kidney failure

High Blood Pressure Can Quietly Damage Kidneys

I thought I was a healthy 40-year-old until I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. My doctor began treating it as a stand-alone condition, without considering that high blood pressure is a major risk factor for kidney disease.

At first, I wasn’t even tested for kidney disease. But eventually, he gave me a urine test, and it was discovered that I had protein in my urine — one of the earliest signs of kidney damage. Apparently, my high blood pressure had damaged my kidneys.

Healthy kidneys filter out wastes and toxins, but my kidneys’ ability to do so began to decrease at an alarming rate. I continued to manage my blood pressure with medication and decided to make a few lifestyle changes, as well, that helped me avoid the progression of kidney disease to kidney failure.

I limited my salt intake, started eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, decreased the amount of meat I was eating and began swimming every day. I began to feel better, and when I went to the doctor, it turned out my kidney function had stabilized.

Please tell your readers that if they have high blood pressure they should be proactive and ask their doctor to check their kidneys. Early detection and lifestyle change can make a major impact on your health, as I have learned. — DUANE SUNWOLD, SPOKANE, WASH.

DEAR DUANE: It is generous of you to share your medical history in an effort to caution my readers. The National Kidney Foundation urges everyone to learn about these vital organs and whether they might be at risk.

The three major risk factors for kidney disease are: high blood pressure, diabetes and a family history of kidney failure. People who have these risk factors should ask their doctor to check their kidney function with a simple blood and urine test.

Readers, March is National Kidney Month, and March 13 is World Kidney Day. If you are at risk, schedule an appointment with your doctor. For anyone who needs more information, the National Kidney Foundation’s website is kidney.org.

DEAR ABBY: I’m a member of the clergy who enjoys studying for my ministry and doctoral work at a local coffee shop. Three men who go there every day have found out that I’m a minister, and they each want to talk with me while I’m there. Although all three are members of the same religion, none of them is affiliated with a church.

I have invited them to visit my worship services, as well as call the office and set up an appointment with me. I have also tried to diplomatically explain that I go to the coffee shop to study. One of them ignores it, another appears hurt and the third one gets offended. When they’re not around, I am productive. When they show up, they want me to be their chaplain.

Because of where I live, finding another coffee shop is not a viable option. How can I set a boundary with them and still do my studying there? Thank you. — Reverend in New York

Source:The Mercury

 

Xango – a Life-Saving Fruit Drink

Sometime in 2012, Mrs Ireen Sitenge Nyambe travelled to Namibia. Her trip was prompted by her niece’s illness.

According to doctors, Mrs Nyambe’s niece was in the last stages of kidney failure which had crippled her kidneys. In other words, Mrs Nyambe’s niece was dying.

“This patient was really in the last stage because both her kidneys had stopped working. She had been on dialysis from 2011 and now the dialysis could not continue because the veins had collapsed.

“Even the doctors had lost hope. She was about to be taken to South Africa but the doctors said we could not take her because even if we took such a patient it would be meaningless. So we were just waiting for anything,” Mrs Nyambe recounted.

At that time, the patient was swollen as a result of the body accumulating liquids and doctors had advised that she should not take any fluids, including water.

She was restless. She could not hear. She could not eat unaided neither could she be left unattended for fear that she could fall off the hospital bed due to the restlessness.

Mrs Nyambe said her niece barely had days to live, until a stranger came to the private ward where the patient was. The stranger was selling a fruit juice called Xango.

The fruit-drink vendor encouraged Mrs Nyambe to give the juice a try, saying the drink had helped many people recover from their death beds.

True to the words of the stranger, Mrs Nyambe’s niece, who had at the time been retired from her job on medical grounds, recovered and was able to leave the hospital she had been admitted to barely a week after starting to take the fruit juice.

“The doctor, a white man who has been in the profession for a long time said he had never seen a person coming out of such a stage. And even when we were discharged, the same bottle that the patient had started drinking from had not even been emptied yet,” Mrs Nyambe said.

The niece eventually recovered fully and was given back her job by her employers.

Puzzled by the turn of events, Mrs Nyambe who was diabetic and had arthritis, bought a box of the fruit drink and came back to Zambia with it. She was not yet convinced about taking the drink herself. But she had her neighbours in mind. She told herself that if the fruit juice worked on the neighbours, then it really was a baffling wonder.

Source: All Africa