Kidney_Failure

What is kidney failure: the beginning stages, imperative goals for keeping healthy and learning to live a sustainable life. Upon hearing the news for anyone at any stage of their life that their kidneys have failed will be overwhelming. It will be a few weeks to overcome the shock emotionally, physically, and for the family. Concisely the patient will be going to a local dialysis center for treatment and a complete detailed explanation of their condition. The patient will soon learn that there are dire steps to training their body with a new routine from here on out. Surviving this new way of life will certainly be a struggle for the patient, but with the help of their dialysis facility staff and family, they will courageously succeed. Initially if you ask a patient who has only begun dialysis treatments they will tell you there are no words to explain, however with time and care through the process at best it will easily become second nature. Sometimes the kidneys become unable to perform their life-maintaining functions because of disease or physical damage leading to kidney failure also known as renal failure. Learning from blood and urine tests will determine what type of condition your failure is which varies from patient to patient. Acute renal failure is a sudden or severe damage to the kidneys caused by various trauma, infections, or blockage to the kidneys. This type can be reversed when the problem is identified and tackled before it worsens. Chronic renal failure or chronic kidney disease is the type that cannot be cured and also with lab testing of the blood, the doctors will determine how damaged your kidneys are. Usually these patients will be considered end-stage renal disease and will need to begin dialysis. Dialysis is a mechanical filtering process used to cleanse the blood of waste products, draw off excess fluids and regulate body chemistry when the kidneys fail to work. “Think of your body as a well oiled machine, when one major functioning component does not work, this will cause the entire construction to begin to deteriorate” (Fresenius Medical Care 5) This news will be hard for the patient to understand at first and many questions will be going through their mind. Wanting to know why this happened to them and why they need to do this type of treatment. The doctors are very understanding and have people available for the patient and their families to cope through the life threatening news and the dire need to begin dialysis. A dialysis center near to your home will be contacted by a social worker on your behalf. At first getting in will be the most top priority and later as the weeks go by everything will be settled with the tedious paperwork to be filed on the patients behalf. One you have learned what type of kidney or renal failure you have and begin dialysis treatments the patient will be talked through and constant explanations from the medical staff on the procedure. Dialysis is only one part of the treatment for kidney failure. A new dialysis patient will also learn to follow a strict renal diet. One of the hardest parts of this new diet is watching your phosphorus intake so that it does not get too high. The range is from 3.0 – 5.5 for desired best results by the medical doctors and renal dieticians. A major reason for this being too high is due to eating extra fruits and vegetables, such as: milk, cheese, ice cream, melons, dried beans & peas, nuts, peanut butter & cola products. A dialysis patient will need to limit these foods drastically from their diet. If phosphorus is too high, your bones will become weak and brittle. An additional uneasy part of a dialysis diet is daily fluid intake. The recommended allowable amount is thirty-two ounces equivalent to three cans of soda in one day. However a dialysis patient must also be aware and limit foods such as soups, juicy fruits, melons, popsicles, lettuce, tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, and anything that melts that can be measured as liquid. This becomes extremely difficult during the summer months when the hot sun is scorching out above the skies. Patients were able to enjoy a large tall glass of refreshing iced tea, lemonade, or soft drinks as many as would quench the thirst. The staff continues to tell the patients to measure what you drink, but this can be a hassle and who actually carries a measuring cup with them at anytime. Much of the time patients will come into the dialysis very heavy with extra fluid needed to be removed during the dialysis treatment. Every now and again the symptoms of hard time breathing, feeling dizziness, and major cramping in the stomach and legs will be an unbearable result, and the patient will soon learn to not overdo their drinking of fluids. Not one person with kidney failure has more than once cheated and really stayed honest to these strict conditions to the letter! A dialysis patient will also begin taking daily prescribed medications a phosphorus binder that is used to reduce the absorption of phosphate and crucially help make up for loss of kidney function. These medications along with many other prescriptions will forever be taken with all meals and snacks. These are crucial goals for every dialysis patient to commit to unconditionally for keeping healthy. At first the days seem to be a hassle having to reschedule your entire life around your dialysis treatments and the new diet and fluid restrictions. The very first time of a dialysis treatment is a state of mind one hopes another member of their family will ever have to endure. With each treatment down the way, they become adjusted and you soon begin to feel the difference and how much better you will feel having all the extra build up of toxins and waste being removed by the dialysis treatments. A realization of how vital this is for prolonging your life through old age by keeping on this new way of life will now and forever infuse into mind. Becoming more alert to what you’re eating, drinking, and keeping track of all the medications also needed to stay well and live life. Being on dialysis does not mean it is the end of the world for a patient. Absolutely not, today there are numerous locations across the world for dialysis patient care and travel. Take a cruise, travel to Europe, visit Disney World, see the California coast side, the opportunity to travel is just a few calls away and manageable. The staff and social workers at your dialysis facility will always encourage patients to live life as full as you desire, there is nothing keeping you back but yourself. With the help of your family and your own determination to overcome, be as strong as you can push yourself to be the one in charge. Don’t let this disease bring you down, because when you do it wins. It is a great challenge to be this outstanding and decide to stay on the road of positivity and optimistic energy. There will be days harder than others when treatments leave you feeling completely lifeless. Having a close support system with your loved one, family, and friends will always put a smile back on your face. A dialysis patient who lives life to the fullest, does not let their situation tear them down, and today and every day forward reaches for life will live a complete sustainable happy life. As a new dialysis patient myself two years into my routine, I can write this information from my own experience and happily can say I am on my way to being the conqueror of my dialysis an look forward to all the best to be on my way just down the road. Entirely comprehending what kidney failure consists of learning what type of condition a person has regarding their unfavorable point in time is the first priority to the road of healing and feeling better. Having a great medical team to assess and determine if the patient has acute-renal failure or end-stage renal disease will prepare everyone as to what direction will be the best. Having all the essential people around of loved ones, family, and friends through the first stages of what the patient will be enduring prior to going on dialysis will ease the way. Listening to the medical doctors, renal dieticians, and staff assigned to welcoming you into this new phase of your life will be relevant goals keeping healthy. Including as the days ensue always abide to the specific diet plan, and expect to be taking a regimen of medications to restore health to attain the best results for yourself. Finally finding inspiration to get through this hardship with confidence in yourself will leave you to live a long happy prosperous exciting life. Don’t let a sickness take you down with it. “The best way out is always through”. Works Cited FMCNA. ESRD Patients and their Families, Waltham, MA: Fresenius Medical Care, 1995, Print “Definition of Dialysis.” Medicine.net, Internet Resources, 2011 Walser M.D., Mackensie, 1st Edition Coping with Kidney Disease: A 12-Step Treatment Program to Help You Avoid Dialysis, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004, Print 60 Minutes: A Thousand Lives a Month (February 17, 2008) CBS, DVD Release Date, March 4, 2008 “The best way out is always through.” Robert Frost American Poet, 1874 – 1963), Poem