free tool, Antidote Bridge™, to include the details that are most important to patients – things like number of overnights, compensation, and procedures used. This additional information helps close the information gap between patients and researchers, which ultimately yields greater engagement with patients.

Here’s how Antidote Match works
1. Visit search engine → Patients visit either our website or one of the sites that host our search.
2. Enter condition → They enter the condition in which they’re interested, and begin answering the questions as they appear
3. Answer questions → As more questions are answered, the number of clinical trial matches reduces
4. Get in touch: When they’re ready, patients review their matches and can get in touch with the researchers running each study directly through our tool

Try it from the blog roll. I did. I was going to include my results, but realized they wouldn’t be helpful since my address, age, sex, diseases, and conditions may be different from everyone else’s. One caveat: search for Chronic Renal Insufficiency or Chronic Renal Failure (whichever applies to you) rather than Chronic Kidney Disease.”

Before I sign off, this came in from the American Association of Kidney Patients:

Please join us on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 1 p.m. ET for an educational webinar on Making the Perfect Team: Working with Your Dialysis Technician in partnership with National Association of Nephrology Technicians/Technologists (NANT).  Keep in mind that’s tomorrow. Hit this link if you’d like to register https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7744206034004582403

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Backed Up

Granted this is weird, but I have wondered for quite a while what – if anything – constipation has to do with Chronic Kidney Disease. Maybe my memory is faulty (Hello, brain fog, my old friend), but I don’t remember having this problem before CKD entered my life… or did I?

In my attempt to find out if there is a connection, I hit pay dirt on my first search.

“Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are more likely to develop in individuals with constipation than in those with normal bowel movements, according to a new study published online in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

More severe constipation, defined as using more than one laxative, was associated with increasing risks of CKD and its progression.”

You can read the entire Renal and Urology News article at https://www.renalandurologynews.com/chronic-kidney-disease-ckd/constipation-associated-with-ckd-esrd-risk/article/572659/.

Wait a minute. This is not quite as clear as I’d like it to be. For example, what exactly is constipation? The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/constipation was of help here:

“Constipation is a condition in which you may have fewer than three bowel movements a week; stools that are hard, dry, or lumpy; stools that are difficult or painful to pass; or a feeling that not all stool has passed. You usually can take steps to prevent or relieve constipation.”

Well then, what’s severe constipation? A new site for me, HealthCCM at https://health.ccm.net/faq/267-acute-constipation defines severe or acute constipation as,

“Acute constipation is usually defined by a slowing of intestinal transit generating a decrease in bowel movements and the appearance of dehydration. The person will have difficulty defecating or may not be able to at all.”

This sounds downright painful, so let’s go back to my original query about how constipation and CKD relate to each other.

But first I want to share this very clear explanation of how constipation happens from Everyday Health at https://www.everydayhealth.com/constipation/guide/.

“The GI tract, which consists of a series of hollow organs stretching from your mouth to your anus, is responsible for digestion, nutrient absorption, and waste removal.

In your lower GI tract, your large intestine, or bowel — which includes your colon and rectum — absorbs water from your digested food, changing it from a liquid to a solid (stool).

Constipation occurs when digested food spends too much time in your colon.

Your colon absorbs too much water, making your stool hard and dry — and difficult for your rectal muscles to push out of your body.”

Keep in mind that diabetes is the number one cause of CKD as you read this. According to the Mayo Clinic at https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/constipation/symptoms-causes/syc-20354253

“Hormones help balance fluids in your body. Diseases and conditions that upset the balance of hormones may lead to constipation, including:

• Diabetes
• Overactive parathyroid gland (hyperparathyroidism)
• Pregnancy
• Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)”

Many of the sites I perused suggested drinking more water to avoid or correct constipation. But we’re CKD patients; our fluid intake (Well, mine, anyway) is restricted. I’m already drinking my maximum of 64 ounces a day. In the words of Laurel and Hardy’s Hardy, “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!” It’s possible constipation contributed to my developing CKD and drinking more may help, but with CKD you’re limited to how much you can drink.

Another suggestion I ran into on many sites was increase your fruit and vegetable intake. Great, just great. I’m already at my maximum of three different fruits and three different vegetables – each of different serving sizes, mind you – daily.

Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constipation#Medications has a great deal of information about constipation. Remember though that anyone can edit any Wikipedia article at any time. Be that as it may, this sentence leaped out at me:

“Metabolic and endocrine problems which may lead to constipation include: hypercalcemia, hypothyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, porphyria, chronic kidney disease, pan-hypopituitarism, diabetes mellitus, and cystic fibrosis….”

Thank you, MedicineNet for reminding us that iron can cause constipation. How many of us (meaning CKD patients) are on iron tablets due to the anemia that CKD may cause? I realize some patients are even taking injections of synthetic iron to help with red blood production, something the kidneys are charged with and slow down on when they are in decline.

Apparently, another gift of aging can be constipation since your metabolic system slows down. That’s also what makes it so hard to lose weight once you reach a certain weight. I’m getting a lot of information here, but I’m still not clear as to how one may cause the other. Let’s search some more.

I think I just hit something. We already know that diabetes is the number one cause of CKD. Did you remember that high blood pressure is the second most usual cause of CKD? Take a look at this from Health at https://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20452199,00.html#inflammatory-bowel-disease-3:

“Constipation can be a side effect of some common drugs used to treat high blood pressure, such as calcium channel blockers and diuretics.

Diuretics, for instance, lower blood pressure by increasing urine output, which flushes water from your system. However, water is needed to keep stools soft and get them out of the body.”

Now we’re getting somewhere.

It gets even better. The American Association of Kidney Patients at https://aakp.org/dialysis/relieving-constipation/ not only offered more clarification, but offered a list of high fiber foods without going over most of our potassium and phosphorous limits. Fiber intake is considered another way to both avoid and help with constipation.

“Adults need 20-35 grams of fiber daily. However, for dialysis patients who have to limit their fluid intake, this may be too much since it is thought increased dietary fiber may require an increased fluid intake. Also, all patients are different so the amount of fiber needed to relieve constipation varies from person to person.

High Fiber Foods

Bran muffin                 ½ muffin

Brown rice (cooked)   ½ cup

Broccoli*                    ½ cup

Peach                          1 medium

Prunes*                       3

Prunes*                       3

Spaghetti (cooked)      ½ cup

Turnips*                      ¾ cup

(Each serving contains about 150mg potassium, 20-90mg phosphorus and 1 – 5.4 grams of fiber.) (*Items contains 2 or more grams of fiber per serving.)”

I’ve got the connection between constipation and CKD now; do you?

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Cindy Tells All

On June 11th of this year, I wrote about Polycystic Kidney Disease after having met Cindy Guentert-Baldo at a kidney event. She has a type of kidney disease that I had no clue about until she started explaining it. What she had to say caught my attention, so I asked her if she would be willing to guest blog. I knew she had a family and is both a lettering artist and YouTube creator. That’s a lot of busy, especially if you’re dealing with a chronic illness. Luckily for us, she was able to work a guest blog into her busy schedule.

*****

In some ways, I live the typical middle class American mom life. I have a middle schooler and a high schooler. I work from home, my husband works a 9-5 in an office. The kids go to school, do their homework, go to activities. I have coffee dates with friends and dinner out with family, we go to the movies, we stay home and do yard work. Same routine, same rhythm as so many other families we know.

This picture doesn’t tell the whole story: I have polycystic kidney disease. I am currently in Stage 4, with my eGFR hovering around 25. My kidneys, at last measurement, were 27 and 25 cm in length.

Part of my daily rhythm is taking 10 different medications to control my blood pressure, manage other symptoms of being in Stage 4 of kidney disease and to help with my pain levels. Another part is having to take breaks when my energy flags or my pain levels get high enough to make sitting at a desk impossible. My kids have learned to read my body language so they know when Mom’s having a bad pain day. They’ve also learned to not hug me around my stomach, as my kidneys are so large that a loving hug could send me to bed for a few days.

I’ve burst a cyst making my bed, tying my shoe, twisting at the waist. I currently have a cyst the size of a healthy kidney underneath my left ribs that is a constant reminder that I am sick.

Aside from the physical problems that come with ADPKD (Let me help Cindy out here with a definition from emedicine at https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/244907-overview: “Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a multisystemic and progressive disorder characterized by cyst formation and enlargement in the kidney … and other organs (eg, liver, pancreas, spleen). Up to 50% of patients with ADPKD require renal replacement therapy by 60 years of age.”), there is also the emotional baggage I carry.

This disease is genetic – I have multiple family members in different stages. In some ways, I am grateful to have people to talk to who understand without my having to explain. On a recent vacation my sister (who is in Stage 5) and I lay next to each other and just let out our frustrations and difficulties, knowing we had someone listening who understood. Our grandmother is in her 15th year with her transplant – she has impressed upon us how crucial it is to be informed about the disease in general and our health specifically.

I carry a lot of emotional, painful baggage due to this disease. Our father passed away from a brain stem aneurysm at age 40, brought on due to high blood pressure and PKD. My sister and I were diagnosed shortly afterwards. These days, as I approach 40, I live with a certain amount of terror. What if I die and leave my kids the way my dad left me? I’m aware of how unreasonable of a fear that is – my father died because he was unable to get health insurance and, thus, was unable to care for himself as his kidney disease progressed. I have learned from that.

That doesn’t change the deep fear inside me.

I also live with the guilt that I may have passed this disease to one or both of my children. Was I selfish becoming a parent knowing the kids themselves could wind up with PKD? I was healthy when I had them. I had no idea what I would be feeling like as my kidneys grew and began to fail. Make no mistake; I adore my children, and the world is a better place with them in it. But that doesn’t make the guilt go away.

I worry about having access to healthcare. I worry about dialysis with kids still in school. I worry about something happening to me the way it did to my dad. I worry about something happening to my sister the way it did to our dad. I struggle with my body image as my kidneys grow and I look more and more pregnant. I fight with my expectations of what I think my body should be able to do, and what I am actually able to do. I fight against the idea that I am a sick person.

Despite ALL of this, I love my life. I love my family. I love my friends. I live a mundane, repetitive, fantastic, beautiful life of a mom, a wife, a sister, a friend, an artist, a woman.

I am not PKD. I am a person with PKD…

And I am so much more.

*****

I have to admire Cindy for her honesty here. She would be having these feelings whether or not she shared them with us, but the fact that she did may just make it easier for other PKD patients to speak about their own fears.

By the way, The American Kidney Fund’s next webinar, Advocating for a rare disease, is on Thursday, July 26, 2018 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. EDT. The speakers will be Angeles Herrera, Holly Bode, You can register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7986767093922676227.

In other news, the SlowItDownCKD book series now includes SlowItDownCKD 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, all available from Amazon.com and B & N.com. I had contemplated changing the title of What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease to SlowItDownCKD 2010 but rejected the idea. I like that title; don’t you? Of course, expect SlowItDownCKD 2018 early next year. These books were written for those of you who have requested the blogs in print form for those family members and friends who are either not computer savvy or don’t have easy access to a computer. It’s my pleasure to comply with that request. Oh, I still have one desk copy each of the retired The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Parts 1 & 2 if you’ve not received a free book from me before and would like one of them. Just respond with a comment so I know you were the first to ask.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Only One?

Loads of good things have been happening in my family lately, among them a couple of marriages. That, of course, brings new people into the family. There’s always that obligatory meet-the-new-in-laws dinner.  At one of these, a just added family member mentioned that she only had one kidney. Then she asked me what that means as far as Chronic Kidney Disease… and I didn’t know. Today’s blog is for her.

Let’s jump right in with this explanation from the U.S. Department of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/solitary-kidney.

When a person has only one kidney or one working kidney, this kidney is called a solitary kidney. People born with kidney dysplasia have both kidneys; however, one kidney does not function (top right). When a kidney is removed surgically due to disease or for donation, both the kidney and ureter are removed (bottom right).

Well that was pretty straight forward. I wondered if she should be taking any kind of special cautions. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, PubMed at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16985610,

Removal of one kidney leads to structural and functional changes by the remaining kidney, including increased filtration of the remaining glomeruli. These functional changes have generally been considered beneficial because they mitigate the reduction in the total glomerular filtration rate that would otherwise occur, but experimental evidence suggests that these changes may have an adverse effect on the remaining kidney.

That sounded great… until I got to ‘adverse effect.’ So, naturally, I wanted to know what they meant. The Kidney and Urology Foundation of America, Inc. at http://www.kidneyurology.org/Library/Kidney_Health/Solitary_Kidney.php told me what I wanted to know.

If having a single kidney does affect your health, the changes are likely to be so small and happen so slowly that you won’t notice them. Over long periods of time, however, these gradual changes may require specific measures or treatments. Changes that may result from a single kidney include the following:

• High blood pressure. Kidneys help maintain a healthy blood pressure by regulating how much fluid flows through the bloodstream and by making a hormone called renin that works with other hormones to expand or contract blood vessels. Many people who lose or donate a kidney are found to have slightly higher blood pressure after several years.
• Proteinuria. Excessive protein in the urine, a condition known as proteinuria, can be a sign of kidney damage. People are often found to have higher-than-normal levels of protein in their urine after they have lived with one kidney for several years.
• Reduced GFR. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) shows how efficiently your kidneys are removing wastes from your bloodstream. People have a reduced GFR if they have only one kidney.

In the nephron …, tiny blood vessels intertwine with urine-collecting tubes. Each kidney contains about 1 million nephrons.

You can have high blood pressure, proteinuria, and reduced GFR and still feel fine. As long as these conditions are under control, they will probably not affect your health or longevity. Schedule regular checkups with your doctor to monitor these conditions.

Wait a minute! Those are also the effects of Chronic Kidney Disease. And as you read on, you’ll see that the precautions are the same as those for someone who already has CKD.

What, then, is my new in-law supposed to do since she has a solitary kidney? I went to Medic8, a new site for me, at http://www.medic8.com/kidney-disorders/solitary-kidney.htm for the following suggestions.

Monitoring

Your doctor should monitor your kidney function by checking your blood pressure and testing your urine and blood once a year.

• Normal blood pressure is considered to be 120/80 or lower. You have high blood pressure if it is over 140/90. People with kidney disease or one kidney should keep their blood pressure below 130/80. Controlling blood pressure is especially important because high blood pressure can damage kidneys.
• Your doctor may use a strip of special paper dipped into a little cup of your urine to test for protein. The colour of the “dipstick” indicates the presence or absence of protein. A more sensitive test for proteinuria involves laboratory measurement and calculation of the protein-to-creatinine ratio. A high protein-to-creatinine ratio in urine (greater than 30 milligrams of albumin per 1 gram of creatinine) shows that kidneys are leaking protein that should be kept in the blood.
• … scientists have discovered that they can estimate a person’s GFR based on the amount of creatinine in a small blood sample. The new GFR calculation uses the patient’s creatinine measurement along with weight, age, and values assigned for sex and race. …. If your GFR stays consistently below 60, you are considered to have chronic kidney disease.

Controlling Blood Pressure

If your blood pressure is above normal, you should work with your doctor to keep it below 130/80. Great care should be taken in selecting blood pressure medicines for people with a solitary kidney. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are two classes of blood pressure medicine that protect kidney function and reduce proteinuria. But these medicines may be harmful to someone with renal artery stenosis (RAS), which is the hardening of the arteries that enter the kidneys. Diuretics can help control blood pressure by removing excess fluid in the body. Controlling your blood pressure may require a combination of two or more medicines, plus changes in diet and activity level.

Eating Sensibly

Having a single kidney does not mean that you have to follow a special diet. You simply need to make healthy choices, including fruits, vegetables, grains, and low-fat dairy foods. Limit your daily salt (sodium) intake to 2,000 milligrams or less if you already have high blood pressure. Reading nutrition labels on packaged foods to learn how much sodium is in one serving and keeping a sodium diary can help. Limit alcohol and caffeine intake as well.

Avoid high-protein diets. Protein breaks down into the waste materials that the kidneys must remove, so excessive protein puts an extra burden on the kidneys. Eating moderate amounts of protein is still important for proper nutrition. A dietitian can help you find the right amount of protein in your diet.

Avoiding Injury

…. Having a solitary kidney should not automatically disqualify you from sports participation. Children should be encouraged to engage in some form of physical activity, even if contact sports are ruled out. Protective gear such as padded vests worn under a uniform can make limited contact sports like basketball or soccer safe. Doctors, parents, and patients should consider the risks of any activity and decide whether the benefits outweigh those risks.

I am happy to say I think our new relative is going to find this a comforting blog. I know I did.

Oh, talking about one. I have one desk copy of the now retired The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2 left. Leave a comment if you’d like to have it. All I ask is that you not have received a free book from me before.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

 

No Longer an Actor, Now I’m a Reviewer (Of Sorts)

Last month I received an email from Screen Media asking if I’d like to preview Chicken Soup for the Soul’s One Last Thing. It stars two actors I know about, “…Wendell Pierce (TV’s The Wire) and Jurnee Smollett-Bell (TV’s Underground) and is primarily set in Brooklyn.” Hmmm, two appealing actors AND it was set in Brooklyn. I still wasn’t sure so I emailed back asking if SlowItDownCKD was the intended recipient for this email. Once assured it was, I agreed. Hey, I’m always up for an adventure.

When I saw the movie, I understood. One story line in the movie deals with a kidney dysplasia patient’s need for a donor. That’s all I’ll say about the movie so I don’t ruin the story for you. In other words, you’ll get no spoiler alerts from me.

In addition to crying at the most poignant parts of the movie, my brain was working overtime. Granted the character suffered from a rare kidney disease, but so rare that I’d never heard of it? You can tell what’s coming, can’t you? If I hadn’t heard of it, have my readers? And that’s what I’ll be writing about today.

Okay now, let’s see what this rare kidney disease is. It made sense to me to go to one of the tried and true websites I usually go to for information. This is what The National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/children/kidney-dysplasia had to offer:

“Kidney dysplasia is a condition in which the internal structures of one or both of a fetus’ kidneys do not develop normally while in the womb. During normal development, two thin tubes of muscle called ureters grow into the kidneys and branch out to form a network of tiny structures called tubules. The tubules collect urine as the fetus grows in the womb. In kidney dysplasia, the tubules fail to branch out completely. Urine that would normally flow through the tubules has nowhere to go. Urine collects inside the affected kidney and forms fluid-filled sacs called cysts. The cysts replace normal kidney tissue and prevent the kidney from functioning.

Kidney dysplasia can affect one kidney or both kidneys. Babies with severe kidney dysplasia affecting both kidneys generally do not survive birth. Those who do survive may need the following early in life:

• blood-filtering treatments called dialysis
• a kidney transplant

Children with dysplasia in only one kidney have normal kidney function if the other kidney is unaffected. Those with mild dysplasia of both kidneys may not need dialysis or a kidney transplant for several years.

Kidney dysplasia is also called renal dysplasia or multicystic dysplastic kidney.”

They also offered some clarifying diagrams.

So now we know what it is, but what causes it? I went to MedicineNet at https://www.medicinenet.com/kidney_dysplasia/article.htm#what_is_kidney_dysplasia for the answer to this question.

“Kidney dysplasia may be caused by the mother’s exposure to certain drugs or by genetic factors. Pregnant women should talk with their health care providers before taking any medicine during their pregnancy. Drugs that may cause kidney dysplasia include prescription medicines, such as drugs to treat seizures and blood pressure medicines called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). A mother’s use of illegal drugs-such as cocaine-can also cause kidney dysplasia in her unborn child.

Kidney dysplasia can also have genetic causes. The disorder appears to be an autosomal dominant trait, which means one parent may pass the trait to a child. When kidney dysplasia is discovered in a child, an ultrasound examination may reveal the condition in one of the parents.

Several genetic syndromes that affect other body systems may include kidney dysplasia as one part of the syndrome. A syndrome is a group of symptoms or conditions that may seem unrelated but are thought to have the same cause-usually a genetic cause. A baby with kidney dysplasia might also have problems of the digestive tract, nervous system, heart and blood vessels, muscles and skeleton, or other parts of the urinary tract.

A baby with kidney dysplasia might have other urinary problems that affect the normal kidney. On the left, urine is blocked from draining out of the kidney. On the right, urine flows backward from the bladder into the ureter and kidney, a condition called reflux.

(Me, here: You’ll be able to figure out which was the cause of Jurnee Smollett-Belle’s character once you see the movie.)

Problems of the urinary tract that lead to kidney dysplasia might also affect the normal kidney. For example, one urinary birth defect causes blockage at the point where urine normally drains from the kidney into the ureter. Another birth defect causes urine to flow from the bladder back up the ureter, sometimes all the way to the kidney. This condition is called reflux. Over time, if these problems are not corrected, they can damage the one working kidney and lead to total kidney failure.”

I’m thankful this is a rare disease, but wondered just how rare it was. Back to NIKKD at the same URL as before:

“Scientists estimate that kidney dysplasia affects about one in 4,000 babies…^. This estimate may be low because some people with kidney dysplasia are never diagnosed with the condition.”

I’m not a numbers person, but that seems like a lot of babies.

Now, the biggie. What can be done before the need for dialysis or transplant rears its head? I went directly to Urology Care Foundation at http://www.urologyhealth.org/urologic-conditions/kidney-(renal)-dysplasia-and-cystic-disease/printable-version since the kidneys are part of your urologic system.

• “Treatment may only include symptom management.
• Monitoring should include blood pressure checks, kidney function tests, and urine testing for protein.
• Periodic ultrasound can be used to make sure the other kidney continues to grow normally and no other problems develop.
• Antibiotics may be needed for urinary tract infections.
• The kidney should be removed only if it causes pain or high blood pressure, or ultrasound is abnormal.”

The AAKP Conference I wrote about last week opened my eyes to how much I don’t know about other kidney diseases and those that might affect CKD. The result is that I’ve asked quite a few people and organizations to guest blog about those areas in which they are experts. Expect to see these guest blogs throughout the summer.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Coming Home

I’m not a joiner. I’ve never been one. That’s why I was so surprised that I joined the American Association of Kidney Patients… and even more surprised to find myself attending this year’s conference in Tampa Bay, Florida. Readers had been suggesting I do so for years, but I’m not a joiner. Let’s change that; I wasn’t a joiner. The AAKP conference made the difference.

What’s that you ask? Of course, you need to know what they are. This is from their website at https://aakp.org/,

“THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF KIDNEY PATIENTS SINCE 1969™

The American Association of Kidney Patients is dedicated to improving the quality of life for kidney patients through education, advocacy, patient engagement and the fostering of patient communities.

Education

The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) is recognized as the leader for patient-centered education – continually developing high quality, professionally written, edited and reviewed educational pieces covering every level of kidney disease.

Advocacy

For nearly 50 years, AAKP has been the patient voice – advocating for improved access to high-quality health care through regulatory and legislative reform at the federal level. The Association’s work has improved long term outcomes in both quality of health and the ability for patients and family members affected by kidney disease to lead a more productive and meaningful life.

Community

AAKP is leading the effort to bring kidney patients together to promote community, conversations and to seek out services that help maximize patients’ everyday lives.

An IRS registered, Sec. 501(C)(3) organization, AAKP is governed by a Board of Directors. The current board is comprised of dialysis patients, chronic kidney disease patients, [Me here: You did notice ‘chronic kidney disease patients,’ right?] transplant recipients, health care professionals and members of the public concerned with kidney disease. The board and membership are serviced by a staff of five employees under the direction of Diana Clynes, Interim Executive Director, at the AAKP National Office located in Tampa, Florida.”

What’s not mentioned here is that the organization was started by only six patients. I find that astounding, but I’ll let them explain their history:

“Founded by Patients for Patients

King County Hospital, New York

The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) has a rich history in patient advocacy and kidney disease education. AAKP started in 1969 with six dialysis patients at King County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. They wanted to form an organization that would elevate the kidney patient voice in national health care arena, provide patients with educational resources to improve their lives and give kidney patients and their family members a sense of community. They met twice a week in the hospital ward and while hooked up to primitive dialysis machines for 12 to 18 hours at a time they brainstormed, researched and eventually formed AAKP.

The group originally called themselves NAPH (National Association of Patients on Hemodialysis, which later changed to AAKP). AAKP joined forces with other patient groups to fight for the enactment of the Medicare End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Program, testifying before congressional committees, seeking public support and creating a newsletter (the forerunner of today’s AAKP RENALIFE) to keep everyone informed. This effort was crowned with success in 1972 when Congress enacted the program that continues to provide Medicare funding for dialysis and kidney transplantation.

After winning the initial and critical battle for the Medicare ESRD Program, AAKP turned its attention to other important issues — the need to establish a secure national organization to preserve the visibility and influence of patients with Congress and to develop national, educational and supportive programs.

Today & Beyond

AAKP has grown into a nationally recognized patient organization that reaches over 1 million people yearly. It remains dedicated to providing patients with the education and knowledge necessary to ensure quality of life and quality of health.”

This former non-joiner has found her association. I originally avoided the conferences because I thought they would be focused only on dialysis and transplant patients. Boy, was I ever wrong. Here are some of the outbreak (small group) sessions that dealt with other aspects of kidney disease:

Social Media (You’re right: I signed up for that one right away since I identify as a CKD awareness advocate.)

Dental Health

How Kidney Disease Impacts Family Members

Managing the Early Stage of CKD

Understanding Clinical Trials

Treatment Options

Staying Active

Veterans Administration

Caregiver’s Corner

Living Well with Kidney Disease

Avoid Infections

Of course, there were many outbreak sessions for dialysis and transplant patients as well. And there were two opportunities to lunch with experts. That’s where I tentatively learned about governmental aspects of our disease. There were opportunities to learn about nutrition, medications, working, and coping. I’ve just mentioned a few of the 50 different topics discussed.

The general sessions, the ones everyone attended, informed us of what the government’s national policy had to do with kidney disease, legislation, nutrition, patient centered care, and innovation in care (Keep an eye out for Third Kidney, Inc.’s August guest blog.).

I have not covered even half of what was offered during the conference. Did I mention renal friendly food was available and you could dialyze near the hotel if need be? The exhibitors went beyond friendly and explaining their products to being interested in who you were and why you were there. This was the most welcoming conference I’d been to in decades.

AAKP President Paul Conway summed up my feelings about the conference when he was interviewed by The Tampa Bay Times on the last day of the conference,

“This meeting is a way for us to bring patients together and educate them on trends that could affect their own health.”

I met so many others who have kidney disease and so many others who advocate for different types of kidney disease and patients’ rights. I was educated about so many areas, especially those I previously had known nothing about, for example, legislation. It was like coming home. Would I attend again? You bet’cha. Would I urge you to attend? At the risk of being redundant, you bet’cha.

I was so excited about AAKP that I almost didn’t leave myself enough space to tell you about yet another freebie. The Book of Blogs: Moderate Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1 is no longer in print since it has been divided into SlowItDownCKD 2011 and SlowItDownCKD 2012. But I still have a desk copy. Let me know if you’d like it. My only restriction is that you have not received a free book from me before.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Sorry Spiderman, That was Webinars not Webshooters

So much has been going on in my world lately that it was hard to choose what to write about today. In addition to my family, there’s the experience of my first American Association of Kidney Patients Conference, PKD, KidneyX and the list goes on. It was hard to choose, that is, until the American Kidney Fund sent me the following information. They explain who they are, what they do, and why they hold their free monthly educational seminars. Good timing here since the next webinar is this Friday. I’ll let them take over for a while and write some more once they’re done.

Oh, wait. First we need to know what a webinar is. My favorite online dictionary, Merriam-Webster, at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/webinar defines this in the following way:

“a live online educational presentation during which participating viewers can submit questions and comments”

That means it’s real time; you have to be online to participate. Don’t worry if the time doesn’t work for you because AKF has former webinars on their websites. You just won’t be able to ask your own questions, although you will be able to hear the questions others have asked during the webinar and the answers they received. Okay, now we turn this section of the blog over to The American Kidney Fund.

“The American Kidney Fund (AKF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people fight kidney disease and lead healthier lives.  Living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) or kidney failure is incredibly taxing, and can put strain on all elements of a person’s life. And although doctors are available for patients to ask questions about their disease, many kidney patients do not know what they should ask, and are left needing answers even after leaving a doctor’s appointment.

AKF believes every patient and caregiver has the right to understand what is going on with their health, or the health of their loved one, and how to best manage it. That is where we come in.

The American Kidney Fund hosts free, monthly, educational webinars meant for patients and caregivers. Each webinar explores a different topic relevant to living well with kidney disease. Since the webinar program’s launch in 2016, AKF has hosted over 27 webinars on many topics including nutrition, employment, insurance, transplant, exercise, heart disease, advocacy, pregnancy, mental health, and more.

Webinar speakers are carefully chosen based on their knowledge, and ability to connect with a patient audience. This ensures we deliver the highest quality of information in the best way. Some speakers are kidney patients or kidney donors themselves.  The webinars are delivered from a variety of perspectives so that the advice given is both relatable and reliable.

AKF aims to take complex topics and simplify the content without taking away from the quality of information.  In an effort to be inclusive of non-English speakers, AKF has hosted a webinar entirely in Spanish on preventing and treating kidney disease, and is in the process of translating even more webinars into Spanish.

One of the highlights of the American Kidney Fund webinars is the live Q&A session held during the last 15-20 minutes of each presentation, when the audience can ask their questions in real time and receive an immediate answer from our speaker. This creates a unique space for our attendees to interact anonymously with an expert in a judgement-free zone. We understand the time-demands of being a kidney patient or caregiver, which is why all our webinars, along with the PowerPoint slides, are also uploaded to the AKF website for on-demand viewing.

Our next webinar is on Friday, June 22 from 1-2pm (EST) and will discuss why phosphorus is an important nutrient for kidney patients to consider, and the best ways to manage phosphorus through diet and medicine.  Carolyn Feibig, the dietitian and speaker for this webinar is exceptionally knowledgeable and enthusiastic about her field. If you have questions about how to manage a CKD-friendly diet, this is your opportunity to learn more and to ask your questions.

After each webinar we ask for feedback and suggestions from our audience about future webinars.  We invite you to register now, and then share which topics you would like to hear about next. We hope you will use our webinars as a tool to live the healthiest life possible with kidney disease.

American Kidney Fund www.kidneyfund.org/webinars”

I looked at some of their past webinar topics and was impressed with the variety.

My office is abuzz. SlowItDownCKD 2013, both digital and print, is available on Amazon. Give it a few weeks before it appears on B&N.com. I’m excited because I vowed to separate the unwieldy, small print, indexless The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2 into two separate books with a SlowItDownCKD title, index, and larger print just as I’d done with The Book of Blogs: Moderate Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1 (which is no longer available since it is now SlowItDownCKD 2011 and SlowItDownCKD 2012). That’s half way done now, boys and girls… I mean readers.

Here’s something a bit unusual: I have a request from a reader who has the rare kidney disease Calyceal Diverticulum. Rather than asking me to write about it, she’s looking for others with the same disease. Do we have any readers here with this disease? If so, we could make the blog a safe place to connect. Or you could email me and I’d pass on your information to her. Alternately, with her permission, I could pass her information to you. I can understand her need to communicate with others with the same disease, so please do let me know if you’d like to communicate with her.

And last, but not least, and I have to admit brain fog has me here, so bear with me if you’ve read this before. In digging through the morass of my desk, (I have been traveling a lot lately.) I uncovered a beta copy of SlowItDownCKD 2017. That means it has all the content, but I didn’t like the formatting so I re-did it. Would you like it? If so, just be the first one to contact me to let me know. Oh, one restriction: only those who haven’t received a free book from me before, please. I’d like to share the CKD information with as many people as possible.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

 

 

PKD: That’s News to Me

For the last eight years, I’ve pretty much stuck to writing about Chronic Kidney Disease with an exception here or there. When I was at a pharmaceutical think tank to help the company understand how they could be more helpful to kidney patients, I met a woman with polycystic kidney disease (PKD).

I’d heard of it and knew it had to do with multiple cysts on the kidneys, but that’s all I knew. That got me to thinking. Why didn’t I know more and what more should I know about it? So I did what I do best: decided to write about it.

Right now, the former English teacher in me is begging to come out. Indulge me, please. Poly is a prefix meaning many. Cyst means an abnormal sac in the body which contains air, fluid, or a semi-solid substance. Thank you What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease for the definition of cyst. Ic is simply a suffix meaning of or about. Aren’t you glad I studied English at Hunter College of the City University of New York all those years ago?

Seriously now, I turned to PKD Info at https://www.pkdinfo.com/ only to discover there are two different kinds of polycystic kidney disease. Let’s start with a simple definition of the term PKD.

“PKD describes a group of genetic diseases that cause cysts to form and grow in the kidney. Genetic diseases are the result of changes, or mutations, in a person’s DNA, and can be passed from parent to child. In PKD, cysts are filled with fluid. Over time, they expand, making the kidneys grow larger. This makes it hard for the kidneys to function normally and can lead to kidney failure.”

As for the two different kinds, the PKD Foundation at https://pkdcure.org/what-is-pkd/ tells us:

“There are two types of PKD: autosomal dominant (ADPKD) and autosomal recessive (ARPKD). ADPKD is the more common type and affects more than 600,000 Americans and 12.4 million people worldwide. ARPKD is a rare form of the disease that occurs in 1 in 20,000 children worldwide.

A typical kidney is the size of a human fist and weighs about a third of a pound. PKD kidneys can be much larger, some growing as large as a football, and weighing up to 30 pounds each. The number of cysts can range from just a few to many. The size of the cysts can range from a pinhead to as large as a grapefruit. Although the primary sign of PKD is cysts in the kidneys, there are other symptoms that can occur in various areas of the body.”

I needed more information, especially about how the two types of PKD differ so I turned to my old standby The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/polycystic-kidney-disease/autosomal-dominant-pkd  and found the following information:

“’Autosomal dominant’ means you can get the PKD gene mutation, or defect, from only one parent. Researchers have found two different gene mutations that cause ADPKD. Most people with ADPKD have defects in the PKD1 gene, and 1 out of 6 or 1 out of 7 people with ADPKD have a defective PKD2 gene….

Health care providers can diagnose people with PKD1 sooner because their symptoms appear sooner. People with PKD1 also usually progress more quickly to kidney failure than people with PKD2. How quickly ADPKD progresses also differs from person to person.”

Symptoms? What symptoms? The Mayo Clinic at https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polycystic-kidney-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20352820 answered that question:

“Polycystic kidney disease symptoms may include:

• High blood pressure
• Back or side pain
• Headache
• Increase in the size of your abdomen
• Blood in your urine
• Frequent urination
• Kidney stones
• Kidney failure
• Urinary tract or kidney infections”

Whoa! I’ve got at least four of those symptoms, so how do I know I don’t have PKD? Remember those wonderful people who elected SlowItDownCKD as one of the six best kidney blogs two years in a row? You’re right, it’s Healthline at https://www.healthline.com/health/polycystic-kidney-disease#diagnosis. As they explained:

“Because ADPKD and ARPKD are inherited, your doctor will review your family history. They may initially order a complete blood count to look for anemia or signs of infection and a urinalysis to look for blood, bacteria, or protein in your urine.

To diagnose all three types of PKD, your doctor may use imaging tests to look for cysts of the kidney, liver, and other organs. Imaging tests used to diagnose PKD include:

• Abdominal ultrasound. This noninvasive test uses sound waves to look at your kidneys for cysts.
• Abdominal CT scan. This test can detect smaller cysts in the kidneys.
• Abdominal MRI scan. This MRI uses strong magnets to image your body to visualize kidney structure and look for cysts.
• Intravenous pyelogram. This test uses a dye to make your blood vessels show up more clearly on an X-ray.

Did I just read THREE types of PKD? I did. Maybe I’d better find out what the third one is. To do so, I turned to News Medical at https://www.news-medical.net/health/Polycystic-Kidney-Disease-vs-Acquired-Cystic-Kidney-Disease.aspx.

“The cause of ACKD is not fully known, and contrary to PKD, it tends to develop after a patient has had chronic kidney disease for some time – most commonly when they are undergoing renal dialysis to clean the blood (for example, in end stage renal disease). The cysts are created by the build-up of waste products and the deteriorating filtration in the kidneys.”

ACKD is Acquired Cystic Kidney Disease. It seems I have nothing to worry about at this point in my CKD, but I’m wondering how many of you know if there is PKD in your family history. Maybe it’s time to find out. Notice none of the tests are invasive. You know, of course, that we’ve just scratched the surface of PKD information today, right?

I did have cysts show up in both of my kidneys and my liver, but they were very small despite some growth being noticed and there were very few of them. I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet.

How are you beating the heat this summer? I’m hiding in my air conditioned office separating The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2 into two less unwieldy books each with larger print and an index. I’ll let you know when SlowItDownCKD 2013 and SlowItDownCKD 2014 are available. Surely you’ve noticed that The Books of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1 is no longer for sale. That’s because it has now been separated into SlowItDownCKD 2011 and SlowItDownCKD 2012.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Last Week, The Country… This Week, The World

Last week, I wrote about a U.S. clinical trial program, AllofUs Research Program. This week we’re going global. Huh? What’s that, you ask. It’s KidneyX.

I can just feel you rolling your eyes. (Ask my children if you don’t think I can do that.)  Hold on a minute and I’ll let KidneyX explain what they are from their website at http://www.kidneyx.org.

“The Kidney Innovation Accelerator (KidneyX) is a public-private partnership to accelerate innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of kidney diseases. KidneyX seeks to improve the lives of the 850 million people worldwide currently affected by kidney diseases by accelerating the development of drugs, devices, biologics and other therapies across the spectrum of kidney care including:

Prevention

Diagnostics

Treatment”

I know, I know. Now you want to know why you should be getting excited about this program you don’t know much about. Let’s put it this way. There hasn’t been all that much change in the treatment of kidney disease since it was recognized. When was that? This question was answered in SlowItDownCKD 2015:

“…nephrologist Veeraish Chauhan from his ‘A Brief History of the Field of Nephrology’ in which he emphasizes how young the field of modern nephrology is.

‘Dr. Smith was an American physician and physiologist who was almost singlehandedly responsible for our current understanding of how the kidneys work. He dominated the field of twentieth century Nephrology so much that it is called the “Smithian Era of Renal Physiology“ .He wrote the veritable modern Bible of Nephrology titled, The Kidney: Structure and Function in Health and Disease. This was only in 1951.”

1951?????? It looks like I’m older than the history of kidney disease treatment is. Of course, there were earlier attempts by other people (Let’s not forget Dr. Bright who discovered kidney disease in the early 1800s.) But treatment?

Hmmm, how did Dr. Smith treat kidney disease I wondered as I started writing about KidneyX.

Clinics in Mother and Child Health was helpful here. I turned to their “A Short History of Nephrology Up to the 20^th Century” at https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/a-short-historic-view-of-nephrology-upto-the-20th-century-2090-7214-1000195.php? and found this information:

“His NYU time has been called the Smithian Era of renal physiology for his monumental research clarifying glomerular filtration, tubular absorption, and secretion of solutes in renal physiology …. His work established the concept that the kidney worked according to principles of physiology both as a filter and also as a secretory organ. Twenty-first century clinical nephrology stems from his work and teaching on the awareness of normal and abnormal functioning of the kidney.”

I see, so first the physiology and function of the kidney had to be understood before the disease could be treated.

 

I thought I remembered sodium intake as part of the plan to treat CKD way before the Smithian Era. I was wrong. This is also from SlowItDownCKD 2015:

“With all our outcry about following a low sodium diet, it was a bit shocking to realize that when this was first suggested as a way to avoid edema in 1949, it was practically dismissed. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the importance of a low sodium diet in Chronic Kidney Disease was acknowledged.”

Aha! So one of our dietary restrictions wasn’t accepted until the 1970s. I was already teaching high school English by then. Things did seem to be moving slowly when it came to Chronic Kidney Disease treatment.

Let’s see if I can find something more recent. This, from the National Kidney Fund at https://www.kidney.org/professionals/guidelines/guidelines_commentaries sounds promising, but notice that this has only been around since 1997. That’s only 21 years ago. It has been updated several times, but there doesn’t seem to be that much difference… or maybe I just didn’t understand the differences.

“The National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (NKF KDOQI)™ has provided evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for all stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and related complications since 1997…. KDOQI also convenes a small work group of U.S. based experts to review relevant international guidelines and write commentary to help the U.S. audience better understand applicability in their local clinical environment.

Clinical Practice Guidelines are documents that present evidence-based recommendations to aid clinicians in the treatment of particular diseases or groups of patients. They are not intended to be mandates but tools to help physicians, patients, and caregivers make treatment decisions that are right for the individual. With all guidelines, clinicians should be aware that circumstances may appear that require straying from the published recommendations.”

Time to get back to KidneyX before I run out of room in today’s blog. Here’s more that will explain their purpose:

“Principles

• Patient-Centered Ensure all product development is patient-centered
• Urgent Create a sense of urgency to meet the needs of people with kidney diseases
• Achievable Ground in scientifically-driven technology development
• Catalytic Reduce regulatory and financial risks to catalyze investment in kidney space
• Collaborative Foster multidisciplinary collaboration including innovators throughout science and technology, the business community, patients, care partners, and other stakeholders
• Additive Address barriers to innovation public/private sectors do not otherwise
• Sustainable Invest in a diverse portfolio to balance risk and sustain KidneyX”

This may explain why think tanks for kidney patients, all types of kidney patients, are beginning to become more prevalent.

Let’s go back to the website for more information. This is how they plan to succeed:

“Building off the success of similar public-private accelerators, KidneyX will engage a community of researchers, innovators, and investors to bring breakthrough therapies to patients by:

Development

Driving patient access to disruptive technologies via competitive, non-dilutive funding to innovators.

Coordination

Providing a clearer and less expensive path to bringing products to patients and their families.

Urgency

Creating a sense of urgency by spotlighting the immediate needs of patients and their families.”

One word jumped out at me: urgency. I am being treated for my CKD the same way CKD patients have been treated for decades…and decades. It’s time for a change.

One thing that doesn’t change is that we celebrate Memorial Day in the U.S. every year. And every year, I honor those who have died to protect my freedom and thank my lucky stars that Bear is not one of them. There is no way to describe the gratitude those of us who haven’t served in the military – like me – owe to those who have and lost their lives in doing so.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

All of Me, uh, Us

When I was a little girl, I liked to listen to my father whistle ‘All of Me,’ written by Marks and Simon in 1931 when Charlie, my father, was just 16. Only a few years later, it became a sort of love language for my mother and him. Enter a former husband of my own and my children. When my folks visited from Florida and my then husband’s side of the family journeyed over to Staten Island from Brooklyn to visit them, they all sang the song with great emotion. (By then, Bell’s palsy had robbed my father of the ability to whistle.)

To this day, I start welling up when I hear that song. But then I started thinking about the lyrics:

“All of me
Why not take all of me?”

Suddenly, it popped. For us, those with chronic kidney disease, it should be:

“All of us

Why not take all of us?”

For research purposes. To “speed up health research breakthroughs.” For help in our lifetime. To spare future generations whatever it is we’re suffering… and not just for us, but for our children… and their children, too.

The National Institutes of Health has instituted a new research program for just that purpose, although it’s open to anyone in the U.S. over the age of 18 whether ill with any disease or perfectly healthy. While only English and Spanish are the languages they can accommodate at this time, they are adding other languages.

I’m going to devote most of the rest of this blog to them. By the way, I’m even more inclined to be in favor of this program because they launched on my first born’s birthdate: May 6. All of Us has its own inspiring welcome for you at https://launch.joinallofus.org/

This is how they explain who they are and what they intend to do:

“The goal is to advance precision medicine. Precision medicine is health care that is based on you as an individual. It takes into account factors like where you live, what you do, and your family health history. Precision medicine’s goal is to be able to tell people the best ways to stay healthy. If someone does get sick, precision medicine may help health care teams find the treatment that will work best.

To get there, we need one million or more people. Those who join will share information about their health over time. Researchers will study this data. What they learn could improve health for generations to come. Participants are our partners. We’ll share information back with them over time.”

You’ll be reading more about precision medicine, which I’ve written about before, in upcoming blogs. This is from All of Us’s website at https://www.joinallofus.org/en, as is most of the other information in today’s blog, and makes it easy to understand just what they are doing.

How It Works

Participants Share Data

Participants share health data online. This data includes health surveys and electronic health records. Participants also may be asked to share physical measurements and blood and urine samples.

Data Is Protected

Personal information, like your name, address, and other things that easily identify participants will be removed from all data. Samples—also without any names on them—are stored in a secure biobank.

Researchers Study Data

In the future, approved researchers will use this data to conduct studies. By finding patterns in the data, they may make the next big medical breakthroughs.

Participants Get Information

Participants will get information back about the data they provide, which may help them learn more about their health.

Researchers Share Discoveries

Research may help in many ways. It may help find the best ways for people to stay healthy. It may also help create better tests and find the treatments that will work best for different people.

I’m busy, too busy to take on even one more thing. Or so I thought. When I read the benefits of the program (above) and how easy it is to join (below), I realized I’m not too busy for this and it is another way to advocate for Chronic Kidney Disease awareness. So I joined and hope you will, too.

Benefits of Taking Part

Joining the All of Us Research Program has its benefits.

Our goal is for you to have a direct impact on cutting-edge research. By joining the program, you are helping researchers to learn more about different diseases and treatments.

Here are some of the benefits of participating in All of Us.

Better Information

We’re all human, but we’re not all the same. Often our differences—like age, ethnicity, lifestyle habits, or where we live—can reveal important insights about our health.

By participating in All of Us, you may learn more about your health than ever before. If you like, you can share this information with your health care provider.

Better Tools

The goal of the program is better health for all of us. We want to inspire researchers to create better tools to identify, prevent, and treat disease.

You may also learn how to use tools like mobile devices, cell phones and tablets, to encourage healthier habits.

Better Research

We expect the All of Us Research Program to be here for the long-term. As the program grows, the more features will be added. There’s no telling what we can discover. All thanks to participants like you.

Better Ideas

You’re our partner. And as such, you are invited to help guide All of Us. Share your ideas and let us know what works, and what doesn’t.

Oh, about joining:

Get Started – Sign Up

Here’s a quick overview of what you’ll need to do to join.

1

Create an Account

You will need to give an email address and password.

2

Fill in the Enrollment and Consent Forms

The process usually takes 18-30 minutes. If you leave the portal during the consent process, you will have to start again from the beginning.

3

Complete Surveys and More

Once you have given your consent, you will be asked to complete online health surveys. You may be asked to visit a partner center. There, you’ll be asked to provide blood and urine samples and have your physical measurements taken. We may also ask you to share data from wearables or other personal devices.

Before I leave you today, I have – what else? – a book give away. The reason? Just to share the joy that’s walked into my life lately. It’s easy to share the troubles; why not the joys? If you haven’t received one of my books in a giveaway before, all you have to do is be the first person to let me know you want this copy of SlowItDownCKD 2017.

 

I need to get back to that online health survey for All of Us now.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

 

Something’s Fishy Here

I saw this headline the other day: Another Nail in the Coffin for Fish Oil Supplements. When I read the article, I realized it was referring to fish oil supplements for heart problems. You can read it for yourself at  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2679051. By the way, JAMA is the Journal of the American Medical Association.

But then I wondered why I’ve been taking it all these years since I don’t have cardiology problems.  Hmmm, I do have osteoarthritis and can’t take NSAIDS. In What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, NSAIDS are explained this way:

“Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, aspirin, Aleve, or naproxen usually used for arthritis or pain management, can worsen kidney disease, sometimes irreversibly.”

Okay, so I don’t take NSAIDS or fish oil supplements for heart problems, but I do take fish oil supplements for osteoarthritis. Well, that’s good since my favored medical food for osteoarthritis – Limbrel – is still in recall by the FDA for possibly causing liver problems. Who wants both liver and kidney problems? Not me.

Anyhoo (as I’ve seen it written), that got me to thinking about osteoarthritis. This is from SlowItDownCKD 2016:

“According to The U.S. National Library of Medicine at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0024677/:

‘Arthritis is a general term for conditions that affect the joints and surrounding tissues. Joints are places in the body where bones come together, such as the knees, wrists, fingers, toes, and hips. The two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.”

I’ve since discovered there’s also psoriatic arthritis. All of these are inflammatory diseases. This is from this week’s newly published SlowItDownCKD 2017 (How about a review on Amazon.com or B&N.com as long as I’ve mentioned the book?):

“Arthritis is an inflammatory disease; psoriasis is an inflammatory disease; and Chronic Kidney Disease is an inflammatory disease. The common factor here is obvious – inflammatory disease.”

Bingo! I take the fish oil supplements for inflammation. Before I forget, inflammation is the topic of one blog or another – and usually several – in each of the books in the SlowItDownCKD series. Wikipedia’s definition helps to explain why:

“Inflammation is part of the complex biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants, and is a protective response involving immune cells, blood vessels, and molecular mediators. The function of inflammation is to eliminate the initial cause of cell injury, clear out necrotic cells and tissues damaged from the original insult and the inflammatory process, and initiate tissue repair.”

Keep in mind, though, that anyone can edit a Wikipedia entry.

Since I’m writing about inflammation and CKD, I was thrilled to find this in The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2:

“By the way, are you taking Omega 3 {Fish oil} supplements?  There’s a theory it helps retard the progress of CKD.”

Aha! Now to the heart… I mean the kidneys… of the matter. How do Omega 3 supplements retard the progress of CKD?

Let’s lead off our answer with this quote from the #NephMadness 2017: Nutrition Region article in the March issue of The American Journal of Kidney Diseases at https://ajkdblog.org/2017/03/07/nephmadness-2017-nutrition-region/

“There is some evidence that omega-6 is proinflammatory and omega-3 are anti-inflammatory.”

Of course there’s much more to the article, but it gets pretty technical.

“What’s omega-6?” you ask. I went to my long term buddy The Mayo Clinic at https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/expert-answers/omega-6/faq-20058172 for some help in explaining.

“Your body needs fatty acids and can make all but two of them, which is why they are called essential fatty acids. Linoleic and linolenic acids are derived from foods containing omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, respectively, which serve different functions in the body. Some of these fatty acids appear to cause inflammation, but others seem to have anti-inflammatory properties.”

But we’re getting far afield from the anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3 that can help retard the progress of CKD. I decided to see what the natural health community had to say about this and discovered the following in Healthy Fellow at http://www.healthyfellow.com/742/fish-oil-and-kidney-health/ :

“However, based on what we know now, it seems that fish oil supports both cardiovascular and renal health in part by moderating blood pressure, heart rate and triglycerides in at-risk patients.”

This was back in 2011, but look at all it tells us. We know that hypertension is the number two cause of CKD. Moderating our blood pressure will (hopefully) slow down the progression of the decline of our kidney function. Kidney & Urology Foundation of America, Inc. at http://www.kidneyurology.org/Library/Kidney_Health/High_Blood_Pressure_and_Kidney_Disease.php explains this succinctly:

“High blood pressure makes your heart work harder and, over time, can damage blood vessels throughout your body. If the blood vessels in your kidneys are damaged, they may stop removing wastes and extra fluid from your body. The extra fluid in your blood vessels may then raise blood pressure even more. It’s a dangerous cycle.”

And heart rate? The conclusion of a study published in the Journal of Nephrology reads:

“Heart rate is an independent age-dependent effect modifier for progression to kidney failure in CKD patients.”

You can read the entire study at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232714804_Heart_rate_age_and_the_risk_of_progression_to_kidney_failure_in_patients_with_CKD.

Then there are triglycerides. I included this information from the American Kidney Fund in SlowItDownCKD 2012.

“Your triglycerides are also important. People with high triglycerides are more at risk for kidney disease, heart disease and stroke.”

I am convinced. I will be one of those who continues taking my fish oil supplements to get in that omega-3 which is going to help me with inflammation which – in turn – will help me slow down the progression in the decline of my kidney function. How about you?

We’re going to do this a little differently this time. To celebrate the publication of SlowItDownCKD 2017, the first person who hasn’t won a book giveaway yet and can correctly tell me if my new grandchild is a boy or a girl will win a copy of Portal in Time. I hope you like time travel romances.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Joy to the World

As Three Dog Night sang in Hoyt Axton’s song:

“Joy to the world
All the boys and girls now
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me”

Turn up your speakers and give a listen. See if you don’t feel more joy just from listening. Thanks to Three Dog Night for placing that grin back on my face when it’s gotten lost… and to YouTube, too.

I’ve written about what stress, grief, and shock do to your body, but with recent events I have reason to wonder what happiness does to your body. The birth of our first grandchild has revealed levels of joy I never knew existed. Add to that our youngest’s engagement and you’ll find me floating at least three feet above the ground most of the time.

I did my usual poking around and found some answers.

Calgary Psychology at http://www.calgarypsychology.com/happiness/correlation-health-happiness has some information for us, although it’s not as recent as I’d like it to be since it was published in 2010:

“A study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined the link between happiness and a number of health factors in 200 Caucasian adults, age 45-59 years, all of whom worked for the government in London, England. The study assessed each participant on a work day and weekend day, measuring them at work and play for a number of criteria including blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormone (cortisol) levels. Participants were measured under normal conditions and after a mental stress test. Under each condition participants ranked their happiness on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). There were no differences in happiness between people who were married or single, male or female or of varying socioeconomic status; however the happiest participants had the best results across the board for the health markers. I.e. happier people had lower heart rates, and an average of 32% lower levels of cortisol which can have a direct effect on other elements such as blood sugar.”

Cortisol? Anyone remember what that is? Let’s have a reminder, please. I found this in SlowItDownCKD 2016. It’s from Reference.com at https://www.reference.com/science/function-adrenal-gland-72cba864e66d8278.

“Cortisol is a hormone that controls metabolism and helps the body react to stress, according to Endocrineweb. It affects the immune system and lowers inflammatory responses in the body. …”

Want a little reminder about metabolism? I do. According to Dr. Ananya Mandal from News Medical Life Sciences at https://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/What-is-Metabolism.aspx:

“Metabolism is a term that is used to describe all chemical reactions involved in maintaining the living state of the cells and the organism. Metabolism can be conveniently divided into two categories:

• Catabolism – the breakdown of molecules to obtain energy
• Anabolism – the synthesis of all compounds needed by the cells”

Aha! So joy or being happy helps the body produce the hormone that obtains energy and synthesizes what we need to live. Now I get it why I actually feel better physically when I’m happy. I was in the throes of bronchitis when my grandson was born and started getting better right away. Magic? Nope, just plain joy at work in my body.

Notice joy may have an affect via cortisol on your blood sugar, too. Blood sugar ? Why is that important? The following is from a study published in The American Journal of Kidney Disease that was included in SlowItDownCKD 2011

“Good control of blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and body weight can delay the loss of kidney

function.”

And lower heart rates? How does that help us? I’ve don’t think I’ve written about that so I hopped right over to my longtime favorite the Mayo Clinic at https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/expert-answers/heart-rate/faq-20057979.

“A normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from 60 to 100 beats a minute. Generally, a lower heart rate at rest implies more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness.”

Good news. Being happy – joyous in my case – is good for the heart, which automatically means it’s good for the kidneys since your heart health has a lot to do with your kidney health and vice-versa.

Let’s not forget that the lower levels of cortisol joy causes “lowers inflammatory responses in the body.” Chronic Kidney Disease is an inflammatory disease. I love it! Just by being happy, I’m helping myself with my CKD.

As the late night television commercials cautioned us once up on a time: But wait, there’s more. I turned to the Greater Good Science Center based at UC Berkeley. According to the website, they, “provide a bridge between the research community and the general public.”

That’s where I found this quote from a 2015 article at: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_happiness_is_good_for_your_health.

“Love and happiness may not actually originate in the heart, but they are good for it. For example, a 2005 paper found that happiness predicts lower heart rate and blood pressure. In the study, participants rated their happiness over 30 times in one day and then again three years later. The initially happiest participants had a lower heart rate on follow-up (about six beats slower per minute), and the happiest participants during the follow-up had better blood pressure.”

Oh, blood pressure. This is also called hypertension and is defined in What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease this way:

“A possible cause of CKD, 140/90mm Hg is currently considered hypertension, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke, too.”

That book was written in 2010. The guidelines changed in November of last year. Take a look at the infogram from the American Heart Association. I’ve also learned that hypertension is the second leading cause of CKD.

What’s the first? You guessed it: diabetes or blood sugar that is not controlled. I am overjoyed at the results of my poking around about joy. By being fully present to the joy in my life, by simply feeling that joy, while I personally can no longer prevent my CKD, I can further slow down the progression of the decline in my kidney function. Being happy is also helping to prevent diabetes from entering my life and working on keeping my blood pressure closer to where it belongs.

This joy just goes on and on for me. This year alone, it’s been celebration after celebration: birthdays, anniversaries, the birth, the engagement, triumphs for those I love. My list grows and grows. Why not consider a little joy for your body’s sake, if not for your mental state?

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Unforgetting Us

Again, and again you’ve heard me rant about why we, as CKD patients, are not diagnosed earlier so we can start treating our Chronic Kidney Disease with – at least – life style changes earlier. That could help us slow down the progression of decline in our kidney function. I maintain that if only my primary care physician had told me when he first noticed that 39% GFR, maybe I wouldn’t be in stage 3 of 5. Maybe those now on dialysis or searching for a transplant wouldn’t be in the position they are, either.

It looks like our doctors are starting to feel the same way. Thank goodness. As a CKD Awareness Advocate, I’ve met others with the same advocacy. Robin is a doctor who feels the same, and someone I consider a friend. When I read her article, I jumped at the chance to guest blog it since she has the understanding of the medicalese that can frustrate the rest of us. Without further ado, Dr. Robin Rose…

Doctor, doctor give me this news: Primary care and CKD

Nephrology News & Issues, March 2018
Robin Rose, MD

Everyone’s mind jumps right to end-stage renal disease and dialysis when kidney disease is mentioned, even among clinicians. By the time a patient needs dialysis, pathology has been smoldering, sometimes for prolonged periods of time. Nephrology gracefully manages later-stage kidney disease, but it seems the incipient cases remain in the shadows. In general practice, kidneys are often ignored.

What I want to know is this: How can we effectively forge a path between nephrology and primary care — take the reins and together harness the epidemic, starting early while the pathology of the disease may be more easily addressed?

Too many patients and too many of their primary care providers are simply unaware of renal status. The staggering number of stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD) cases dramatically dwindles by stage 4, and CKD exacerbates so many underlying pathologies. Morbidity leads to mortality, often without recognition of underlying kidney damage as the prominent culprit. With the worldwide nephrologist shortage, and clearly with the high cost of end-stage care, it may well be time to expand the renal education and early/moderate CKD clinical savvy in primary care.

Build CKD recognition

As a physician, I recognize pharmaceutical options as a small part of longitudinal CKD care. The point of early diagnosis is assisting patients with the arduous and necessary journey to lifestyle change. Primary care has embraced this supportive role for other diagnoses, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc. This type of synergistic/collaborative care — reinforcing specialist input, following each person with his or her myriad issues — is the perfect fit for CKD.

How do we communicate to make our generalist and specialist intent merge into one clear target — enhanced patient quality of life? How can we make this work — to commence having a serious problem-solving conversation?

The literature suggests early nephrologist involvement improves long-term outcomes. Proactive primary care offers longitudinal guidance for making the enormous lifestyle changes in diet, exercise, stress management, hydration, sleep and toxic exposures, while offering psychological counseling that is required to achieve such changes. The cross-over benefits for patients’ other diagnoses is well known.

This concept of primary care nephrology could unfold into clinical reality as a professional, collaborative cooperation. With the diagnostic refinement of the nephrologist, a primary care physician can guide patients with CKD with the balancing act of comorbidities, medication management and optimal kidney lifestyle.

Likewise, what this family physician recognizes as critically useful from the consulting nephrologist is the expert focus on pathology with a diagnosis and back-up. We must agree that things like diet, exercise, sleep, stress and toxins have longitudinal importance for our patients with CKD — important enough for the primary care physician to make time with motivated patients to assess and co-discover actionable adaptations. Comorbidities with time will certainly guide the process. The success of this requires supportive enthusiasm from the specialist.

Vision of collaboration

Here is an example: A 46-year-old perimenopausal working single mother, with a history 12 years prior of pregnancy-induced hypertension and diabetes, has moderate proteinuria and a creatinine of 1.2. A nephrology consult will crystallize her individual needs. A primary care plan will address medications, CKD lifestyle needs and illuminate the notable overlap of benefits for her other diagnoses.

During the course of four visits looking at her stress, relationship to food and exercise needs, she exhibits admirable motivation, paying attention to what and how she eats and enjoying a lunchtime walking program. Reinforcing these successes while addressing medications, diet, sleep, etc. every 3 months offers an opportunity to protect nephrons and proceed further in the adaptations needed.

At this time, nephrologists cannot assume this is taking place in all primary care settings. Primary care providers, guiding patients with CKD safely through commonplace medical scenarios — like infectious illnesses, traumatic injuries, surgeries, travel and stress — need to grasp a breadth of nephrology basics. Our patients with CKD are at increased risk of acute kidney injury. Astute protection means we save nephrons. This author would welcome renal rotations at all levels of medical training, with a facet of focus on longitudinal outpatient, early and moderate CKD care. This vision of collaboration, with a commitment to early diagnosis and intervention, offers the opportunity to learn how to guide patients to a less inflammatory lifestyle.

The urgency is there. Can we talk?

• For more information:
• Robin Rose, MD, is a semi-retired family physician with a long-time interest in chronic illness and the role of lifestyle, with an interest in incipient and moderate CKD as a current focus. She lives in Molokai, Hawaii.

Disclosure: Rose reports no relevant financial disclosures.

Here’s a suggestion. Why not bring this article to your primary care physician? It could be that renal disease has never really crossed his mind despite the fact that 90% of the 31 million people in the U.S. who have CKD are unaware they do. You may not benefit from this – already having been diagnosed – but the next patient may… and the one after that… and the one after that…keep going.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Part Two of the Two Parter for National Kidney Month

Are you ready for the most important sentence in the mytherapyapp.com guest blog which was published on World Kidney Day on March 8th? This was the day that celebrated Chronic Kidney Disease and Women’s Health – during March’s National Kidney Month and National Women’s Month. Well then, here it is, along with the rest of the mytherapyapp.com guest blog.

Let me be clear: you must have functioning kidneys or dialysis or a transplant to live.

When there’s nothing doing the jobs of the kidneys, there’s no life. Your kidneys filter about 200 quarts of your blood each day. They are the organs that prevent toxic build up in your body by turning these toxins – along with other waste products – into urine. They are responsible for regulating your electrolytes and your blood pressure. These are only three of the many necessary jobs they do.

That would explain why hypertension, also called high blood pressure, is the second leading cause of CKD. Sometimes what is commonly considered medication for hypertension is prescribed for CKD whether or not you have high blood pressure.

The Simple Tests That Could Save Your Life

I’m originally from New York. Do you remember the old lottery advertising slogan from NY, You’ve got to be in it to win it? The same is true here. If you don’t know you have CKD, you won’t be treating it.

You’ll probably feel the needle for the blood test, but that’s a very, very small price to pay for discovering CKD. I have no idea how long I had it before my diagnosis. I could have gone not knowing until I reached end stage which would mean dialysis to perform the jobs my kidneys couldn’t, or a transplant, or… my demise.

The treatment is nothing horrendous. It depends upon your body chemistry (your Comprehensive Metabolic Panel – a blood test – will give you a good picture of that) and your nephrologist’s suggestions. Usually, it’s the hypertension medication mentioned above, a special diet, treating diabetes if you have it, exercise, adequate sleep, and avoiding stress where you can. You can live with that, can’t you? Especially if it means your life.

When I was teaching Essay Writing on the college level, it was a rule never to end your essay with the words, “In conclusion.” But I also taught that you needed to learn the rules, so you could break them.

So… in conclusion, please, please go for the blood and urine tests.

You really don’t need the fatigue, brain fog, or bone problems undiagnosed CKD can cause, much less dialysis or a transplant. Catch the disease early, treat it, and keep living your life!

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We would like to thank Gail for contributing this post.
If you would like your story featured on the MyTherapy blog, contact Dan here.

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Since being diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, Gail has channeled her expertise in research writing to share information and support those in a similar situation to the one she was in over a decade ago. She is a serial author on CKD, and writes a blog, SlowItDownCKD.

What’s that? But National Kidney Month runs all of March. You’re right, which is why eCareDiary.com interviewed me on March 6th.

Coping with Chronic Kidney Disease

eCareDiary spoke to Gail Rae-Garwood, author of three time award winning blog, SlowItDownCKD about how she discovered she had chronic kidney disease and steps she’s taken to maintain the level of kidney function.  

This is the link: https://www.ecarediary.com/CommentRadioShow.aspx?id=1238. You’ll also find the show embedded on my website: www.gail-raegarwood.com.  Did the interview prompt any questions about CKD for you? Ask them at https://www.ecarediary.com/ExpertQA.aspx. I’ll be the expert answering them. I have to admit, it’s still hard for me to own being an expert, a lay expert, that is. I was simply a CKD patient with lots of questions, the wherewithal to answer them, and a great desire to share what I’d learned so that no one else was as terrified at their CKD diagnose as I was.

 

The National Kidney Foundation has a  free testing program. This is the information from their website. The Find a KEEP Healthy Event in your area link if live.

DO YOU NEED A KIDNEY HEALTH CHECK?

 

Come to the National Kidney Foundation’s new KEEP Healthy program and find out. One in three Americans is at risk for developing kidney disease. KEEP Healthy will help you learn if you’re the one.

Find a KEEP Healthy Event in your area 

What is KEEP Healthy?

The National Kidney Foundation’s community-based initiative to educate about the kidneys, risk factors for kidney disease, and steps to take to keep kidneys healthy and reduce risk.

What does the KEEP Healthy Check-up Include?

• Risk Survey
• Body Mass Index (BMI): Height and Weight Measurements
• Blood pressure check
• ACR urine test for albumin (a type of protein) – For individuals at risk only!
• Free educational materials
• Opportunity to speak with a health care professional

Who’s at Increased Risk for Kidney Disease?

• Anyone with high blood pressure, diabetes
• Anyone with a family history of kidney failure
• African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders and American Indians
• Anyone age 60 and older
• Individuals who are obese (body mass index of 30 or above)

What should you do next?

• When you visit your doctor, share what you’ve learned about your risk factors for kidney disease
• Follow healthy lifestyle advice
• If you have any questions, call our NKF Cares patient hotline toll-free at 1-855-NKF-Cares (653-2273).

Locally, the Kidney Foundation of Arizona provides a similar service with a screening coming up this Saturday. By the way, the Register Online link is live:

PATH TO WELLNESS SCREENING

Saturday March 24th, 2018

Free Public Health Screenings

Next Path to Wellness Screening:
Saturday, March 24, 2018
South Phoenix Missionary Baptist Church | 2006 E. Broadway Rd. Phoenix, AZ 85040

REGISTER ONLINE

HACER UNA CITA

Path to Wellness is a free community health screening program provided by the National Kidney Foundation of Arizona in collaboration with the Cardio Renal Society of America and other local health organizations.  Screenings are held throughout the state of Arizona on a sponsored basis, and are open to the public.

Path to Wellness screenings provide free blood and urine testing, which is evaluated onsite is using point-of-care testing devices to assess the risk of diabetes, heart and kidney diseases. Those screened are also presented with chronic disease management education, an overall health assessment (weight, blood pressure, etc.) and a one-on-one consultation with a physician. Enrollment opportunities are offered for a follow-up 6-week series of Healthy Living workshops that teach chronic disease self-management skills.

For more information, call our main line at: (602) 840-1644. To volunteer for a Path to Wellness event, please contact James Ivie, Director of Patient Services, at jivie@azkidney.org.

Until next week (when it will still be National Kidney Month),

Keep living your life!

A Two Parter for National Kidney Month

March is National Kidney Month as well as National Women’s Month. Thursday, March 8th was World Kidney Day which was dedicated to women’s kidney health. Mytherapyapp.com asked me if I would guest blog on World Kidney Day. I didn’t hesitate. ANY way to promote awareness of Chronic Kidney Disease is fine with me. The headlines are theirs, but the more I think about them, the more apt I think they are. Thank you, mytherapyapp.com for helping me in my quest to make the world aware of CKD. This is the first part of that guest blog.

The Simple Test That Saved My Life: Gail’s CKD Story

Chronic Kidney Disease is Often Symptomless. When Not Diagnosed, it Can Also Be Deadly

Gail Rae-Garwood

March 8, 2018

This week, chronic kidney disease treatment will cost the US healthcare system almost $1 billion, just as it did last week, and just as it will next week. Treatments such as dialysis and kidney transplants are not only extremely expensive, but a sign that kidney disease has progressed through the stages and become potentially life-threatening. This is usually because it was not detected in the early stages, due to it being a ‘silent disease’ that is often symptomless. Yet, just like another infamously silent disease, hypertension, chronic kidney disease can be diagnosed early with simple tests. When done so, treatment options are usually more simple, cost-effective, and significantly less detrimental to one’s quality of life. Gail Rae-Garwood was fortunate enough to catch chronic kidney disease early. In support of World Kidney Day, Gail has shared her story with us; it highlights how early detection helps save money and, more importantly: lives.

A guest post by Gail Rae-Garwood

My name is Gail Rae-Garwood. I like to think of myself as an average older woman with two adult daughters, a fairly recent husband, and a very protective dog. But I’m not. What makes me a little different is that I have Chronic Kidney Disease… just like the estimated 31 million or 15% of the adult population in the United States. Unlike 96% of those in the early stages of the disease, I know my kidneys are not functioning well.

Chronic Kidney Disease Diagnosis

I was blindsided over a decade ago. That’s when I started seeing a new doctor solely because she was both on my insurance plan and so much closer to home than the one I’d been seeing. It seems everything is at least half an hour away in Arizona; her office wasn’t. As a diligent primary care physician, she ordered a whole battery of tests to verify what she found in my files which, by the way, contained a kidney function reading (called the GFR) of 39%. That was something I’d never been told about.

39%. I’d been a high school teacher for 35 years at that point. If a student had scored 39% on a test, we would have talked and talked until we had gotten to the root of the problem that caused such a low score. No one talked to me about my low kidney function until I changed doctors.

She not only talked, she had me in a nephrologist’s (kidney and hypertension specialist’s) office the next day. That’s when I started worrying. Who gets an appointment with a specialist the very next day? He might have been reassuring, but I’ll never know. I was terrified; he was patriarchal. All I heard was, “I’ll take care of your kidneys. You just do as I say,” or something to that effect.

Nope, wrong doctor for me. I needed to know what was happening, why it was happening, and what I could do about it. I’d already had a terrific Dad and he’d known better than to ask me to give up control of myself.

CKD: What Is It and How Did I Get It?

Nephrologist switch. The new one was much better for me. He explained again and again until I understood and put up with a lot of verbal abuse when this panicky new patient wasn’t getting answers as quickly as she wanted them. Luckily for me, he graciously accepted my apology.

My less-than-stellar experience with being diagnosed and the first nephrologist are what prompted me to write What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease. I felt – and still do – that since I taught research writing in college, I should research and then share what I discovered. Why, I wondered, should any new CKD patient be as terrified as I was?

I didn’t feel… well, done with sharing or researching once I finished the book so I began writing a weekly blog: SlowItDownCKD. The blog has won several awards. Basically, that’s because I write in a reader friendly manner. After all, what good is all my researching if no one understands what I’m writing? Non-tech savvy readers asked if I could print the blogs; hence, the birth of the SlowItDownCKD series of books.

What I hit over and over again in the blogs is that diabetes is the foremost cause of CKD with hypertension as the second most common cause. Simple blood and urine tests can uncover your CKD – if you’re part of the unlucky 96% of those in the early stages of the disease who don’t know they have it. That’s important because CKD is mostly symptomless.

 

Chronic Kidney Disease Risk Factors

There are many other risk factors for CKD, such as:

• Heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease
• Smoking
• Obesity
• Being African-American, Native American or Asian-American
• Family history of kidney disease
• Abnormal kidney structure
• Older age

Older age? Smoking? Obesity? Hypertension? Which was it for me? I have no idea and, frankly, I no longer care. It’s much more important to me that my CKD be treated so I can see my coming grandchild grow up, revel at another daughter’s wedding later this year, and continue to be my sweet husband’s caretaker as well as his wife.

 

Next week’s blog not only completes this guest blog but contains the most important sentence in it. Cliff hanger? Absolutely! The idea is to get more and more people interested in what CKD is, who may have it, how to detect it, and how to treat it. What better way than a cliff hanger?

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

 

The Nation and the World are Working Together

It’s National Kidney Month and the country is burgeoning with kidney education in one way or another. I’ll be doing my part, too. Tomorrow, I’ll be speaking on eCareDairy. There are two links  to listen in:

https://www.ecarediary.com/EFCRadioShow.aspx and http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ecarediary/2018/03/06/coping-with-chronic-kidney-disease. This is my favorite kind of show – unscripted. If there’s anything you’d like me to include in my talk, leave a comment sometime today.

Of course, some of you are now asking yourselves how National Kidney Month started. Aha! I’ve got that covered. The National Kidney Foundation thought this would be a good way to bring awareness of kidney disease, and how to treat – and even prevent – its complications. Considering the many walks, golf tournaments, dances, free screenings, and other kidney disease education events that are scheduled throughout the year, I’d have to agree with them.

I’ll also be guest blogging on MyTherapyApp at https://www.mytherapyapp.com/blog on World Kidney Day which is Thursday, March 8. (World Kidney Day is always the second Thursday in March.) This is an app to help you remember to take your medications, test your blood glucose, blood pressure, or whatever else you have to test, even to take a walk.

And World Kidney Day? What’s that? This is from The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2 (Maybe this year will be the one I finally get to split this book into SlowItDownCKD 2013 and SlowItDownCKD 2014). I’ve updated it to reflect the most current information. The updates are bolded:

“I discovered this is a fairly new designation. It was only twelve years ago that it was initiated.

According to http://worldkidneyday.org, “World Kidney Day is a global awareness campaign aimed at raising awareness of the importance of our kidneys.”

Sound familiar?  That’s where I’m heading with What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease; SlowItDownCKD 2011; SlowItDownCKD 2012; The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2; SlowItDownCKD 2015; SlowItDownCKD 2016; the daily CKD tidbits on Facebook; and this blog. We may be running along different tracks, but we’re headed in the same direction.

The 58 year old International Society of Nephrology (ISN) – a non-profit group spreading over 155 countries – is one part of the equation for their success.  Another is the International Federation of Kidney Foundations with membership in over 40 countries. Add a steering committee and The World Kidney Day Team and you have the makings of this particular concept….

This year’s theme is Chronic Kidney Disease and Women’s Health.

While there are numerous objectives for this year’s World Kidney Day, the one that lays closest to my heart is this one: ‘Encourage systematic screening of all patients with diabetes and hypertension for CKD.’

Their site offers materials and ideas for events as well as a map of global events. Prepare to be awed at how wide spread World Kidney Day events are.

Before you leave their page, take a detour to Kidney FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on the toolbar at the top of the page.  You can learn everything you need to know from what the kidneys do to what the symptoms (or lack thereof) of CKD are, from how to treat CKD to a toolbox full of helpful education about your kidneys to preventative measures.

If only my nurse practitioner had been aware of National Kidney Month or World Kidney Day, she could have warned me immediately that I needed to make lifestyle changes so the decline of my kidney function could have been slowed down earlier. How much more of my kidney function would I still have if I’d known earlier?.. That was a decade ago and this shouldn’t still be happening… but it is.

I received a phone call a few years ago that just about broke my heart.  Someone very dear to me sobbed, “He’s dying.” When I calmed her down, she explained a parent was sent to a nephrologist who told him he has end stage renal disease and needed dialysis or transplantation immediately.

I pried a little trying to get her to admit he’d been diagnosed before end stage, but she simply didn’t know what I was talking about. There had been no diagnose of Chronic Kidney Disease up to this point. There was diabetes, apparently out of control diabetes, but no one impressed upon this man that diabetes is the foremost cause of CKD.

What a waste of the precious time he could have had to do more than stop smoking, which he did (to his credit), the moment he was told it would help with the diabetes.  Would he be where he was then if his medical practitioners had been aware of National Kidney Month or World Kidney Day, especially since this man was high risk due to his age and diabetes?  I fervently believe so.

I have a close friend who was involved in the local senior center where she lives.  She said she didn’t know anyone else but me who had this disease.  Since 1 out of every 7 people does nationally and being over 60 places you in a high risk group, I wonder how many of her friends were included in the 96% of those in the early stage of CKD who don’t know they have CKD or don’t even know they need to be tested.  I’d have rather been mistaken here, but I’m afraid I wasn’t. National Kidney Month or World Kidney Day could have helped them become aware.

For those of you who have forgotten (Easily read explanations of what results of the different items on your tests mean are in What Is It And How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease.), all it takes is a blood test and a urine test to detect CKD.  I have routine blood tests every three months to monitor a medication I’m taking.  It was in this test, a test I took anyway, that my family physician uncovered Chronic Kidney Disease as a problem.

There is so much free education about CKD online. Maybe you can start with the blogroll on the right side of the blog.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

My Vocabulary’s Expanding

I learned a new word! It’s gastroparesis. I learned it from the Facebook Chronic Kidney Disease support pages. What does it mean? According to the American Heritage Medical Dictionary, it means:

“A disorder characterized by delayed movement of food from the stomach into the small intestine because of impaired stomach motility, resulting in nausea, vomiting, and a feeling of fullness.”

Wait a minute; I forgot to tell you the winners of the Birthday Book Giveaway Contest:

Pamela Thacker’s copy of SlowItDownCKD 2016 is on the way to her. Donna Steely-Arnold, I will be only too glad to send out your copy of The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2, as soon as you email your address to me. Catherine Lombard (Forgive me for referring to you as Carole; she was a famous actress back in the ‘30s.), your prize of SlowItDownCKD 2015 is also on its way to you. Congratulations to each of you on being the first three readers to comment about last week’s blog.

Okey-dokey, back to business. Of course you’re eager to know what gastroparesis has to do with Chronic Kidney Disease. Well, I am anyway.

This is from Healthline at https://www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/gastroparesis#risk-factors:

“Women with diabetes have a high risk for developing gastroparesis. Other conditions can compound your risk of developing the disorder, including previous abdominal surgeries or a history of eating disorders.

Diseases and conditions other than diabetes can cause gastroparesis, such as:

• viral infections
• acid reflux disease
• smooth muscle disorders

Other illnesses can cause gastroparesis symptoms, including:

• Parkinson’s disease
• chronic pancreatitis
• cystic fibrosis
• kidney disease
• Turner’s syndrome”

Right off the bat we can see a connection… diabetes. Remember that diabetes is the leading cause of CKD. Now look toward the bottom of this incomplete list of risk factors…kidney disease. Uh-oh.

I jumped right over to the MayoClinic at https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gastroparesis/symptoms-causes/syc-20355787 for an explanation:

“Certain medications, such as opioid pain relievers, some antidepressants, and high blood pressure and allergy medications, can lead to slow gastric emptying and cause similar symptoms. For people who already have gastroparesis, these medications may make their condition worse.”

You remembered! Yes, high blood pressure is the second most common cause of CKD. Usually if you have hypertension, you take medication to control it. Sometimes, you take the same medication to help control your CKD even if you don’t have hbp.

According to WebMD at https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tc/chronic-kidney-disease-medications, the following medications which are usually prescribed if you have hbp may also be prescribed if you have CKD with or without high blood pressure:

“ACE inhibitors and ARBs. These may be used if you have protein in your urine (proteinuria) or have heart failure. Regular blood tests are required to make sure that these medicines don’t raise potassium levels (hyperkalemia) or make kidney function worse.”

I still wasn’t satisfied that I understood how the CKD and gastroparesis are connected so I delved further. The Cleveland Clinic at https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2015/09/gastroparesis-know-the-risk-factors-for-this-mysterious-stomach-condition/ was a bit helpful:

“If you have diabetes, gastroparesis can cause it to be poorly controlled. Severe gastroparesis makes it difficult to manage your blood sugar.”

The American Diabetes Association at http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/gastroparesis.html further explains:

“The vagus nerve controls the movement of food through the digestive tract. If the vagus nerve is damaged or stops working, the muscles of the stomach and intestines do not work normally, and the movement of food is slowed or stopped.

Just as with other types of neuropathy, diabetes can damage the vagus nerve if blood glucose levels remain high over a long period of time. High blood glucose causes chemical changes in nerves and damages the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to the nerves.”

Maybe we need to understand why we have to manage our blood sugar in the first place.

“Blood sugar, or blood glucose, is sugar that the bloodstream carries to all the cells in the body to supply energy. Blood sugar or blood glucose measurements represent the amount of sugar being transported in the blood during one instant.

The sugar comes from the food we eat. The human body regulates blood glucose levels so that they are neither too high nor too low. The blood’s internal environment must remain stable for the body to function. This balance is known as homeostasis.”

Thank you for that information, MedicalNewsToday at https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/249413.php. Diabetes is a condition in which your blood sugar is too high… and it can be one of many causes of gastroparesis.

Apparently, gastroparesis is of more concern if you are on dialysis. I know, define dialysis. Let’s take a look at the definition MedicineNet at https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2980 offers.

“The process of removing waste products and excess fluid from the body. Dialysis is necessary when the kidneys are not able to adequately filter the blood.”

And how does gastroparesis affect dialysis patients? Dr. William F. Finn, Professor of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Attending Physician, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill explained during an interview. He used terms that we, as laypeople, can readily understand.

“It has been known for many years that as patients develop progressively severe CKD, their condition may be complicated by nutritional deficiency and even overt malnutrition due to the gradual loss of appetite and inadequate caloric and protein intake…. Indeed, there is evidence that the intake of calories, including protein, decreases as renal insufficiency advances…. As a consequence, in patients with advanced CKD and in those treated with chronic hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, there is a high prevalence of what is referred to as “protein-energy malnutrition.” This condition may involve up to 40% or more of the patients and is an important issue because there is a strong association between malnutrition and increased risk of morbidity and mortality…. In fact, in patients undergoing dialysis, “undernutrition” is one of the most common risk factors for adverse cardiovascular events and death…. It has been demonstrated repeatedly and consistently that a low serum albumin level and decreased protein intake are strongly associated with increased mortality in patients with CKD….”

You can read the entire interview on Medscape at https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/545157.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Banting

I can just about hear you asking, “What in heaven’s name is banting?” You know I like to read Victorian murder mysteries, right? The one I’m reading now is Murder on the Minneapolis by Anita Davison. In it, she has one character discuss a method of losing weight by strict eating limitations publicized by William Banting. I find it amusing that he was a celebrated undertaker, not that this had anything to do with the dietary restrictions.

According to Wikipedia – which is open to public editing –

“In 1863, Banting wrote a booklet called Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public… which contained the particular plan for the diet he followed. It was written as an open letter in the form of a personal testimonial. Banting accounted all of his unsuccessful fasts, diets, spa and exercise regimens in his past, then described the dietary change which finally had worked for him, following the advice of a physician. His own diet was four meals per day, consisting of meat, greens, fruits, and dry wine. The emphasis was on avoiding sugar, saccharine matter, starch, beer, milk and butter. Banting’s pamphlet was popular for years to come, and would be used as a model for modern diets…. Initially, he published the booklet at his personal expense. The self-published edition was so popular that he determined to sell it to the general public. The third and later editions were published by Harrison, London. Banting’s booklet remains in print as of 2007, and is still available on-line. …He undertook his dietary changes at the suggestion of Soho Square physician Dr. William Harvey, who in turn had learnt of this type of diet, but in the context of diabetes management, from attending lectures in Paris by Claude Bernard.”

It’s starting to sound familiar, isn’t it? As Chronic Kidney Disease patients, and certainly if you’re also diabetic, we’re often told by our doctors to lose weight.

Have you heard of the Keto Diet? As a matter of fact, the app for that was included in last week’s blog. That’s one way to lose weight, but it’s too protein and fat heavy for CKD patients. Another way is to count carbohydrates or Bant.

I find it fascinating how the things I’m interested in seem to dovetail sometimes. For example, Chronic Kidney Disease, losing weight, Victorian murder mysteries, and banting.

I know. We need to back track a bit. Let’s start with carbohydrates. What are they anyway? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carbohydrate , they are:

“any of various neutral compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen (such as sugars, starches, and celluloses) most of which are formed by green plants and which constitute a major class of animal foods”

Here’s a list of carbohydrates from The American Diabetes Association at http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/understanding-carbohydrates/carbohydrate-counting.html:

• grains like rice, oatmeal, and barley
• grain-based foods like bread, cereal, pasta, and crackers
• starchy vegetables like potatoes, peas and corn
• fruit and juice
• milk and yogurt
• dried beans like pinto beans and soy products like veggie burgers
• sweets and snack foods like sodas, juice drinks, cake, cookies, candy, and chips

Now that we have a definition and examples of carbohydrates, why limit them? The MayoClinic at https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/low-carb-diet/art-20045831 has that one covered.

“Your body uses carbohydrates as its main fuel source. Complex carbohydrates (starches) are broken down into simple sugars during digestion. They’re then absorbed into your bloodstream, where they’re known as blood sugar (glucose). In general, natural complex carbohydrates are digested more slowly and they have less effect on blood sugar. Natural complex carbohydrates provide bulk and serve other body functions beyond fuel.

Rising levels of blood sugar trigger the body to release insulin. Insulin helps glucose enter your body’s cells. Some glucose is used by your body for energy, fueling all of your activities, whether it’s going for a jog or simply breathing. Extra glucose is usually stored in your liver, muscles and other cells for later use or is converted to fat.

The idea behind the low-carb diet is that decreasing carbs lowers insulin levels, which causes the body to burn stored fat for energy and ultimately leads to weight loss.”

Wait a minute. What are these “complex carbohydrates” they mention? This is what I found on MedlinePlus at https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/19529.htm:

“Complex carbohydrate foods provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber that are important to the health of an individual. The majority of carbohydrates should come from complex carbohydrates (starches) and naturally occurring sugars, rather than processed or refined sugars, which do not have the vitamins, minerals, and fiber found in complex and natural carbohydrates. Refined sugars are often called ‘empty calories’ because they have little to no nutritional value.”

Got it. Complex carbohydrates provide what our bodies need, but too much of them can raise our blood glucose levels or turn to fat.

If there are complex carbohydrates, does that mean there are simple ones, too? Healthline (Thank you again for including this blog among the six best kidney blogs of 2016 & 2017, Healthline.) at https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/simple-carbohydrates-complex-carbohydrates#2 was succinct in describing these:

“Carbohydrates are made up of three components: fiber, starch, and sugar. Fiber and starch are complex carbs, while sugar is a simple carb. Depending on how much of each of these is found in a food determines its nutrient quality.”

Just in case you’re not sure which foods to avoid, Everyday Health at https://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/diet/good-carbs-bad-carbs/ has a beginner’s list for us:

• Soda
• Candy
• Cookies
• Pastries and desserts
• Sweetened beverages, such as lemonade or iced tea
• Energy drinks
• Ice cream

Before you ask, fruits and low fat or nonfat milk do contain simple carbohydrates, but these are healthy for you. You still have to include the milk in your phosphorous count on the renal diet.

This is amazing! Some blogs just flow while I get to the point of just about tearing my hair out to write others (Hey, stress is not good for CKD.) This one flowed.

Congratulations to Christine Barnard from South Africa. She was the first person to let me know she’d read last week’s blog. Instead of winning just one book, she won four: SlowItDownCKD 2012; The Book of Blog: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2; SlowItDownCKD 2015; and SlowItDownCKD 2016. Why? Because she mentioned that there are few sources of Chronic Kidney Disease information in South Africa. Christine, please be sure to email me your physical address. Use SlowItDownCKD@gmail.com.

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

Apps Again

Last week I mentioned kidney diet apps and that I suspected the ones I wrote about in SlowItDownCKD 2016 may be outdated or not exist anymore. Let’s jump right in before I need to get up from the computer to walk around for a while. I’ve been working on another book and been sitting here a long time. We all know that’s not good for us.

This is from SlowItDownCKD 2016:

“According to GCFLearnFree.org – a program of Goodwill Community Foundation® and Goodwill Industries of Eastern NC Inc.® (GIENC®) – at http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computerbasics/understanding-applications/1/,

‘Simply put, an app is a type of software that allows you to perform specific tasks. Applications for desktop or laptop computers are sometimes called desktop applications, while those for mobile devices are called mobile apps.’

During an internet search, I found that NephCure which provides ‘detailed information about the diseases that cause Nephrotic Syndrome (NS) and Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS)’ (and was one of the first organizations to interview me about CKD, by the way) – at http://nephcure.org/livingwithkidneydisease/managing-your-care/kidney-health-tracking-tools/helpful-mobile-apps/ was way ahead of me in discussing apps. This is what’s on their website:

Diet and Nutrition Apps

• KidneyAPPetite – Gives daily summaries of key nutrients for kidney health, check the nutritional value of foods before you eat it, and provides printable summaries to refer to. Great for patients on a renal diet! Cost: Free, Device: iOS

• Pocket Dietitian – Created by a Nephrologist, allows you to choose your health conditions and dietary restrictions to see recommended foods as well as keep track of what you have eaten. You can even see your past nutrition in graph form. Cost: Free, Device: iOS and Android

• My Food Coach – is designed to help you understand and manage all of your nutritional requirements. This app offers personalized nutrition information, recipes and meal plans. Cost: Free, Device: iOS and Android

• HealthyOut – Enables you to search and order nearby healthy food and browse for healthy options while out to eat. You can even choose a specific diet such as gluten free! Cost: Free, Device: iOS and Android

• Restaurant Nutrition – Allows you to search restaurants and look at nutritional values, locate nearby restaurants, and keep a food journal. The Restaurant Nutrition application shows nutritional information of restaurant foods. Cost: Free, Device: iOS and Android

While I could easily go to most of the apps’ websites by clicking on the name while I held down the control button, this was not the case with Pocket Dietician. I was able to find it and lots of descriptive information about it in the Google Play store, but kept getting the message that I had no devices. The help function on the site was not helpful.

What about My Food Coach? It has an extra feature that my favorite lacked: a warning when a recipe would bring you over your renal diet limits. It’s recipe oriented, which doesn’t endear it to me since I like to experiment cooking my big five ounces of protein daily with my three different size servings of different fruits that are on my renal diet. I also avoid red meat.

HealthyOut, while not specifically for CKD, does have a function for the Mediterranean diet which is more often than not recommended for us. I thought this was a hoot since it never occurred to me that you can check restaurant foods by the restaurant name. I am adding this app to my iPhone.”

It looks like I was wrong. Most of these are still available. Unfortunately KidneyDiet, my all-time favorite, is no more. Neither is Restaurant Nutrition. But let’s see what other apps are available for us.

If sodium (salt) is a problem for you, there’s an app for that. According to For Your Kidney at http://foryourkidney.com/en/2016/01/04/5-best-apps-kidney-health/:

“Sodium One is a user friendly Sodium Counter app. Patients with High Blood Pressure or Chronic Kidney Disease can benefit from this app a lot. The App allows you to track water intake as well as exercise and weight history. The main focus of Sodium One however, is to manage your daily sodium allowance. The tracking is actually very accurate when it comes to calorie counts. A great extra is that this app does not require an internet connection.”
This is $0.99 and only available in IOS. That’s Apple.

I do want to mention there are apps specifically for those on dialysis. I have not included them in this blog, although NephCure did include KidneyAPPetite. An internet search for ‘dialysis apps,’ or something along that line, will help you find them.

I’ve tried a few other apps that were not dedicated to those with CKD and found moderate success with them. One is Keto, which bills itself as “Stupid Simple”… and it is. However, it’s limited to carbs, fat, and protein. You’re on your own for phosphorous, potassium, and sodium. Oh, KidneyDiet, come back! The nice part of Keto is that you can scan barcodes (Is that really one word these days?) and add your own foods and meals IF you upgrade from the basic free version. Their website at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.venninteractive.ssketo  tells you this is only available for Android, but I have it on my IOS device.

Under Armour’s MyFitnessPal at https://freepps.top/apps/health-fitness/calorie-counter-myfitnesspal has been around for a while. Again, while this is not perfect for those with CKD, it is a great help. I like that you can set goals and request reminders about your goal, as well as add foods. Of course, Premium offers you a lot more… and charges you accordingly. Articles about exercise and weight pop up, too. And then there are recipes. Again, it doesn’t do the whole trick, although it does count potassium, protein, sodium and calories . What’s missing is phosphorous. The bonuses are carb, fat (by type, no less) cholesterol, fiber, sugar, vitamins A & C, calcium, and iron counters. This is also a free Apple app.

Lose It! at https://www.loseit.com/ is not as comprehensive for the CKD patient. It allows you to track fat, carbs, protein, and calories. Here, again, you can set your goals. You can even take pictures of your food to track it. However, I find I want something more CKD oriented with potassium, phosphorous, and sodium counters included. This looks like it may be a good app for weight loss, but I’m wondering how much help it is for the CKD patient.. This is a free Android app.

At this point, I stopped checking out apps. There are so many more in just a little over the year I last looked at apps. But they’re not quite for the likes of us. It looks like MyFitnessPal is the closest we can come to a kidney app, unless you’re on dialysis. Then I’d go for KidneyAPPetite.

Before I go, here’s a shameless plug for my new book. It’s Sort of Dark Places, available on Amazon and is not CKD related at all. I’ve fictionalized the stories people have told me about their most difficult times. I found it cathartic to write even though these are not my stories. Advance readers have told me they did, too. Give it a try.

In honor of the great Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, the first person who hasn’t already won a free book that lets me know they’ve read today’s blog wins a copy of SlowItDownCKD 2012.

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

And the Beat Goes On

Happy New Year! After a night of thinking about my life and where it’s gone in the last almost 71 years, I remembered some events from a long, long time ago. For example, when I was a young woman in my late teens, I used to go to the clubs in New York City and dance the night away. I had a drink or two – never more – but I was there to dance… and that’s I did. I danced until I felt my whole body pulsing. Pulsing. That’s the word we used, but it has a very different meaning for me today over 50 years later.

High blood pressure can damage your kidneys. Maybe, like me, you’ve been ordered to take your blood pressure daily even if you are taking medication for hypertension. But what is this pulse/min reading I see at the bottom of the blood pressure monitor face?

Back to the beginning. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pulse, this is the way we used the word in relation to our dancing:

“rhythmical beating, vibrating, or sounding”

The same dictionary tells us that this is the way my blood pressure monitor uses the word:

“a: the regular expansion of an artery caused by the ejection of blood into the arterial system by the contractions of the heart

b: the palpable beat resulting from such pulse as detected in a superficial artery; also: the number of individual beats in a specified time period (such as one minute)

I knew that. I’ll bet that you did, too; but I keep forgetting why that’s important.

Verywell, a conglomeration of information from doctors, dieticians, and personal trainers, at https://www.verywell.com/pulse-pressure-1763964 answers that question for us:

“Sometimes pulse pressure does provide important information. There’s research showing that pulse pressure can be valuable when looking at a patient’s overall risk profile. Several studies have identified that high pulse pressure:

• Causes more artery damage compared to high blood pressure with normal pulse pressure

• Indicates elevated stress on a part of the heart called the left ventricle

• Is affected differently by different high blood pressure medicines

So if you’re diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor may consider it when designing your overall treatment plan.”

Now I understand why my physician’s nurse gets that look on her face after taking my pulse sometimes. Since I have no heart problems, although Chronic Kidney Disease can easily lead to them, my hypertension medication may have to be adjusted or the ones I’m taking replaced with others that won’t raise my pulse level.

But what about the possibility of “elevated stress on a part of the heart called the left ventricle?” And why only the left ventricle? Wait a minute; what is a ventricle anyway?

I have definitely forgotten more than I ever knew to begin with! Enough grousing.

Let’s see how precise a definition of ventricle we can get. The Oxford Dictionary at https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ventricle offers the following definitions:

“A hollow part or cavity in an organ…..

Each of the two main chambers of the heart, left and right….

Each of the four connected fluid-filled cavities in the centre of the brain.”

It’s pretty obvious we need the second definition.

But why is the left ventricle the only one that may experience “elevated stress”? Healthline (The same organization that included SlowItDownCKD in the top six nephrology blogs of 2016 & 2017.) at https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/left-ventricle explains:

“The left ventricle is the thickest of the heart’s chambers and is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to tissues all over the body….. Various conditions may affect the left ventricle and interfere with its proper functioning. The most common is left ventricular hypertrophy, which causes enlargement and hardening of the muscle tissue that makes up the wall of the left ventricle, usually as a result of uncontrolled high blood pressure.”

So here I am, taking three blood pressure medications, and it’s possible to still have uncontrolled high blood pressure?

Apparently so, the American Heart Association at https://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBloodPressure/MakeChangesThatMatter/Managing-High-Blood-Pressure-Medications_UCM_303246_Article.jsp has some interesting information about this.

“Because different drugs do different things in the body, you may need more than one medication to properly manage your blood pressure…. Different people can respond very differently to medications. Everyone has to go through a trial period to find out which medications work best with the fewest side effects. Give yourself a chance to adjust to a drug. It may take several weeks, but the results will usually be worth it. If you don’t feel well after taking a medication, let your doctor know so he/she can adjust your treatment.”

Considering that Chronic Kidney Disease causes high blood pressure as well as high blood pressure causing CKD, I intend to keep doing just that.

We’re not finished with the pulse just yet. I wanted to know the basic connection between blood pressure and pulse and I wanted a simple explanation of it.

But first we’ll need a definition of artery. No problem, that’s what the glossary in What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease is for.

“Arteries: Vessels that carry blood from the heart.”

Let’s get to the heart (That’s funny. Get it? Heart) of the matter now.

HealthCentral at https://www.healthcentral.com/article/pulse-rate-and-high-blood-pressure-defining-the-connection had exactly what I asked for.

“Because high blood pressure causes tension and complicates cardiovascular normal activity, it may cause stress with your pulse activity. Meaning, the arteries experience resistance against the flow of the blood. The pulse rate calculates the number of times the heart beats per minute. The rate measurements indicate the heart rate, heart rhythm and the strength of your pulse. Therefore, high blood pressure slows down normal blood flow causing the arteries to demonstrate difficulty with expanding.”

Got it! Now, if I can only remember it….

Here’s hoping this New Year is your best year yet – as I say to my grown children every year. Wishing you health first of all, then love from your friends and family, and finally kindness to share with others.

Thank you for being my readers and thank you for helping to make this an award winning blog not once or twice, but three times.

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

Snap, Crackle, and Pop

I haven’t taken to eating boxed cereals, although I do thank Rice Krispies for coming up with that slogan. I’ve discovered there are drawbacks to being independent that I hadn’t thought about… like the one that landed me in my new chiropractor’s office where I heard those sounds coming from within my body.

It started off so innocently. Our outdoor swing bit the dust so Bear took it apart. I decided our hammock chairs would look great where the swing had been. Ah, but Bear was busy moving the parts of the swing from that part of the patio.

I could do it if I went slowly. So I pulled one of them partway down the walkway, then pulled the second one. Of course, pulling meant going backwards. Why I was looking forward instead of backward, I’ll never know. I managed to trip over the foot of the first hammock frame.

My arm was scraped from one end to the other. My thigh had the biggest black and blue mark I’d seen on my body to date. But worse of all, my neck hurt. No problem, I figured. I’ll just wash out the scrapes, ice the neck and the thigh and I’ll be fine. But I wasn’t. Hence, the chiropractic visits.

It’s been two weeks. The arm is almost healed, the black and blue mark moving toward disappearing and the neck barely hurts at all. Hmmm, if chiropractic is so good for these aches and pains, could it also be good for my kidneys?
The Medical Dictionary of The Free Dictionary at http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/chiropractic defines chiropractic for us:

Chiropractic is from Greek words meaning done by hand. It is grounded in the principle that the body can heal itself when the skeletal system is correctly aligned and the nervous system is functioning properly. To achieve this, the practitioner uses his or her hands or an adjusting tool to perform specific manipulations of the vertebrae. When these bones of the spine are not correctly articulated, resulting in a condition known as subluxation, the theory is that nerve transmission is disrupted and causes pain in the back, as well as other areas of the body.

Chiropractic is one of the most popular alternative therapies currently available. Some would say it now qualifies as mainstream treatment as opposed to complementary medicine. Chiropractic treatment is covered by many insurance plans and in 2004, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced full inclusion of chiropractic care for veterans. It has become well-accepted treatment for acute pain and problems of the spine, including lower back pain and whiplash.…

I didn’t see anything in my research to connect this type of medicine and the kidneys, so I tried thinking about it another way. What are the major causes of Chronic Kidney Disease? We know diabetes is the first and hypertension the second.

I took a look at NaturalNews.com (https://www.naturalnews.com/035546_chiropractic_blood_sugar_diabetes.html) and found the following:

The average person may not recognize how diabetes and chiropractic are connected. What does the back have to do with blood sugar? Often, an electrician understands this faster than most people. Interfere with the current flowing through the wires and the appliances or areas of the house lose normal function or might even catch fire.

If the nerve supply from the upper neck or middle back (the two areas that supply the pancreas) are disturbed, pancreatic function suffers; maybe in its ability to produce enzymes to digest proteins, fats and carbohydrates, or maybe insulin production, or both. Blood sugar and digestion become unbalanced, resulting in either in diabetes or hypoglycemia.

Nutritionist Carolyn Heintz further explains:

Chiropractic care might be helpful to diabetics if problems in the spine affect blood flow to the pancreas. The pancreas releases insulin in the body which is necessary to regulate proper levels of glucose in the blood. If the pancreas is not receiving enough oxygen and nutrients through proper blood circulation, perhaps this might have an effect on insulin production.

Another way chiropractic treatment might help those who suffer from diabetes is by alleviating pressed nerves on the spine to allow for a regenerated connection between the brain and the systems that are involved in the endocrine system and a body’s metabolism. Also, when the nervous system is free to work properly, the body can work to heal itself better.

You can read the rest of her article at http://belviderechiropractic.com/conditions/can-chiropractic-care-help-treat-diabetes/.

This makes sense. If there’s a ‘short’ in the system, it’s just not going to work. If you correct the short allowing the current to flow, you could be shortcutting diabetes… and maybe Chronic Kidney Disease.

Well, how about hypertension? How can chiropractic help with that?

This caught my eye, but it will need some explaining. I discovered it at https://www.echiropractor.org/chiropractic-blood-pressure/.

Upper cervical chiropractic treatment, “performed by a mechanical chiropractic adjusting device” was noted to decrease both systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and these findings were published in 1988…. More recently, it was found that the Atlas Adjustment lowered blood pressure with the effectiveness of “two blood pressure medications given in combination”, according to Dr. George Bakris. The drop in blood pressure as a result of the realignment of the Atlas vertebra was “an average of 14 mm Hg greater drop” (systolic) and “an average 8 mm Hg greater drop” (diastolic), compared to “sham-treated patients”.

Cervical means “relating or belonging to the neck, or to any body part that resembles a neck,” according to Encarta Dictionary. In the paragraph above, it means the neck. Here’s a picture of a mechanical chiropractic adjusting device. It’s used if more than finger or hand pressure is needed for spinal adjustment and sounds almost like a stapler. It doesn’t break the skin, simply manipulates the spine.

The Atlas Adjustment is a little harder to explain. The topmost vertebra of your neck is called the Atlas because it holds up the globe better known as your head. Remember your Greek mythology? Atlas supported the world. It’s this vertebra that is being manipulated.

I, for one, am convinced. I was wondering whether or not to continue the visits since I’m feeling better. It sounds like something I should do. How about you?

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

There’s Always the Exception

And this is one of them. We all know I don’t write about dialysis, but I’ve been receiving bunches of emails lately asking if I would consider including this product, that book, or the other social media kidney disease awareness item. My response is usually thank you, but I don’t allow advertising or product promotion on the blog. When Dr. Bruce Greenfield, a Los Angeles nephrologist with 37 years experience, sent me a link to his dialysis rap with the following message, I was forced to think twice: “My goal is to reach every dialysis patient in America, in part to make people more informed, in part to shed a little light into their world in a fun way, and of course- to make them smile!”

But why? Are smiles and laughter necessary in the treatment of illness? According to Dr. Jordan Knox, a resident in family medicine, they are. This is how he summarized the need for physicians to use humor in his essay on KevinMD.com at http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2017/10/theres-place-humor-medicine.html last Friday: “Patch Adams, MD is one of the best-known physicians to use humor in healing. He focuses more on silliness to reach pure joy, nourishing the soul as much as the body. There is something about the contrast, when silliness uproots the expectation of seriousness, that is more powerful than pure humor alone. I think that’s why humor can be so powerful in the doctor’s office; because the expectation is all business, seriousness, and authority. Humor can break down those rigid roles of “patient” and “doctor,” or “team leader” and “team member.” It can level the playing field and align people on the same side, working toward a shared goal.”

Being a Groucho Marx fan, I keep thinking of his one liner, “A clown is like an aspirin, only he works twice as fast.” Hey, CKD patients can’t take aspirin (if they’re NSAIDS or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), so why not take humor instead?

But what happens to us physically when we laugh? I checked in with my old standby, The Mayo Clinic, at https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456?pg=1 and found the following information about laughter and your body.

Short-term benefits

Laughter can:

Stimulate many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.

Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.

Soothe tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.

Keep in mind that I am not a dialysis patient but hope that this rap is helpful to those who are. Sit back, turn up the speakers, and have some short term benefits courtesy of Dr. Greenfield.

I laughed… and I learned, but I was really interested in the effects of laughter that could help Chronic Kidney Disease patients in the early and moderate stages. WebMD at https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/give-your-body-boost-with-laughter#2 had a bit more information about that. Mind you, these results are observational or the results of very small studies.

Blood flow. Researchers at the University of Maryland studied the effects on blood vessels when people were shown either comedies or dramas. After the screening, the blood vessels of the group who watched the comedy behaved normally — expanding and contracting easily. But the blood vessels in people who watched the drama tended to tense up, restricting blood flow.

Immune response. Increased stress is associated with decreased immune system response, says Provine. (He’s a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and author of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation.) Some studies have shown that the ability to use humor may raise the level of infection-fighting antibodies in the body and boost the levels of immune cells, as well.

Blood sugar levels. One study of 19 people with diabetes looked at the effects of laughter on blood sugar levels. After eating, the group attended a tedious lecture. On the next day, the group ate the same meal and then watched a comedy. After the comedy, the group had lower blood sugar levels than they did after the lecture.

Reminder: Diabetes is the number one cause of CKD. CKD means a compromised immune system. Healthy blood flow is necessary for healthy kidneys.

Tomorrow is Halloween (Happy birthday to my brother Paul!), so I wanted to try my hand at some macabre humor.

 

Obituary –

The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1 died peacefully on October 20th, 2017, on Amazon.com and B & N.com at the age of three. The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1 is survived by SlowItDownCKD 2011 & SlowItDownCKD 2012, which were both born of a need for larger print, more comprehensive indexes, and a less wieldy book to hold. The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1 was preceded by What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease. The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1 gave birth to The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2, SlowItDownCKD 2015 and SlowItDownCKD 2016. Flowers and condolences in the form of Chronic Kidney Disease Awareness may be sent to any and all vehicles for spreading awareness of this disease.

Researching laughter and CKD led to only laughter and dialysis sites. I wasn’t satisfied with that and kept looking only to find this generalized, but easily understood, image from The Huffington Post Partners at .

I don’t think we can forget that anything that’s good for your heart will benefit the kidneys. Since CKD is an inflammatory disease, reducing inflammation of any kind in the body can only be a good thing. Look at that! Both bad cholesterol and systolic blood will be lowered. These are all kidney related. Hypertension is the second most common cause of CKD. Cholesterol makes the heart work harder, which can raise your blood pressure. Uh-oh.

Another thing I realized is that if I find something wrong, you know like the termite invasion or the a/c breaking in 100 degree weather, my first response is laughter. I never knew why. Hmmm, maybe I’ve been protecting my body all along.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Helping Where You Can

When my brothers made it public that they each had Parkinson’s’ Disease several years ago, I decided to see how I could help. They were being well taken care of by their wives and their medical teams, so they didn’t need my help. Maybe I could help others, I reasoned. So I began exploring ways I might be able to do that… and found one.

It was clear clinical trials with people of my heritage were being conducted and needed participants. It wasn’t clear what these studies entailed. They weren’t reader friendly enough for me to understand, but after multiple emails and phone calls asking for clarification, I finally understood. During the whole process, I kept thinking to myself that this was a wonderful way to help if only it were more accessible – meaning more easily understood.

A couple of weeks ago, Antidote Match approached me about carrying their widget on my blog roll. If you look at the bottom of the lists on the right side of the blog, you’ll see it in turquoise. Actually, I chose turquoise because you just can’t miss that color.

According to the National Institutes of Health (part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) at https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/studies/clinicaltrials/ :

Clinical trials are research studies that explore whether a medical strategy, treatment, or device is safe and effective for humans. These studies also may show which medical approaches work best for certain illnesses or groups of people. Clinical trials produce the best data available for health care decision making.

The purpose of clinical trials is research, so the studies follow strict scientific standards. These standards protect patients and help produce reliable study results.

Clinical trials are one of the final stages of a long and careful research process. The process often begins in a laboratory (lab), where scientists first develop and test new ideas.

If an approach seems promising, the next step may involve animal testing. This shows how the approach affects a living body and whether it’s harmful. However, an approach that works well in the lab or animals doesn’t always work well in people. Thus, research in humans is needed.

For safety purposes, clinical trials start with small groups of patients to find out whether a new approach causes any harm. In later phases of clinical trials, researchers learn more about the new approach’s risks and benefits.

A clinical trial may find that a new strategy, treatment, or device
• improves patient outcomes;
• offers no benefit; or
• causes unexpected harm

All of these results are important because they advance medical knowledge and help improve patient care.

Important, right? But why Antidote Match, you ask? That’s easy: because it’s easy. The information offered is in lay language, the common language you and I understand, rather than in medicalese. Maybe I should just let them present their own case.

Antidote Match™

Matching patients to trials in a completely new way
Antidote Match is the world’s smartest clinical trial matching tool, allowing patients to match to trials just by answering a few questions about their health.

Putting technology to work
We have taken on the massive job of structuring all publicly available clinical trial eligibility criteria so that it is machine-readable and searchable.

This means that for the first time, through a machine-learning algorithm that dynamically selects questions, patients can answer just a few questions to search through thousands of trials within a given therapeutic area in seconds and find one that’s right for them.

Patients receive trial information that is specific to their condition with clear contact information to get in touch with researchers.

Reaching patients where they are
Even the smartest search tool is only as good as the number of people who use it, so we’ve made our search tool available free of charge to patient communities, advocacy groups, and health portals. We’re proud to power clinical trial search on more than a hundred of these sites, reaching millions of patients per month where they are already looking for health information.

Translating scientific jargon
Our platform pulls information on all the trials listed on clinicaltrials.gov and presents it into a simple, patient-friendly design.

You (Gail here: this point is addressed to the ones conducting the clinical trial) then have the option to augment that content through our free tool, Antidote Bridge™, to include the details that are most important to patients – things like number of overnights, compensation, and procedures used. This additional information helps close the information gap between patients and researchers, which ultimately yields greater engagement with patients.

Here’s how Antidote Match works
1. Visit search engine → Patients visit either our website or one of the sites that host our search.
2. Enter condition → They enter the condition in which they’re interested, and begin answering the questions as they appear
3. Answer questions → As more questions are answered, the number of clinical trial matches reduces
4. Get in touch: When they’re ready, patients review their matches and can get in touch with the researchers running each study directly through our tool

A bit about Antidote
Antidote is a digital health company on a mission to accelerate the breakthroughs of new treatments by bridging the gap between medical research and the people who need them. We have commercial agreements with the majority of the top 25 pharmaceutical companies and CROs, and a partner network that is growing every day.

Antidote was launched as TrialReach in 2010 and rebranded to Antidote in 2016. We’re based in New York, NY and London, U.K. For more information, visit www.antidote.me or contact us at hello@antidote.me.

Try it from the blog roll. I did. I was going to include my results, but realized they wouldn’t be helpful since my address, age, sex, diseases, and conditions may be different from everyone else’s. One caveat: search for Chronic Renal Insufficiency or Chronic Renal Failure (whichever applies to you) rather than Chronic Kidney Disease.

On another note entirely: my local independently owned book store – Dog Eared Pages – in Phoenix has started carrying the SlowItDownCKD series. Currently, they have 2016 in stage. I had a wonderful time reading from my novel Portal in Time there last Thursday night and was more than pleasantly surprised at the number of CKD awareness contacts I made.
Until next week,
Keep living your life!

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead

How many times have you said this (before your diagnose) to those who told you to slow down, take it easier, don’t rush so, take some time for yourself, etc.? As a younger person, I was a high school teacher, an actor, a writer, and – most importantly – a mother, actually a single mother once my daughters were double digit aged.

Guess what. You may sleep when you’re dead, but you need to sleep now before you hasten the time to your death. What’s that? You get enough sleep? I thought I did, too, but I wasn’t getting the kind of sleep I needed.

Why do we need sleep anyway? I turned to The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1 for some answers. The first reason I stumbled across was in an article from The Journal of The American Society of Nephrologists:

“Hermida tells WebMD that some of the body’s blood pressure control systems are most active while we sleep. So medicines designed to control those systems work better when taken close to the time when the systems are activated most fully.”

Ramon C. Hermida, PhD is the director of the bioengineering and chronobiology labs at the University of Vigo in Spain.

Hmmm, I take medication for hypertension… and I take it at night. I see that I need to sleep for it to work most effectively. I’ve known this for years and written about it. The point is you may need to know about it.

Then I started wondering if I were correct in the amount of sleep I thought I needed. The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2 was helpful here:

“How much sleep is enough sleep anyway? According to Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler of The Mayo Clinic site, seven to eight hours is what an adult needs, but then he lists mitigating circumstances under which you might need more:

• Pregnancy. Changes in a woman’s body during early pregnancy can increase the need for sleep.
• Aging. Older adults need about the same amount of sleep as younger adults. As you get older, however, your sleeping patterns might change. Older adults tend to sleep more lightly and for shorter time spans than do younger adults. This might create a need for spending more time in bed to get enough sleep, or a tendency toward daytime napping.
• Previous sleep deprivation. If you’re sleep deprived, the amount of sleep you need increases.
• Sleep quality. If your sleep is frequently interrupted or cut short, you’re not getting quality sleep. The quality of your sleep is just as important as the quantity.”

While I’m not pregnant (and will become a medical miracle if I become pregnant), all the other circumstances do apply to me. During Shiva after my brother’s death, there was very, very little sleeping going on. Hence, sleep deprivation. I’m aging and my sleep quality is not great right now. Those are my circumstances, but they could be yours. Are you getting enough sleep?

Sometimes, simply having Chronic Kidney Disease can be the source of sleep problems. This is something I’ve written about several times. Here’s an excerpt from SlowItDownCKD 2015 about just that:

“We’ve known for a long time that sleep disorders are more common in kidney disease patients than in the general population,” Charles Atwood, MD, associate director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Sleep Medicine Center in Pennsylvania, who wasn’t involved in the study, told Medscape Medical News. “A lot of studies in the past focused on the dialysis population. It seems like this group focused on people with milder degrees of kidney disease and basically found that they also have sleep disorders and I’m not surprised by that,” he added.

You can read the entire article at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/805342, although you will have to register for a free account.

By digging deep, far and wide, I finally figured out that toxic waste buildup in our systems (from the imperfect blood filtering by our kidneys) could be the cause of my segmented sleep. I took a comment from one study, a sentence from another, and unilaterally decided this was the reason. I am not a doctor – as I keep saying – and I don’t have the facts I’d like to behind this conclusion….”

Oh, right: you need a definition of segmented sleep. Wikipedia provides one:

“Segmented sleep, also known as divided sleep, bimodal sleep pattern, bifurcated sleep, or interrupted sleep, is a polyphasic or biphasic sleep pattern where two or more periods of sleep are punctuated by periods of wakefulness.”

The National Institutes of Health at https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why sums up our need for sleep beautifully:

“Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.

Sleep deficiency also increases the risk of obesity. For example, one study of teenagers showed that with each hour of sleep lost, the odds of becoming obese went up. Sleep deficiency increases the risk of obesity in other age groups as well.

Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of the hormones that make you feel hungry (ghrelin) or full (leptin). When you don’t get enough sleep, your level of ghrelin goes up and your level of leptin goes down. This makes you feel hungrier than when you’re well-rested.

Sleep also affects how your body reacts to insulin, the hormone that controls your blood glucose (sugar) level. Sleep deficiency results in a higher than normal blood sugar level, which may increase your risk for diabetes.

Sleep also supports healthy growth and development. Deep sleep triggers the body to release the hormone that promotes normal growth in children and teens. This hormone also boosts muscle mass and helps repair cells and tissues in children, teens, and adults. Sleep also plays a role in puberty and fertility.

Your immune system relies on sleep to stay healthy. This system defends your body against foreign or harmful substances. Ongoing sleep deficiency can change the way in which your immune system responds. For example, if you’re sleep deficient, you may have trouble fighting common infections.”

I think I need to go to sleep now.

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

Long Term, Short, and your Heart

I received some comments about Acute Kidney Disease (AKI) in the midst of all the support after last week’s blog. It seems this is a new topic for so many of us. By us I mean Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients. I know at stage 3, my nephrologist never brought this up to me.

Ah, but I remembered this from The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2:

On the very first page of What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, I wrote “…chronic is not acute. It means long term, whereas acute usually means quick onset and short duration.”

All those years of teaching English in high school and college paid off for me right there in that sentence.

I’d always thought that AKI and CKD were separate issues and I’ll bet you did, too. But Dr. L.S. Chawla and his co-writers based the following conclusion on the labor of epidemiologists and others. (Note: Dr. Chawla et al wrote a review article in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2014.)

“Chronic Kidney Disease is a risk factor for acute kidney injury, acute kidney injury is a risk factor for the development of Chronic Kidney Disease, and both acute kidney injury and Chronic Kidney Disease are risk factors for cardiovascular disease.” …

Not surprisingly, the risk factors for AKI {Once again, that’s acute kidney injury.} are the same as those for CKD… except for one peculiar circumstance. Having CKD itself can raise the risk of AKI 10 times. Whoa! If you’re Black, of an advanced age {Hey!}, or have diabetes, you already know you’re at risk for CKD, or are the one out of nine in our country that has it. Once you’ve developed CKD, you’ve just raised the risk for AKI 10 times. I’m getting a little nervous here….

It makes sense, as researchers and doctors are beginning to see, that these are all connected. I’m not a doctor or a researcher, but I can understand that if you’ve had some kind of insult to your kidney, it would be more apt to develop CKD.

And the CVD risk? Let’s think of it this way. You’ve had AKI. That period of weakness in the kidneys opens them up to CKD. We already know there’s a connection between CKD and CVD. Throw that AKI into the mix, and you have more of a chance to develop CVD whether or not you’ve had a problem in this area before. Let’s not go off the deep end here. If you’ve had AKI, you just need to be monitored to see if CKD develops and avoid nephrotoxic {Kidney poisoning} medications such as NSAIDS… contrast dyes, and radioactive substances. This is just so circular!

As with CKD, your hypertension and diabetes {If you have them.} need to be monitored, too. Then there’s the renal diet, especially low sodium foods. The kicker here is that no one knows if this is helpful in avoiding CKD after an AKI… it’s a ‘just in case’ kind of thing to help ward off any CKD and possible CVD from the CKD.

Has your primary care doctor recommended a daily low dose aspirin with your nephrologist’s approval? This is to protect your heart against CVD since you already have CKD which raises the risk of CVD. Now here’s where it gets confusing, the FDA has recently revoked its endorsement of such a regiment.

Let’s see what more we can find out about this dastardly triumvirate.

The National Kidney Foundation at https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/AcuteKidneyInjury offers this information about AKI.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a sudden episode of kidney failure or kidney damage that happens within a few hours or a few days. AKI causes a build-up of waste products in your blood and makes it hard for your kidneys to keep the right balance of fluid in your body. AKI can also affect other organs such as the brain, heart, and lungs. Acute kidney injury is common in patients who are in the hospital, in intensive care units, and especially in older adults.

You did catch that it can affect the heart, right?

Well, what about the heart and its diseases?

This is from the Mayo Clinic at http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/basics/definition/con-20034056.

The term “heart disease” is often used interchangeably with the term “cardiovascular disease.”

Cardiovascular disease generally refers to conditions that involve narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain (angina) or stroke. Other heart conditions, such as those that affect your heart’s muscle, valves or rhythm, also are considered forms of heart disease.

Many forms of heart disease can be prevented or treated with healthy lifestyle choices.

Maybe a reminder of what CKD is will help, too. WebMD at http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tc/chronic-kidney-disease-topic-overview#1 offers this simple, comprehensive explanation.

Having chronic kidney disease means that for some time your kidneys have not been working the way they should. Your kidneys have the important job of filtering your blood. They remove waste products and extra fluid and flush them from your body as urine. When your kidneys don’t work right, wastes build up in your blood and make you sick.

Chronic kidney disease may seem to have come on suddenly. But it has been happening bit by bit for many years as a result of damage to your kidneys.

Each of your kidneys has about a million tiny filters, called nephrons. If nephrons are damaged, they stop working. For a while, healthy nephrons can take on the extra work. But if the damage continues, more and more nephrons shut down. After a certain point, the nephrons that are left cannot filter your blood well enough to keep you healthy.

My head is spinning. One could – or could not – lead to another which, in turn, could – or could not – lead to the third. There’s no strict order and there’s no way of knowing until you actually have it. My layperson’s suggestion? Take good care of your kidneys.

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

Singapore Knows CKD

I have an online friend, Leong Seng Chen, who lives in Singapore and is highly active in the Chronic Kidney Disease Awareness community there. Last week, I asked if any readers would like to see certain organizations that weren’t already there added to the blogroll – the list of CKD organizations to the right of the blog itself. He mentioned two but one was a Facebook page and the other was for dialysis. I usually write a blog about current Facebook pages once a year and don’t usually write about dialysis.

His request, which I couldn’t honor, got me to thinking about what is going on for CKD patients in Singapore. So, I started poking around.

The Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (of all places!) looked into this in 2008, a decade ago, and published the following at http://cjasn.asnjournals.org/content/3/2/610.full.

The NKF Singapore Prevention Program presents a unique approach that incorporates a comprehensive multilevel strategy to address chronic kidney disease …. What makes the NKF Singapore program different is that it incorporated a public health approach to preventing ESRD by using primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention initiatives that can intervene at several stages in the progression of kidney disease. These include 1) surveillance of the general population for urinary abnormalities, 2) screening of the general population for clinical conditions that increase the risk of chronic kidney disease, such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension, 3) the institution of a disease management program to facilitate the management of patients with diabetes and hypertension, which are among the leading causes of ESRD in the country, and to a limited extent, 4) tracking of the individuals who participate in the screening program. Thus, both population-based and high-risk prevention strategies were incorporated into the Singapore Prevention Program.

If you think about it for a moment, this is an astoundingly comprehensive approach to awareness, prevention, and treatment.

I was intrigued and looked further. This chart is from Health Exchange/Singapore at https://www.healthxchange.sg/digestive-system/kidney/chronic-kidney-disease-singapore-stats-prevention-tips. As you can see, it includes statistics up to (and including) 2012. That’s still half a decade ago.

I had naively assumed the National Kidney Foundation was an American organization. Here, in the United States, it is. There, in Singapore, it’s a Singaporean organization.

In Singapore, CKD awareness is not just an adult undertaking. There is a bus provided by the NKF that goes to schools, among other places, to educate young children about how to prevent and recognize the disease, as well as what the kidneys do. Somehow, I found that charming and necessary simultaneously. Why don’t we do that in the United States, I wonder. Take a look at https://www.nkfs.org/kidney-health-education-bus/ to see for yourself what I’m talking about here.

The National Registry of Disease Office was founded by the Ministry of Health in 2001. While the most current statistics I could find, they only record Chronic Kidney Failure, or End Stage Chronic Renal Disease (ESRD). According to their website at https://www.nrdo.gov.sg/about-us,

We are responsible for:
● collecting the data and maintaining the registry on reportable health conditions and diseases that have been diagnosed and treated in Singapore
● publishing reports on these health conditions and diseases
● providing information to support national public health policies, healthcare services and programmes

Meanwhile, the statistics from Global Disease Burden Healthgrove are only four years old and give us a better understanding of what’s happening in Singapore as far as CKD. You can choose different filters at http://global-disease-burden.healthgrove.com/l/67148/Chronic-Kidney-Disease-in-Singapore

As they phrase it: These risk factors contributed to, and were thought to be responsible for, an estimated 100% of the total deaths caused by chronic kidney disease in Singapore during 2013.

I hadn’t been aware of just how involved with CKD Singapore is until Leong started telling me. Now, I’m astounded to learn that this country is number four in deaths from our disease.

Just as in the United States, Singapore posts lists of nephrologists, herbal aids, hospital studies, and even medical tourism sites. While I may or may not approve of such listings, they have opened my eyes to the fact that Singapore plays with the big boys when it comes to CKD. Come to think of it, they may even be more developed when it comes to educating the public. Remember those education buses?

Many thanks to Leong Seng Chen, my CKD friend on Facebook this past year and- hopefully – many more years to come.

On another topic entirely, winning a place in Healthline’s Top Six Kidney Disease Blogs two years in a row spurred me on to finally rework both The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Parts 1 and 2 into something more manageable: each book will be divided into two books with their own indexes and renamed SlowItDownCKD and the year. Right now I’m working on SlowItDownCKD 2011. Hey, let’s hold the cheering down there.

In addition, all the Kindle versions of each of the SlowItDownCKD books are now $2.99 in order make them more accessible to more people. I’m working on lowering the price for the print books too, but that seems to be more complicated…or maybe I just don’t understand the process yet. I would stick to Amazon.com since B & N.com simply never responds to my attempts to lower the price on any of my books.

By the way, have you heard about this from AAKP? (You can read more about it on their website.)

AAKP has been in the news and across social media lately as public interest continues to build in KidneyWorks – a groundbreaking national initiative we developed in full collaboration with our partners at the Medical Education Institute (MEI). The multiphase initiative aims to identify and address barriers to continued employment for individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Phase I of KidneyWorks involved a consensus roundtable of national experts on kidney disease and workforce experts who convened in Washington, D.C. and the development and public release of a White Paper detailing strategies to help working-age people with non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) improve their lives, slow CKD progression, and keep their jobs. Phases II and III will involve the development, production and dissemination of strategies and online and mobile tools that help workers, caregivers and employers help achieve the goals of KidneyWorks.

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

Updated

 

 

 

You may have seen the pictures of the updates we’ve been making to our home on Facebook or Instagram. Now, it seemed to me that if I could update my home, I could update SlowItDownCKD’s social media. So I did. The website at www.gail-raegarwood.com is totally SlowItDownCKD now, as are the Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts. Of course, the blog was next. I liked my updates, but realized some of the new organizations on the blogroll (the list to the right of the blog) may be unknown to you.

No problem. I’ll just introduce them to you. Allow me to make the introductions…

We’ll go alphabetically down the roll here. The American Association of Kidney Patients, The American Kidney Fund, and The American Society of Nephrology are not new. Just in case you need a reminder of what each is, I’ve linked their titles to the organization. Just click on one of them to go to their websites, as you usually do for any title on the blogroll.

This brings us to The International Federation of Kidney Foundations. This is directly from the young (established 1999) organization’s website:
The International Federation of Kidney Foundations leads the way in the prevention and treatment of kidney disease, through its Membership on all continents around the world. The Federation was formed to foster international collaboration and the exchange of ideas that will improve the health, well-being and quality of life of individuals with kidney disease. We hope to achieve this by advocating for improved health care delivery as well as adopting and disseminating standards of best practice of treatment and care. We facilitate education programs for member organisations, promote research, communicate with other organisations and exchange ideas, particularly those concerning fund raising….
The IFKF helps facilitate the establishment of more kidney foundations and to help existing foundations become more dynamic and effective. Worldwide, most individuals with chronic kidney disease or hypertension are not diagnosed until long after the illness has developed. Moreover, when they are diagnosed they are too often treated sub-optimally or not at all. In many parts of the world, once end stage kidney failure occurs, patients do not have access to dialysis or kidney transplantation.
IFKF members join together with ISN members and kidney patient associations, to celebrate World Kidney Day annually in March, to influence general physicians, primary healthcare providers, health officials and policymakers and to educate high risk patients and individuals.

I’ve been interested in the global effects of Chronic Kidney Disease since I started preparing for Landmark’s 2017 Conference for Global Transformation at which I presented this past May. Writing two articles for their journal opened my eyes- yet again – to the fact that this is not just a local problem, but a worldwide problem. That’s why I included Kidney Diseases Death Rate By Country, On a World Map in the blogroll. I mapped out the statistics I found here on a trifold map to exhibit at the conference. Seeing the numbers spread all over the world was startling, to say the least.

Here is their 2015 global CKD information:
In 2015, the Asian nations of India and China fared the worst when it came to the number of deaths due to this degenerative health condition per thousand people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) data (I’m interrupting. Would you like a link to WHO on the blogroll?), India had the highest number of kidney diseases deaths. The data put the figure at an astounding 257.9 per 1,000 people. China had the second highest number of deaths due to kidney diseases. Here, the number stood at 187.4 per 1,000 people. Though not as bad as the two Asian nations, the United States was also grappling with the problem of kidney diseases deaths in 2015. The nation had 59.8 deaths (per 1,000 people) due to kidney diseases, while Indonesia, which occupied the fourth place, had an estimated 43 deaths (per 1,000 people) due to kidney diseases. Nations such as Egypt, Germany, Mexico, Philippines, Brazil, Thailand and Japan reported deaths between 20 and 40 (per 1,000 people) due to kidney-related diseases. But, on the positive side, there were many nations in the world where a negligible number of people died due to kidney diseases. It is a noteworthy fact that countries such as Maldives, Vanuatu, Iceland, Grenada, Comoros, Belize, and many others, reported a zero figure in 2015.

But then I wanted to cover more localized information about CKD, so I included The National Chronic Kidney Disease, Fact Sheet, 2017. This is basically facts with pictograms that make the information about the United States’ CKD information more visual and easier to grasp. The information is more distressing each year the site is updated.

Fast Stats

• 30 million people or 15% of US adults are estimated to have CKD.*

• 48% of those with severely reduced kidney function but not on dialysis are not aware of having CKD.

• Most (96%) people with kidney damage or mildly reduced kidney function are not aware of having CKD.

After several sites that are not new, the last new site, other than direct links to SlowItDownCKD’s kidney books, is The Kidney & Urology Foundation of America. Why did I include that? Take a look at their website. You’ll find this there:
The Kidney & Urology Foundation focuses on care and support of the patient, the concerns of those at risk, education for the community and medical professionals, methods of prevention, and improved treatment options.
What Sets Us Apart?
The Kidney & Urology Foundation of America is comprised of a dedicated Executive Board, medical advisors, educated staff and volunteers who provide individualized support to patients and their families. Adult nephrologists and transplant physicians comprise our Medical Advisory Board, Board – certified urologists serve on the Urology Board, and pediatric nephrologists and urologists represent the Council on Pediatric Nephrology and Urology.
We are a phone call or e-mail click away from getting you the help you need to cope with a new diagnosis, a resource for valuable information on kidney or urologic diseases, a window into current research treatment options or a link to a physician should you need one.

Are there any organizations I’ve left out that you feel should be included? Just add a comment and I’ll be glad to take a look at them. I am convinced that the only way we’re going to get any kind of handle on Chronic Kidney Disease as patients is by keeping each other updated.

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

Two Masters

A friend of mine, the one I mentioned when I wrote about renal sally ports, recently has had a relapse. Yep, he neglected to take his medications at the proper times. That can cause havoc for mental illness, especially bipolar disorder. It got me to thinking. What if my friend had Chronic Kidney Disease AND bipolar disease? How could he handle both diagnoses at the same time?

Let’s start at the beginning. There are certain drugs I take in the hopes of delaying dialysis as long as possible. One of those is the ACE Inhibitor I’d been taking for hypertension for about two decades before I was even diagnosed with CKD. Here’s the definition from What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease: “ACE Inhibitor: A blood pressure medication that lowers protein in the urine if you have CKD.”

It works by both relaxing the blood vessels and reducing the blood volume. This, in turn, lowers your blood pressure which, in turn, lowers your heart’s oxygen needs. And the problem for my friend would be? Well, maybe just remembering to take the medication each day.

However, according to MedicineNet.com at http://www.medicinenet.com/ace_inhibitors/page2.htm,
The most common side effects are:
• Cough
• Elevated blood potassium levels
• Low blood pressure
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Drowsiness
• Weakness
• Abnormal taste (metallic or salty taste)
• Rash
• Chest pain
• Increased uric acid levels
• Sun sensitivity
• Increased BUN and creatinine levels

Did you notice increased uric acid levels, and increased BUN and creatinine levels? This could be a dicey medication for CKD patients if they did not heed their doctor’s advice once (s)he has evaluated the patient’s labs. That’s the problem here: not having the ability to be a compliant patient during a bipolar episode.

I was also prescribed a drug for cholesterol, a statin. This drug inhibits (the word of the day) an enzyme in the liver that produces lipids. As reported in The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1:
According to Dr. Dr. Robert Provenzano, chief of nephrology at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, “…LDL, bad cholesterol, directly impacts acceleration of Chronic Kidney Disease.” One of the possible side effects is of this drug is Type 2 Diabetes. All I can say about that is thank goodness these side effects are not the norm.

Here’s the problem: statins have to be taken at night. That’s when the body produces cholesterol. Again, can my friend be compliant during an episode? What about the drugs he already takes? Are they going to somehow interfere with these common drugs for CKD?

Lithium is the usual drug for him. This is from The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2:
“There were two Plenary Sessions I attended at the Southwest Nephrology Conference I attended last weekend. It was at the second one, ‘Psychiatric issues in kidney patients’ that I suddenly sprang to attention. What was this man saying? Something about lithium doubling the risk for Chronic Kidney Disease? And I was off… how many psychiatric patients knew that fact? How many of their caretakers knew that just in case the patient was not responsible at the time of treatment? What about children? Did their parents know? Was a screening for CKD performed BEFORE lithium was prescribed?”

Kidney.org at https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/lithium has me downright frightened for my friend:

“What is lithium?
Lithium is a common medicine used to help calm mood for treating people with mental disorders. Since such disorders need lifelong treatment, long-term use of lithium may be harmful to organs, such as the kidneys.

How does lithium cause kidney damage?
Lithium may cause problems with kidney health. Kidney damage due to lithium may include acute (sudden) or chronic (long-term) kidney disease and kidney cysts. The amount of kidney damage depends on how long you have been taking lithium. It is possible to reverse kidney damage caused by lithium early in treatment, but the damage may become permanent over time.

What is nephrogenic diabetes insipidus?
The most common problem from taking lithium is a form of diabetes due to kidney damage called nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. This type of diabetes is different than diabetes mellitus caused by high blood sugar. In nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, the kidneys cannot respond to anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), a chemical messenger that controls fluid balance. This results in greater than normal urine out-put and excessive thirst. It can be hard to treat nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.”

I keep reminding myself that the word “may” appears over and over again. Yet, since my friend either wasn’t taking his medication at all or not taking it as prescribed, it wasn’t working…and he is still at risk for CKD.

I found this tidbit on Drugs.com at https://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=1477-0,1489-0, ACE Inhibitors: “…may increase the blood levels and effects of lithium. You may need a dose adjustment or more frequent monitoring by your doctor to safely use both medications.” Wait. So you need an ACE Inhibitor if you have CKD, but it can interfere with the lithium you take if you’re bi-polar. And statins? While I couldn’t find any interactions, I did find the caution that there may be some and to check with your doctor. I am aware he takes an anti-depressant, but in researching, have discovered there are many that are safe to take with CKD.

My friend usually goes to his medical appointments, but he neglects to mention certain symptoms and sometimes has trouble telling reality from non-reality. Does he know whether his doctor has warned him about the higher risk of CKD or not? Does he know that he may develop a form of diabetes from long term use of lithium? Does he know that if even one of his parents has CKD, his risk is doubled yet again?

Tomorrow is July 4th, the day the United States celebrates its independence from the tyranny of England. Where is my friend’s independence from the tyranny of his mental illness? The English and the United States have learned to peacefully share our existences (right, English readers?). Here’s hoping my friend can learn to peacefully share his existence with bipolar disorder… and CKD should he develop it. Heaven forbid.

Until next week,
Keep living your life!

Gluten Free

“…I started GF mid-April & my June lab work showed significant improvement. My next lab work is not until August, but I feel & look so much better, and because my BP dropped so much, my nephrologist took me off hydrochlorothorozide and reduced irbesartan from 300 to 75.” This is a small part of the message I received from a reader… and it intrigued me.

I take hydrochlorothiazide.  I know I looked it up at the time it was prescribed, something about fluid. Hmmm, it wouldn’t hurt to look it up again to refresh my (and your) memory. According to Medicinenet.com at http://www.medicinenet.com/hydrochlorothiazide/page2.htm, hydrochlorothiazide is prescribed for the following reasons:

“Hydrochlorothiazide is used to treat excessive fluid accumulation and swelling (edema) of the body caused by heart failure, cirrhosis, chronic kidney failure, corticosteroid medications, and nephrotic syndrome. It also is used alone or in conjunction with other blood pressure lowering medications to treat high blood pressure…. Hydrochlorothiazide can be used to treat calcium-containing kidney stones because it decreases the amount of calcium excreted by the kidneys in the urine and thus decreases the amount of calcium in urine to form stones….”

I didn’t recognize irbesartan specifically, although the sartan part was  familiar. According to the same source, but this time at http://www.medicinenet.com/irbesartan/article.htm, “Irbesartan is used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension) and to help protect the kidneys from damage due to diabetes. Lowering high blood pressure helps prevent strokes, heart attacks, and kidney problems. Irbesartan belongs to a class of drugs called angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). It works by relaxing blood vessels so that blood can flow more easily.”

Oh, of course! I’m taking losartan for the same reason. I’d had hypertension for over 20 years before I was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease. Even if I hadn’t, once I was diagnosed with CKD, a drug like this would have been prescribed.  As a matter of fact, when I complained to my primary care doctor that I was taking too many pills (mostly supplements), she came up with one that combined hydrochlorothiazide and losartan.

 

 

 

 

But I digress. So, it’s a good thing that this reader no longer needs her hydrochlorothiazide since she has no swelling and that her irbesartan has been reduced since her blood vessels are becoming more relaxed. Wait a minute. Why wouldn’t every CKD patient want these results? Ah, but I’ve left something out of the equation.

She’s gone GF or Gluten Free. Ready? Here is the definition of gluten from the Oxford Dictionary at https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/GLUTEN “A mixture of two proteins present in cereal grains, especially wheat, which is responsible for the elastic texture of dough.” Oh, come on. There must be more to it than that. Let’s try gluten free instead of gluten. Oh, my! NephCure at https://nephcure.org/livingwithkidneydisease/diet-and-nutrition/gluten-free-diet/

has an entire page devoted to going gluten free. But I am getting ahead of myself here.

Let’s go back to gluten, this time sources. The American Diabetes Association at http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/gluten-free-diets/what-foods-have-gluten.html  offers these lists:

What Foods Have Gluten?

Gluten is found in wheat, rye, barley and any foods made with these grains. Avoiding wheat can be especially hard because this means you should avoid all wheat-based flours and ingredients. These include but are not limited to:
White Flour
Whole Wheat Flour
Durum Wheat
Graham Flour
Triticale
Kamut
Semolina
Spelt
Wheat Germ
Wheat Bran

Common foods that are usually made with wheat include:
Pasta
Couscous
Bread
Flour Tortillas
Cookies
Cakes
Muffins
Pastries
Cereal
Crackers
Beer
Oats (see the section on oats below)
Gravy
Dressings
Sauces
This may seem like a long list, but there are still plenty of gluten-free foods out there! Choose from many fresh, healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, dairy, nuts and gluten-free grains like quinoa or rice. There are also gluten-free versions of many of the foods above available in most grocery stores. You just have to look for them!

Gluten Surprises
You may not expect it, but the following foods can also contain gluten:
broth in soups and bouillon cubes
breadcrumbs and croutons
some candies
fried foods
imitation fish
some lunch meats and hot dogs
malt
matzo
modified food starch
seasoned chips and other seasoned snack foods
salad dressings
self-basting turkey
soy sauce
seasoned rice and pasta mixes
There are also many additives  and ingredients in packaged foods that may contain gluten. Always check labels and ingredient lists for these. For a more comprehensive list of gluten-containing additives, contact your local celiac support group.

Other Tips to Remember
Don’t forget that ingredients in food products change frequently, so always check the label before buying packaged foods. Remember that “wheat-free” does not automatically mean “gluten-free.” While a product may not contain wheat, it can still contain rye or barley in some form. If you have any question about whether a food contains gluten, contact the manufacturer directly.

The Fuss About Oats
Pure oats are a gluten-free food, but most commercially processed oats have been contaminated during the growing, harvesting or processing stages. In the past, many experts recommended completely avoiding oats  those on a gluten-free diet in addition to wheat, barley, and rye. Now, some oats are grown and processed separately, and can be labeled “gluten-free.”

I see an awful lot of the same foods to avoid on this list as I do on the renal diet. I wonder if that would make it easier to go gluten free if you decide to?

Phosphorous! Aha. We, as CKD patients, need to limit our phosphorous intake. Have you noticed that many of these foods are high phosphorous? Is it possible that the gluten free diet will help us with our renal diets? I’m not suggesting that you go gluten free and I’m not suggesting that you don’t. I am saying the idea is, well, intriguing.

Before I forget: SlowItDownCKD has been chosen as one of Healthline’s top kidney disease blogs for 2017. Second year in a row!!!!! AND I’ve lowered the price of all five of my digital kidney books to $2.99 to spread the awareness of CKD out there more effectively. Oh, yes, you can still get them for free on Kindle Unlimited.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

 

 

The Other Side of the Coin

Here’s hoping everyone had a wonderful Father’s Day. During our relaxed celebration for Bear, I found myself ruminating about how many times we’ve celebrated this holiday for fathers no longer with us and how many more times  we would be able to celebrate it for the fathers who are. They are aging. Wait a minute, that means their kidneys are aging, too.

Yep, that meant a new blog topic. We already know that kidney function declines with age. According to the National Kidney Foundation at https://www.kidney.org/blog/ask-doctor/what-age-do-kidneys-decline-function, “The general ‘Rule of Thumb’ is that kidney function begins to decline at age 40 and declines at a rate of about 1% per year beyond age forty. Rates may differ in different individuals.” 40?

Well, what is a perfect kidney function score… if such exists? Back  to the NKF, although they call this a ‘normal’ not ‘perfect’ GFR, this time at https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/gfr:

In adults, the normal GFR number is more than 90. GFR declines with age, even in people without kidney disease.
Average estimated GFR
20–29     116
30–39     107
40–49     99
50–59     93
60–69     85
70+         75

Got it. So even for a normal 70+ person, I have CKD with my 50ish GFR.

It seems I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here. I haven’t defined GFR yet. Let’s take a gander at What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease for that definition,

“Glomerular filtration rate [if there is a lower case “e” before the term, it means estimated glomerular filtration rate] which determines both the stage of kidney disease and how well the kidneys are functioning.”

No, that won’t do. I think we need more of an explanation. This is from SlowItDownCKD 2015:

“Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is a test used to check how well the kidneys are working. Specifically, it estimates how much blood passes through  the glomeruli each minute. Glomeruli are the tiny filters in the kidneys that filter waste from the blood.

Many thanks to MedlinePlus at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007305.htm for the definition.”

Okay, I think that’s clear now. However, that’s not what I wanted to know. This is – if kidney function already declines with age, does having CKD age us more quickly?

“Premature aging is a process associated with a progressive accumulation of deleterious changes over time, an impairment of physiologic functions, and an increase in the risk of disease and death. Regardless of genetic background, aging can be accelerated by the lifestyle choices and environmental conditions to which our genes are exposed. Chronic kidney disease is a common condition that promotes cellular senescence and premature aging through toxic alterations in the internal milieu. This occurs through several mechanisms, including DNA and mitochondria damage, increased reactive oxygen species generation, persistent inflammation, stem cell exhaustion, phosphate toxicity, decreased klotho expression, and telomere attrition….”

You can read the entire fascinating (to my way of thinking) American Journal of Kidney Disease article at http://www.natap.org/2013/HIV/PIIS0272638612015922.pdf.

Nature.com at http://www.nature.com/nrneph/journal/v10/n12/full/nrneph.2014.185.html seems to agree that CKD accelerates aging:

“Chronic kidney disease (CKD) shares many phenotypic similarities with other chronic diseases, including heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, HIV infection and rheumatoid arthritis. The most apparent similarity is premature ageing, involving accelerated vascular disease and muscle wasting. We propose that in addition to a sedentary lifestyle and psychosocial and socioeconomic determinants, four major disease-induced mechanisms underlie premature ageing in CKD: an increase in allostatic load, activation of the ‘stress resistance response’, activation of age-promoting mechanisms and impairment of anti-ageing pathways. The most effective current interventions to modulate premature ageing—treatment of the underlying disease, optimal nutrition, correction of the internal environment and exercise training—reduce systemic inflammation and oxidative stress and induce muscle anabolism. Deeper mechanistic insight into the phenomena of premature ageing as well as early diagnosis of CKD might improve the application and efficacy of these interventions and provide novel leads to combat muscle wasting and vascular impairment in chronic diseases.”

Remember the friend of my daughter’s who hadn’t seen me in five years who (thought) he whispered to her, “Your mom got so old.” Now I understand why, although I have noticed this myself. I look in the mirror and see the bags under my eyes that are not errant eye liner. I see the lines in my faces, especially around my mouth, that weren’t there just a year ago. I see the stubborn fat around my middle that frustrates me no end. I see that it takes me forever (okay, so I’m being figurative here, folks) to recover from the flu, and I see how easily I become – and stay – tired. The dancer in me screams, “No fair!” The adult patient in me says, “Deal with it,” so I do.

I’ve used quite a bit of advanced terminology today, but haven’t explained a great deal of it in the hopes that when you read these articles their meanings will become clear in context. If they don’t, please leave me a comment and I will explore each one of them in future blogs. Who knows? Maybe I’ll need to devote an entire blog to whichever term it is you’d like to know more about.

Don’t let our premature aging get you down. We can work against it and, hopefully, slow it down just as we do with the progress of the decline in our kidney function.

I have been saving this bit of news for the last item in today’s blog. The world is not going to suffer if it doesn’t know about my photography, my teaching ,writing, or acting careers. But, when it comes to CKD, my writing can add something for those 31 million people who have it…especially the 90% that haven’t been diagnosed yet. What I did was completely change my web site so that it deals only with my Chronic Kidney Disease Awareness Advocacy (It’s all caps because that’s the way I think of it.) under the umbrella of SlowItDownCKD. I have to admit, I was surprised to see how active I’ve been in the last decade. It’s different when you see your work listed all in one place. Take a look at www.gail-raegarwood.com and tell me what you think, would you?

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

 

 

CKD and the VA or It’s Not Alphabet Soup at All

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. It is not a day to say Happy Memorial Day since it is a day commemorating those who gave their lives for our freedom. Lots of us have bar-b-ques or go to the park or the beach to celebrate. No problem there as long as we remember WHO we are celebrating. I promise: no political rant here, just plain appreciation of those who serve(d) us both living and dead. Personally, I am honoring my husband, my step son-in-law, and all those cousins who just never came home again.

I explained the origins of this day in SlowItDownCKD 2015 (May 25), so won’t re-explain it here. You can go to the blog and just scroll down to that month and year in the drop down menu on the right side of the page under Archives. I was surprised to read about the origins myself.

We already know that Chronic Kidney Disease will prevent you from serving your country in the military, although there are so many other ways to serve our country. This is from The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2:

‘The Department of Defense’s Instruction for Medical Standards for Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction in the Military Services establishes medical standards, which, if not met, are grounds for rejection for military service. Other standards may be prescribed for a mobilization for a national emergency.

As of September 13, 2011, according to Change 1 of this Instruction, the following was included.

‘Current or history of acute (580) nephritis or chronic (582) Chronic Kidney Disease of any type.’

Until this date, Chronic Kidney Disease was not mentioned.”

You can read the entire list of The Department of Defense’s Instruction for Medical Standards for Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction in the Military Services at http://dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/613003p.pdf. You’ll also find information there about metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and pre-diabetes as conditions for non-enlistment.

This got me to thinking. What if you were had already enlisted when you developed CKD. Yes, you would be discharged as medically unfit, but could you get help as a veteran?

According to the Veterans Administration at https://www.research.va.gov/topics/Kidney_disease.cfm#research4,

“In 2012, VA and the University of Michigan began the work of creating a national kidney disease registry to monitor kidney disease among Veterans. The registry will provide accurate and timely information about the burden and trends related to kidney disease among Veterans and identify Veterans at risk for kidney disease.

VA hopes the kidney disease registry will lead to improvements in access to care, such as kidney transplants. The department also expects the registry will allow VA clinicians to better monitor and prevent kidney disease, and will reduce costs related to kidney disease.”

That’s what was hoped for five years ago. Let’s see if it really came to fruition.

Oh, this is promising and taken directly from The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“VA eKidney Clinic

The VA eKidney Clinic is now available! The eKidney Clinic offers patient education through interactive virtual classrooms where Veterans can learn how to take care of their kidneys and live a good life with kidney disease. Please visit the VA eKidney Clinic website or click on the picture below. For additional information see the eKidney Clinic Patient Information Brochure.”

The Veterans Health Administration doesn’t just provide information, although I must say I was delighted to see the offer of Social Work Services. There is also treatment available. Notice dialysis mentioned in their mission statement.

“Mission: The VHA Kidney Program’s mission is to improve the quality and consistency of healthcare services delivered to Veterans with kidney disease nationwide. The VHA Kidney Program provides kidney-related services to dialysis centers throughout VA’s medical centers. Professional guidance and services are available in the form of consultation and policies developed by VA kidney experts. These experts are dedicated to furthering the understanding of kidney disease, its impact on Veterans, and developing treatments to help patients manage disease symptoms. In addition, the VHA Kidney Program provides VA healthcare professionals with clinical care, education, research, and informatics resources to improve healthcare at local VA dialysis facilities.”

I did find it strange that there was a cravat on the Veterans Administration site that they do not necessarily endorse the VHA Kidney Program, especially since it is so helpful.

 

 

 

How involved is the VA with CKD patients? Take a look for yourself at this 2015 statistics by going to https://www.va.gov/HEALTH/services/renal/documents/Kidney_Disease_and_Dialysis_Services_Fact%20Sheet_April_2015.pdf

• All Veterans enrolled in VA are eligible for services, regardless of service connection status
• Enrolled Veterans can receive services from the VA or from community providers under the Non-VA Care Program if VA services are unavailable
• 49 VA health care facilities offer kidney disease specialty care (nephrology services)
• 96 VA facilities offer inpatient and/or outpatient dialysis; 25 centers are inpatient-only. Of the 71 VA outpatient dialysis centers, 64 are hospital based units, 2 are joint VA/DoD units, 4 are freestanding units, and one is within a community based outpatient clinic (CBOC)
• VA enrollees must be offered the option of home dialysis provided either directly by the VA or through the Non-VA Care Program
• 36 outpatient hemodialysis centers offer home dialysis care directly.
• 5 VA medical centers host kidney transplantation programs.
• VA Delivered Kidney Care (Calendar Year 2013) 13,794 Unique Veterans receiving dialysis paid for by VA; representing an annual increase of 13% since 2008. 794 Veterans received home dialysis; 55percent (434) by VA facilities and 45percent (360) under the Non-VA Care Program.
• Increasing use of telehealth services to increase Veteran access to kidney specialty care Secure messaging: 7,319 messages, Clinical video telehealth: 4,977 encounters
• VA Kidney Research (FY ’14) the research budget for the study of kidney disease has been $18.5 million per year for the past 5 years (FY ’10-FY ’14). The VA Cooperative Studies Program has supported national clinical trials addressing the best treatment of Veterans with CKD since at least 1998.

It seems to me our veterans are covered. Now if we could only make sure the rest of us stay covered no matter what bills the current administration signs into law.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

So That’s How It’s Decided

SlowItDownCKD’s being honored as one of the best kidney disease blogs for 2016 has had some interesting results.  The first was the health and food writer’s guest blog about hydration for Chronic Kidney Disease on March 6^th. Then it was the guest blog by the Social Security Administration’s Outreach Director. This week, it’s a telephone interview with Dr. Michael J. Germain, a nephrologist from Massachusetts, about some of the suggested guidelines in the upcoming KDIGO for 2016.

Got it:  backtrack. Let’s start with KDIGO. This stands for KIDNEY DISEASE | IMPROVING GLOBAL OUTCOMES. Their homepage at KDIGO.org states, “KDIGO MISSION – Improving the care and outcomes of kidney disease patients worldwide through the development and implementation of global clinical practice guidelines.” Anyone up for visiting their offices? What an excuse to go to Belgium!

Okay, now we know what the organization is and what it does, but why Dr. Germain? I asked the same question. Although he is not on the KDIGO panel of doctors who decide what the next year’s development and implementation will be, he is well versed with the topic having published or having been part of the writing for an overwhelming number of articles in such esteemed journals as the American Journal of Kidney Disease, Kidney International, and The Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, as well as contributing to textbooks, … and he could simplify the medicalese in the guidelines to simple English for this lay person.

If you think I remind you quite often that I’m not a doctor, you should read my emails to our liaison. State I’m not a doctor, repeat, state I’m not a doctor, repeat. She had the good graces to laugh at my insecurities.

The latest guideline updates have not been released yet, so both the good doctor (over 40 years as a nephrologist) and I (CKD patient and awareness advocate for a decade) were working off the draft that was released last August.

Dr. Germain also made it a point to ensure that I understand the guidelines are based upon expert opinion, not evidence. That made sense to me since he is not only a patient seeing nephrologist, but also a research nephrologist – to which his numerous publications will attest. With me being a lay person, he “had a lot of ‘splaining to do.” I had to admire his passion when discussing the vitamin D guidelines.

In the draft guidelines, it was suggested that hypercalcemia be avoided. I know; it’s a new word. We already know that hyper is a prefix meaning over or too much; think excessive in this case. Calcemia looks sort of like calcium. Good thinking because, according to Healthline at http://www.healthline.com/health/hypercalcemia:“Hypercalcemia is a condition in which you have too high a concentration of calcium in your blood. Calcium performs important functions, such as helping keep your bones healthy. However, too much of it can cause problems….”

This excerpt from What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease explains how calcium works with vitamin D and phosphorous.

“The kidneys produce calcitrol which is the active form of vitamin D. The kidneys are the organs that transfer this vitamin from your food and skin [sunshine provides it to your skin] into something your body can use. Both vitamin D and calcium are needed for strong bones. It is yet another job of your kidneys to keep your bones strong and healthy. Should you have a deficit of Vitamin D, you’ll need to be treated for this, in addition for any abnormal level of calcium or phosphates. The three work together. Vitamin D enables the calcium from the food you eat to be absorbed in the body. CKD may leech the calcium from your bones and body.”

The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2 offers us more information.

“The parathyroid glands are located in the neck, near or attached to the back side of the thyroid gland. Parathyroid hormone controls calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D levels in the blood and bone. Release of PTH is controlled by the level of calcium in the blood. Low blood calcium levels cause increased PTH to be released, while high blood calcium levels block PTH release. …  Thanks to MedLine Plus at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003690.htm .”

As Dr. Germain explained, CKD patients break down vitamin D quickly since they have more of a catabolic enzyme, the enzyme that converts the vitamin D to an inactive form. Oh, right, catabolic means “any destructive process by which complex substances are converted by living cells into more simple compounds, with release of energy” according to Dorland’s Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers.

Here’s the problem: vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia. Dr. Germain phrased it, “In fact, the draft guideline recommends active vitamin D hormone therapy not to be routinely used in patients with CKD stage 3 or 4 due to increased risk of hypercalcemia and the lack of efficacy shown in studies.” Therefore, he urges nephrologists to wait until stage 4 or 5 to recommend vitamin D since hyperparathryoidism may lead to bone damage. But just as in any disease, it is harder to treat bone damage once it’s already there. His recommendation: Ask about your parathyroid level every three to six months and discuss the results of your tests with your nephrologist. By the way, his feeling – and obviously mine – is that preserving the kidney function is the most important job of the nephrologist and the patient.

I am eager to see the guidelines published so I can write more about them. The conclusion about vitamin D is based upon what nephrologists have seen in their practices since the last set of KDIGO guidelines were published in 2009. It will affect the way our nephrologists speak with us about our treatment, just as the other guidelines for 2016 will.

That will affect the way we self-manage. For example, I restrict my sun time to 15 minutes a day based on these findings. Take a look at how you self-manage. It should bring up a list of questions for you to ask your nephrologist at your next appointment.

You should also know the KDIGO deals with all stages of CKD including End Stage CKD and pediatric CKD.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Getting Juiced

I have the gentlest nephrologist in the world! Well, I think so anyway. He has been cautioning me about my weight for years. Yes, there it is again: my weight. Here I was finally coming to terms with being a chubby since nothing I was doing seemed to work to lose the weight. That’s when he tossed out a bombshell.

We all know that increased weight can raise your blood pressure which, in turn, negatively affects your kidneys. I was so pleased with myself for having raised my GFR another three points on my last blood test that I didn’t understand how I could be leaking protein into my urine at the same time. Wasn’t protein in the urine simply an indication that you have Chronic Kidney Disease? Didn’t I already know that? So why was protein leaking into my urine to the tune of 252 mg. when the norm was between 15-220 mg?

I know, I know: back up a bit. Thanks for the reminder. GFR is defined in What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease this way:

“GFR: Glomerular filtration rate [if there is a lower case ‘e’ before the term, it means estimated glomerular filtration rate] which determines both the stage of kidney disease and how well the kidneys are functioning.”

Oh, and just in case you’ve forgotten, this excerpt from The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2 is a good reminder about the stages of CKD.

“Different stages require different treatment or no treatment at all.  There are five stages with the mid-level stage divided into two parts. The higher the stage, the worse your kidney function.

Think of the stages as a test with 100 being the highest score.  These are the stages and their treatments:

STAGE 1: (normal or high) – above 90 – usually requires watching, not treatment, although many people decide to make life style changes now: following a renal diet, exercising, lowering blood pressure, ceasing to smoke, etc.

 STAGE 2: (mild) – 60-89 – Same as for stage one

STAGE 3A: (moderate) – 45-59 – This is when you are usually referred to a nephrologist [Kidney specialist]. You’ll need a renal [Kidney] dietitian, too, since you need to be rigorous in avoiding more than certain amounts of protein, potassium, phosphorous, and sodium in your diet to slow down the deterioration of your kidneys. Each patient has different needs so there is no one diet.  The diet is based on your lab results.  Medications such as those for high blood pressure may be prescribed to help preserve your kidney function.

STAGE 3B: (moderate) – 30-44 – same as above, except the patient may experience symptoms.

STAGE 4:  (severe 15-29) – Here’s when dialysis may start. A kidney transplant may be necessary instead of dialysis [Artificial cleansing of your blood]. Your nephrologist will probably want to see you every three months and request labs before each visit.

STAGE 5: (End stage) – below 15 – Dialysis or transplant is necessary to continue living.

Many thanks to DaVita for refreshing my memory about each stage.”

Okay, back to the connection between spilling protein into your urine (called proteinuria) and CKD. This is from the recently published SlowItDownCKD 2016:

“In The Book of Blogs: Moderate Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1, The National Institutes of Health helped me explain why this combination of excess weight and pre-diabetes was a problem for CKD patients:

‘High blood glucose and high blood pressure damage the kidneys’ filters. When the kidneys are damaged, proteins leak out of the kidneys into the urine. The urinary albumin test detects this loss of protein in the urine. Damaged kidneys do not do a good job of filtering out wastes and extra fluid. Wastes and fluid build up in your blood instead of leaving the body in urine.’”

Let’s say you don’t have pre-diabetes, but do have CKD. Does proteinuria still make it worse? Damn! It does. This explanation is from SlowItDownCKD 2015:

“The problem is that antibodies are made up of protein. Antibodies is defined by Dictionary.com at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/antibodies as

‘A protein substance produced in the blood or tissues in response to a specific antigen, such as a bacterium or a toxin, that destroys or weakens bacteria and neutralizes organic poisons, thus forming the basis of immunity.’

Lose lots of protein into your urine and you’re losing some of your immunity. In other words, you’re open to infection.”

I guess that explains why I magically developed a UTI after years of not having any.

I have gone so far afield from what I intended to write about on this last Monday of National Kidney Month. What was that, you ask? It was my nephrologist’s strong suggestions for immediate weight loss: juicing. I was so surprised.

After all that writing about eating the raw vegetables for roughage and sticking to only three specified amount servings of each daily, this expert in his field was telling me to ignore all that and throw myself into juicing for the immediate future. But you can bet I’ll try it; no way I’m throwing nine years of keeping my kidneys healthier and healthier out the window.

I can’t tell you if it works since I only started yesterday, but I can tell you it doesn’t taste bad. I’m learning how to use this fancy, dancy blender we got three years ago that had just been sitting on the shelf. Experimenting with the consistency has caused a mess here and there, but oh well.

My first juicing experience included kale, celery, lemons, cucumbers, and ginger. I definitely need to play with my combinations. I also think I made far too much. Luckily Bear was in the house and shouted out that the machine was making that noise because I didn’t add enough water. Water? You’re supposed to add water?

I’ll keep you posted on these experiments if you’ll get yourself tested for CKD. It’s just a blood and urine test. Fair deal?

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Women Marching to the Kidney’s Beat

In keeping with my theme of March being Women’s History Month – minus the history – and National Kidney Month, today’s blog will be about those women around the world who have contributed to Chronic Kidney Disease knowledge. Two such women, Dr. Vanessa Grubbs and Dr. Bessie Young, were highlighted in February’s tribute to Black History Month and women in nephrology. Thank you again, ladies, for all you do for CKD patients.

When you realize the study of nephrology as we know it is only a little over 50 years old (Incredible, isn’t it?), you’ll understand why I raided The International Society of Nephrologists (ISN) October 2010 issue at http://www.theisn.org/images/ISN_News_Archive/ISN_News_35_October_2010_LR.pdf for the following information. I’ve added notes for clarification when needed.

United States: An accomplished researcher and physician, Josephine Briggs is a former ISN councilor and former councilor and Secretary of ASN (American Society of Nephrologists). She is the former director of the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and was responsible for all NIH funded renal research in the 1990s. Today, she is Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. She maintains a lab at NIDDK, researching the renin-angiotensin system, diabetic nephropathy, circadian regulation of blood pressure, and the effect of antioxidants in kidney disease.

Europe: Rene Habib, who passed away (in 2010), was a truly pioneering renal pathologist. She provided the first description of many renal diseases and worked with ISN founder Jean Hamburger to establish nephrology as a new discipline in Europe. Her contributions and energy were central to establishing pathology as an essential and integrated component of this new field worldwide.

India: Vidya N. Acharya was the first woman nephrologist in India and trained some 150 internists in nephrology. For three decades, her research focused on Urinary Tract Infection. She was a consultant nephrologist at Gopalakrishna Piramal Memorial Hospital and director of the Piramal Institute for training in Dialysis Technology, Renal Nutrition and Preventive Nephrology in Mumbai. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indian Society of Nephrology in 2007.

China: HaiYan Wang is the Editor of Kidney International China and has been an ISN and ASPN (American Society of Pediatric Nephrology) councilor and Executive Committee member as well as a member of the editorial boards of Chinese and international renal journals. She has published over 200 articles and books in Chinese and English. She graduated from Beijing Medical University. After three years of internship, she became a nephrology fellow at the First Hospital Beijing Medical University. Since 1983, she moved on to Chief of Nephrology and later became Professor of the Department of Medicine at the First Hospital Beijing. She has been Chairman of the Chinese Society of Nephrology and is Vice President of the Chinese Medical Association. Her unit is the largest training site for nephrology fellows in China.

United Arab Emirates: Mona Alrukhaimi is co-chair of the ISN GO (International Society of Nephrologists Global Outreach Programs) Middle East Committee, and the leader of the KDIGO (Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes) Implementation Task Force for the Middle East and African regions. She is also a Member of the Governing Board of the Arab Society of Nephrology and Renal Transplantation. Since 2006, she has actively organized World Kidney Day activities in the United Arab Emirates and prepared the past four rounds of the ISN Update Course in Nephrology. Having played an active role in the Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism, she contributes to serve on the custodian group and takes part in the Steering Committee for Women in Transplantation under The Transplantation Society.

South Africa: Saraladevi Naicker carried the weight of setting standards and provided the first training program for nephrologists in Africa over the last decade (Remember this article was published in 2010.). Specializing in internal medicine, she trained in Durban and later helped set up a Transplant Unit in the Renal Unit at Addington Hospital. In 2001, she became Chief Specialist and Professor of Renal Medicine at University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and in 2009 was appointed Chairman of Medicine at Wits. She is proud that there are currently (Again: in 2010) six postgraduate students from Africa studying for higher degrees in nephrology under her tutelage. Over the years, Naicker’s unit has served as the main training site for young nephrologists from across Africa and many individuals trained by her are currently practicing in Africa. Naicker received the Phillip Tobias Distinguished Teaching Award in 2006, an honor which bears testimony to her teaching prowess.

Israel: Batya Kristal is Professor of Medicine at the Technion Medical School, Haifa. She is the first woman to direct an academic nephrology department in Israel. At the Western Galilee Hospital, Nahariya, she leads a translational research project focusing on different aspects of oxidative stress and inflammation. She also heads a large clinical nephrology and dialysis program, which uniquely integrates staff and patients from the diverse ethnic population of the Galilee. Founder of the Israeli NKF, initiator and organizer of the traditional annual international conferences at Nahariya, she is truly an important role model for women in the country.

Australia: After holding resident positions in medicine and surgery and as registrar in medicine at the Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg, Priscilla Kincaid-Smith was director and physician of Nephrology at Royal Melbourne Hospital and Professor of Medicine at University of Melbourne. She demonstrated overwhelming evidence of the link between headache powders and kidney damage and contributed to research on the links between high blood pressure and renal malfunction. The only female ISN President so far, she was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire “for services to medicine”, was awarded the David Hume Award from the National Kidney Foundation (USA) and became a Companion of the Order of Australia.

There’s very little room for me to add my own words this week so I’ll use them to add myself as a lay woman in nephrology (What hubris!) to let you know that the edited digital version of SlowItDownCKD 2016 will be out on Amazon later this week. You guessed it: in honor of National Kidney Month.

 

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

Processed Foods: Yea or Nay?

Good morning, world! It’s still March which means it’s still National Kidney Month here in the USA and Women’s History Month. I’m going to take liberties with the ‘history’ part of Women’s History Month just as I did last month with Black History Month. Today we have a guest blog from a woman – Diana Mrozek, RDN – which deals with the kidneys.

You know you’re entitled to a free nutritional appointment yearly after two the first year if you have CKD. Here’s what I wrote about that in What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease:

“Most people think of a nutritionist as a luxury even if they do have a chronic disease.  When I pulled out my checkbook to pay my renal dietitian [RD], I was told the government will pay for her services.  That made sense.  Especially in the current economic atmosphere and for older people, the government needs to help pay our medical bills.”

My nephrologist is part of a practice which rotates their nutritionists. It’s a pretty good idea since I get different points of view about my renal diet from dietitians who each have my records at hand. Your renal diet is tweaked according to your latest labs, so having your records in front of them is important to you and your nutritionist.

Notice I was writing about a RD and Diana is a RDN. The only difference between the two is that Registered Dieticians need not also be Nutritionists, but an RDN is both a Dietician and a Nutritionist.

Let’s take a look at Diana’s unique take on processed foods now.

Processed Food, Chronic Kidney Disease and Your Health

What foods come to mind when you hear the words “processed food”? Is it potato chips? Fast food? Margarine? Or maybe bread? Olive oil? Milk? Do you think artificial? Unhealthy? Safe? Convenient? Cheap?

If any of these words or foods came to mind, you are correct! Let’s clarify. Processed is a term that applies to a wide range of foods as by definition they are any food that has been altered from its natural state usually for either safety or convenience. Many foods need to be processed to make them suitable for eating, for example extracting oil from seeds and pasteurizing milk to make it safe to drink.

Processed foods can have many benefits like convenient and safe food storage as well as better retention of nutrient content. For example, flash frozen fruits and vegetables may have higher vitamin and mineral content than fresh or canned. They also provide more choice, less waste, less cost and can reduce food preparation and cooking time. Processed foods can be helpful for people who have difficulty cooking, like the elderly or disabled.

Over the past several years, many working in the nutrition industry have become very critical of processed foods, and their widespread use in our diet has been blamed for everything from obesity to cancer. However, other than fresh produce straight from the fields, you would have a hard time finding many unprocessed foods in your local grocery store. Most store-bought foods have been processed in some way including freezing, canning, baking, drying, irradiating and pasteurizing. Processed foods are here to stay, but making informed choices when grocery shopping will allow them to be part of a healthy, balanced diet.

The problem with some of today’s processed foods are the amounts of salt, sugar and fat that are often added to enhance taste, extend shelf life and retain moisture, texture, etc. Because we rely heavily on processed foods, we may be eating more salt, sugar and fat than we need. This is important for people with kidney disease who need to watch salt intake for blood pressure control. Kidney patients who also have diabetes need to limit sugar intake as well. Since both diabetes and kidney disease increase the risk of heart disease, fat intake is another concern.

So how do you select healthier processed foods?

In general, you want to choose products with less fat and sodium, more fiber and the least added sugar. The best way to do this is to read the Nutrition Facts Label and stick to eating one serving of packaged foods. Use the following guidelines when looking at different nutrients and ingredients on the nutrition labels to make better choices:

Trans Fats – Look for 0 grams. Trans fats are hidden in many fried and baked foods like biscuits, cookies, crackers as well as frozen foods. They increase levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and decrease good cholesterol (HDL).  If you see shortening or partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list, it has trans fat. Remember…Trans fat? Put it back!

Saturated fat – For most people, intake of saturated fat should be around 13-18 grams per day.

Sodium – Sodium intake should be less than 2300 milligrams (mg) per day or 700-800 mg per meal. Look for “no salt added” canned items or items with preferably less than 200 mg per serving. Limit use of boxed side dishes with seasoning packets as well as high sodium condiments like soy sauce, barbeque sauce and bottled dressing and marinades.

Sugar – Sugars are a bit trickier. Instead of grams, check ingredient lists for sugars like corn sweetener and high fructose corn syrup, and words ending in -ose, like dextrose or maltose. If a sugar ingredient is one of the first three ingredients in the list or if there are more than 2-3 different types of sugars, it likely has a lot of added sugar.

Fiber – Look for at least 3 grams of fiber per serving for cereal, bread and crackers. Also, look for the word “whole” before grains, like whole wheat. If it says enriched, it’s likely had the fiber removed during processing.

By spending a few extra minutes of your shopping time taking a closer look at the groceries you are buying, you can limit less healthy additives and still enjoy all the benefits of processed foods!

While I agree with Diana now that she’s brought up processed foods, remember your labs will dictate your renal diet.

I almost forgot to tell you: in Honor of World Kidney Day. which was March 9th, SlowItDownCKD 2016 is now available in print on Amazon.com!!!!!

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

February is Black History Month

In honor of Black History Month, I thought I would write about Blacks who have contributed to the research and treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease. I’ll be highlighting a few people and then dealing with why CKD is treated differently for Blacks.

Ladies first: Dr. Bessie Young is a nephrologist… and more. This is from The University of Washington’s Department of Medicine at https://medicine.uw.edu/news/dr-bessie-young.

“Dr. Young is a professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology and holds adjunct titles in the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Services. She received her MD in 1987 and her MPH in 2001, both from the University of Washington.

Her research focuses on racial disparities and genetic factors predicting outcomes of patients with kidney disease, education regarding access to transplantation and dialysis for minorities, and access to kidney disease care in rural areas.”

While I have great admiration for both Drs. Young and Kountz (see below), I feel a connection with Dr. Vanessa Grubbs. We corresponded a bit when she first began her blog, which is both personal and professional. We all know I’m not a doctor and have never claimed to be one, but I’m convinced I can feel what a nephrologist feels when I read her blog.  This is from The California Health Care Foundation’s website at http://www.chcf.org/authors/vanessa-grubbs?article=%7BF610E00F-9FE7-4E95-AEBB-5781EE7E0F66%7D:

“Dr. Grubbs is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the University of California, San Francisco, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where she has maintained a clinical practice and clinical research program since 2009. Though most of her time is dedicated to research and patient care, her passion is creative nonfiction writing. She is working on her first book, and she blogs at thenephrologist.com.”

Her book, Hundreds of Interlaced Fingers: A Kidney Doctor’s Search for the Perfect Match will be available on Amazon.com this June. By the way, she donated a kidney to her husband when they were only dating.

Samuel L. Kountz, M.D was another innovative contributor to Nephrology from the Black Community. As Blackpast.org tells us:

“In 1961 Kountz and Roy Cohn, another leading surgeon, performed the first successful kidney transplant between two people who were close relatives but not twins.  Over the next decade Kountz researched the process of kidney transplants on dogs.  He discovered that monitoring blood flow into the new kidney and administering methylprednisolone to the patient after surgery allowed the body to accept the new organ.    

In 1966 Kountz joined the faculty at Stanford University Hospital and Medical School and in 1967 he became the chief of the kidney transplant service at University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).  There he worked with Folker Belzer to create the Belzer kidney perfusion machine.  This innovation kept kidneys alive for 50 hours after being removed from the donor.  Through Kountz’s involvement at UCSF, the institution’s kidney transplant research center became one the best in the country.  Kountz also created the Center for Human Values at UCSF, to discuss ethical issues concerning transplants.”

It’s time for an explanation as to why I wrote “why CKD is treated differently for Blacks,” isn’t it?

This is from Jane E. Brody’s article Doctors sharpen message on kidney disease reprinted in The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1:

“There are four main risk factors for kidney disease:  diabetes, high blood pressure, age over 60 and a family history of the disease. Anyone with these risk factors should have a test of kidney function at least once a year, Vassalotti said.  (Me here: he was the National Kidney Foundation’s Chief Medical Officer at the time the article was written). Members of certain ethnic groups are also at higher than average risk: blacks, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans.”

This means physicians need to monitor blood pressure and diabetes more closely for blacks (as well as the other high risk groups).

Why, you ask.  This bit from What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease will explain about the blood pressure.

“HPB can damage small blood vessels in the kidneys to the point that they cannot filter the waste from the blood as effectively as they should. Nephrologists may prescribe HBP medication to prevent your CKD from getting worse since these medications reduce the amount of protein in your urine.  Not too surprisingly, most CKD related deaths are caused by cardiovascular problems.”

As for diabetes, I turned to The Book of Blogs: Moderate Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 2, for this tidbit:

“According to Diabetes.co.uk at http://www.diabetes.co.uk/how-does-diabetes-affect-the-body.html, ‘The kidneys are another organ that is at particular risk of damage as a result of diabetes and the risk is again increased by poorly controlled diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol’”

In addition, there is a gene more prevalent in Blacks that can exacerbate their CKD. “This discovery provides direct evidence that African-Americans with established CKD and the APOL1 risk gene variant experience a faster decline in kidney function compared to their white counterparts, irrespective in most cases of what caused their kidney disease.” Afshin Parsa, M.D., a nephrologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and a CRIC Study investigator.

Dr. Parsa was referring to the study on APOL1 which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The following is from The National Kidney Foundation’s Fact Sheet on Blacks and CKD at https://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/factsheets/African-Americans-and-CKD.

• Blacks and African Americans suffer from kidney failure at a significantly higher rate than Caucasians – more than 3 times higher.
• African Americans constitute more than 35% of all patients in the U.S. receiving dialysis for kidney failure, but only represent 13.2% of the overall U.S. population.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure in African Americans. African Americans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes as Caucasians. Approximately 4.9 million African Americans over 20 years of age are living with either diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes.
• The most common type of diabetes in African Americans is type 2 diabetes. The risk factors for this type of diabetes include: family history, impaired glucose tolerance, diabetes during pregnancy, hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance, obesity and physical inactivity. African Americans with diabetes are more likely to develop complications of diabetes and to have greater disability from these complications than Caucasians. African Americans are also more likely to develop serious complications such as heart disease and strokes.
• High blood pressure is the second leading cause of kidney failure among African Americans, and remains the leading cause of death due to its link with heart attacks and strokes.

Today’s blog was a bit longer than usual to bring you this important information. We celebrate Black History Month AND need to make our Black family members, friends, and co-workers aware of their heightened risk so they can help prevent their own CKD.

Until next week,

Keep living your life!

It’s Unfolding Now

Remember when I was lucky enough to catch the flu just after Christmas? (She wrote sarcastically.) When I went to the Immediate Care facility my doctor is associated with, the doctor there had my records and knew I’d had pleurisy at one time. But now, he ordered a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. What he found instead was news to me… so, of course, I’m telling you about it.

To quote from the final result report of the X-ray: “There is unfolding of the thoracic aorta.” Huh? In The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1 there’s an explanation of thorax.

“What?  The what? Oh, the thorax. That’s ‘the part of the human body between the neck and the diaphragm, partially encased by the ribs and containing the heart and lungs; the chest’ according to The Free Dictionary at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/thorax.”

Thoracic is the adjective form of thorax; it describes the aorta in this case.

Do you remember what the aorta is? I sort of, kind of did, but figured I’d better make certain before I started writing about it. MedicineNet at http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2295 was helpful here.

“The aorta gives off branches that go to the head and neck, the arms, the major organs in the chest and abdomen, and the legs. It serves to supply them all with oxygenated blood. The aorta is the central conduit from the heart to the body.”

Now I get the connection between Chronic Kidney Disease and the aorta. Did you catch “oxygenated blood” in that definition? And what organs oxygenate the blood? Right. Your kidneys. This excerpt from SlowItDownCKD 2015 may help.

““The National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse …explains.

‘Healthy kidneys produce a hormone called erythropoietin, or EPO, which stimulates the bone marrow to produce the proper number of red blood cells needed to carry oxygen to vital organs.  Diseased kidneys, however, often don’t make enough EPO. As a result, the bone marrow makes fewer red blood cells.’”

With me so far? Now, what the heck is an unfolded aorta? I turned to the British site for radiologists, Radiopaedia.org, at https://radiopaedia.org/articles/unfolded-aorta for the definition. “The term unfolded aorta refers to the widened and ‘opened up’ appearance of the aortic arch on a frontal chest radiograph. It is one of the more common causes for apparent mediastinal widening and is seen with increasing age.

It occurs due to the discrepancy in the growth of the ascending aorta with age, where the length of the ascending aorta increases out of proportion with diameter, causing the plane of the arch to swivel.”

I purposely left the click through definitions in so you read them for yourself. You know the drill: click on the link while holding down your control key. For those of you who are reading the print version of the blog, just add the definition of aorta to the common terms we know: arch and ascending.

Mediastinal, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mediastinum is the adjective (describing) form of mediastinum or “the space in the chest between the pleural sacs of the lungs that contains all the tissues and organs of the chest except the lungs and pleurae; also:  this space with its contents.”

Hang on there, folks, just one more definition. I searched for a new site that wouldn’t offer a terribly technical definition of pleura (or pleurae) and found verywell at https://www.verywell.com/pleura-lungs-definition-conditions-2249162.

“The pleura refers to the 2 membranes that cover the lungs and line the chest cavity. The purpose of the pleura is to cushion the lungs during respiration.

The pleural cavity is the space between these 2 membranes and contains pleural fluid.”

Side note: I definitely feel like I’m back teaching a college class again.

Okay, so now we have a bunch of definitions, we’ve put them together as best we can and where does it bring us? Are you ready for this? Nowhere. An unfolding of the thoracic aorta is nothing more than a function of age.

However, with CKD, it’s somewhere. As was explained in What Is It and How Did I Get It? Early Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, “Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body.”  We’re already not getting enough oxygen due to our poor, declining in function kidneys.

Am I concerned about the unfolding thoracic aorta? No, not at all. It happens with age; I don’t think I can do anything about that. But, the CKD that also lowers our oxygen production? Oh yes, I can – do – and will do something about that by protecting my kidneys as best I can and keeping the remaining kidney function I have.

Kidneys.com, quoted in The Book of Blogs: Moderate Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Part 1, did a nice job of laying out a plan for me to do just that.

“Along with taking your prescribed blood pressure medications, lifestyle changes such as losing weight, exercising, meditating, eating less sodium,  drinking  less  alcohol  and  quitting  smoking  can  help  lower  blood pressure. Better blood pressure control helps preserve kidney function.”

I added using my sleep apnea machine and aiming for eight hours of sleep a night. I also stick to my renal diet – which limits protein, phosphorous, potassium, and sodium (as mentioned by kidney.com) – for the most part and keeping my kidneys hydrated by drinking at least 64 ounces of fluid a day.

Is it hard? I don’t know any more. It’s been nine years. They’re simply habits I’ve developed to live as long as I can and, sometimes, even raise the function of my kidneys.

When my New York daughter was with us over the holidays, I realized how differently we eat than other people do. My husband has chosen to pretty much eat the way I do. So she actually had to go down to the market to pick up the foods that people ordinarily eat.  It would have been funny if I hadn’t been sick. I would have gone with her and laughed each time I answered, “No,” when she asked, “Do you eat this?”

Until next week,

Keep living your life!