Keep up the good work NKF!

@doctor NKF, Can d kidney be cleansed/purified by an individual?

@vincent_09, I do not understand your question.

What do you mean for the kidney to be cleansed/purified? Is somebody promising you such? If that is the case there is no such thing. Or can somebody say they want to cleanse/purify the heart?

The organs in the body are what they are as God made them. They, including the kidneys, work unhindered every second of everyday as long as there is no problem. Once there is a problem you can either:

1. Treat the problem and the kidneys can go back to normal as in the case of severe diarrhea in cases of cholera, or blood loss in an accident. Here, lots of fluids are given (or blood) and the kidneys will not shut down. The way they are created, blood must always pass through them or it can lead to acute kidney failure. Acute cases are reversible if treated on time.

2. Manage the problem especially in chronic cases like hypertension and diabetes damaging the kidneys.

If there is a problem, treat or manage the problem., there is no such thing as cleansing and purifying. What I recall about such practices is that they give one intravenous fluids (drip) and give you a drug (don't recall) which turns the urine red. They do not do anything for you and it is a scam.

I hope I have answered your questions. If not, do not hesitate to ask other questions.

Regards

Thanks for info, but please Doctor NKF when are you organising another free kidney screening and where? I really want to participate as the 1st one took me unawares.

@eagle22, the next definite free kidney screening will take place on World Kidney Day, March 10th, 2011.

The venue will be announced in due course.

If there is one before that day, it will also be announced.

Best wishes

NKF, you sure is doing some good work up in here.

Someone just died of this kidney related stuff and the family spent fortunes to keep him alive till he passed away last week.

I guess simple acts of good living can extend a lot of lives God willing.

Are you non-profit org (kidney issues gulp fortunes), and what is the cost of doing voluntary screening?

keep up the good work and stay blessed

@holydante, yes we are a non-profit organization. You are also right that kidney failure issues cost a fortune.

There is no better situation where the adage "Prevention is better than Cure" fits.

To do a kidney screening on your own, the basic things you need to do are:

1. Blood pressure check
2. Blood glucose check

The above are the commonest causes of kidney failure. Once it is diagnosed, you have to start managing them properly with the right medications and lifestyle to avoid their complications, one of which is kidney failure

The other basic test:

1. Urinalysis to check for proteins.

Note:
Once a urinalysis shows proteins, there is something wrong with your kidneys, because they should not be there.

Further tests are necessary if there are abnormalities found in the above tests. A qualified doctor will be able to advice you appropriately. The costs of these tests depends on the hospital or laboratory (reputable) that you do these tests.

On average, it should cost between N500 and N1000 for the screening (not the further tests)

Happy new year and many thanks for your incisive and educative feedback.

I am wondering about the protein presence you mentioned in the urinalysis, I am in my mid 30's and i have reason to believe that i tend to consume a lot of proteinous foods, am wondering where the excess proteins should go to and what threat does it portend to ones well being

Cheers

@holydante, no matter the amount of protein in your diet, you shouldn't find it in your urine. This is the same way that no matter how high your carbohydrate or sugar intake, you shouldn't find sugar in your urine.

Once your body is working normally, all food ingested is handled appropriately.

Your body is an unbelievable machine, use it well and maintain it properly

Q: Is it dangerous to skip dialysis?
A: Yes, this can lead to fluid overload and accumulation of waste products in the body. It can also lead to breathing problems due to a serious condition called pulmonary edema where fluid gets accumulated in the lungs.

Q: What is the cost of dialysis?
A: A session of haemodialysis costs on average N25,000 (Twenty Five Thousand Naira). For it to be effective, a patient should have 3 sessions per week, this will come to about N75, 000 a week! Which ordinary Nigerian can afford it?

Q: What are the possible complications of haemodialysis?
A:
1. Infection
2. Poor blood flow
3. Muscle cramps and
4. Hypotension—a sudden drop in blood pressure
You can avoid many side effects if you follow a proper diet, limit your liquid intake, and take your medicines as directed.

Q: What are the possible complications of peritoneal dialysis?
A:
• The most common problem with peritoneal dialysis is peritonitis, a serious abdominal infection. It requires antibiotic treatment by your doctor.

NKF:

@holydante, no matter the amount of protein in your diet, you shouldn't find it in your urine. This is the same way that no matter how high your carbohydrate or sugar intake, you shouldn't find sugar in your urine.

Once your body is working normally, all food ingested is handled appropriately.

Your body is an unbelievable machine, use it well and maintain it properly

lol, I suddenly developed second thoughts on my protein consumption , Your quick response is appreciated, meanwhile @ bolded part gives me a kind of reassurance, but i gotta live and eat right .

Many thanks man.

Q: I have been diagnosed with end stage renal disease. Is there any other treatment besides a kidney transplant?
A: Dialysis and transplant are the only two treatments available for end stage renal disease (ESRD)

Q: What is the purpose of kidney transplantation?
A:  Kidney transplantation surgically places a healthy kidney from another person into your body. The donated kidney does enough of the work that your two failed kidneys used to do to keep you healthy and symptom free.

Q: Who is a candidate for kidney transplantation?
A: It is the treatment of choice for people with kidney failure who have been evaluated by the renal transplant team and found to be eligible for the procedure

Q: What is a perfect match kidney?
A:
• Usually, a perfect match is between identical twins, a brother or sister.
• The chance of getting a perfect match from a living-related brother or sister is higher than from other related or non-related living donors.

Q: Is a kidney transplant a good option?
A: Dialysis can be done for as long as it takes to find a kidney donor but the best long-term option is a successful transplant.

Q: Who donates kidneys for transplantation?
A: The sources for kidney transplants include;
1. A living donor
2. Non-living donor ( Deceased donor ) after brain death
3. Non-living donor ( Deceased donor ) after cardiac death

Patients who have had kidneys donated from living donors usually enjoy higher success rates than those who receive organs from non-living donors, since there is less chance for rejection.

Q: Are there age restrictions for kidney transplant recipients?
A:
• There are no strict age restrictions for kidney transplantation
• However, patients over 65 years must be in relatively good health other than the kidney disease for which they are undergoing a transplant.

Q: How will a patient know if he is eligible for a transplant?
A: There are several considerations that determine if and when a patient is eligible for a kidney transplant.
• Typically they will be transplanted when their function is close to 10% of normal.
• Prospective transplant recipients undergo a medical evaluation, to determine whether they can successfully tolerate the surgery and the concomitant immunosuppression.
• Generally, transplantation will not be considered in a patient whose underlying medical condition includes an ongoing infection, uncontrolled malignancy or an expected survival of less than five years.

Q: How long after I am diagnosed with Kidney Failure should I have a transplant?
A: There is no time limit to having a kidney transplant, some people stay on haemodialysis till the end of their lives. But if you are going to have a transplant, the earlier it is done, the better your quality of life.

Q: What are the risks of having a kidney transplant?
A: The risks and possible complications of transplant are similar to those associated with any surgical procedure plus other unique problems peculiar to transplantation. Some of the possible complications includes;
• Infection
• Side effects of antirejection drugs
• Acute rejection
• Lymphocoele ( collection of lymphatic  fluid near the new kidney )
• Persistent hypertension
• Post transplant diabetes
• Post transplant cancer
These conditions can be identified by appropriate investigations and treated accordingly.

Q: Do I need to find my own donor?
A: Yes. Patients are encouraged to look for potential donors from among family usually first degree. If this is not possible, then friends can be considered but the donation must be altruistically motivated.

Q: Does my donor have to be a blood relative?
A:
No. A living kidney donor may be a relative or a person who is not related to the recipient. In the case of a non-relative, it is best if the donor has an emotional relationship with the recipient.

Q: How long do I have to find a 'donor' kidney?
A: There is no time limit to finding a kidney transplant donor.

Q: How do you determine if someone's kidney will be a match?
A: Donors and recipients are matched based on their blood type and whether the recipient has antibodies that would react with and damage the donor's kidney.

Q: What Does "Tissue Typing" Mean?
A: For your new kidney to work properly, you and the donor's kidney must be "compatible." To determine compatibility, three tests are done:
• ABO (blood type) Compatibility
• Crossmatch Compatibility
• Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) Tissue Typing

Q: What Happens During the Transplant Evaluation?
A:
• The transplant evaluation consists of a review of your medical records and a complete physical by the transplant team.
• You will have a chest X-ray and ECG.
• Blood work will be drawn for routine studies and infectious disease testing.
• You will be given information concerning the transplant process, and have an opportunity to ask questions.
• You are encouraged to learn as much as possible about transplantation before making a decision about having a kidney transplant.
• The members of the transplant team will explain the benefits and risks of transplantation.
• After your evaluation, members of the transplant team will meet to review your case.
• They will decide as a group if further testing is necessary before any decision regarding transplantation can be reached.

Q: How much does a transplant cost?
A: Again, this will vary from person to person but on average it costs between four million and five million Naira (N4, 000, 000 – N5, 000,000) in Nigeria

Q: Can I live normally with only one kidney?
A: Yes. Some people can be born with only one kidney and live a normal life.

Q: Is there anything I can do to better prepare my body for a kidney transplant?
A: To prepare yourself for a kidney transplant, you should try and be in the best possible general health. This includes an ideal body weight, watching your diet and exercising if possible.

Q: How long will the recipient be in the hospital?
A: The average hospital stay for transplant recipients is about two weeks. However, this can vary considerably from 10 days to three weeks, depending on many factors.

Q: How long is the recovery period for the recipient after transplant?
A: The initial recovery time after the surgery is four to eight weeks. However, receiving a transplant carries a long-term commitment to ensure that the kidney continues to function. The recipient must be diligent in following the transplant team’s plan of post-operative care or the transplanted kidney may be rejected or lost due to other complications.

Q: Why does the recipient need to be on medications after the transplant?
A: Anti-rejection medications are designed to suppress, or disable, a person’s immune system so that the transplanted organ will not be rejected

Q: Will I be on medications for a long time after the transplant?
A: Transplant patients generally start out with six to eight medications in addition to their anti-rejection medications.
• By six months, they generally take two to three per day.
• Eventually, patients are required to take their anti-rejection medication for the rest of their life.

Q: What are the side effects of the medications?
A:
• Side effects vary from minimal and tolerable to more severe.
• Side effects are discussed with the recipient before and after transplant.
• Dosages and side effects are closely monitored by the transplant team and adjusted accordingly

Q: What kind of care and testing can the patient expect after being released from the hospital?
A:
• A patient's blood test and other lab results are monitored very closely in the months immediately after transplant.
• Patients must return to the clinic for routine follow-up, this is very important.
• The frequency of the follow-up appointments decreases as a patient gets farther away from transplant.

I must commend u r doin a gud job. Am new hia,

@Brite02,

Many thanks!

Q: How long can patients live with a kidney transplant?
A: The donor kidney lasts up to 10 to 12 years on average for Deceased kidney source, but 18 to 22 years for live donor source. However, the longest surviving transplanted kidney is about 45 years and this was performed between identical twins.

Q: What happens if the new kidney is rejected?
A: If the transplant fails the patient can be put on dialysis again until a new donor kidney is found.

Q: What are Some Possible Post-transplant complications?
A:
1. Infections
2. Delayed kidney function
3. High blood pressure
4. Weight gain
5. Rejection
6. Cancer

Q: What is Rejection?
A:
• Rejection is one of the most important concerns for renal transplant recipients.
• Your body's immune system protects you from infection by recognizing certain foreign bodies, like bacteria and viruses, and destroying them.
• Unfortunately, the immune system sees your new kidney as a foreign substance also.
• It could be acute or chronic and despite efforts to prevent it, it may still occur.
• Generally, rejection is treatable with medication and usually does not lead to loss of the kidney. Occasionally it does not respond to first line medication and there is need for second line medication. And very rarely the second line treatment fails and the transplanted kidney becomes irreversibly damaged and has to be removed.

@NKF can you please beg people to stop consuming all kinds of ''herbal preparations'' that are untested?
You'd be amazed at how many people parade this forum posing as ''dr Bleep'' selling and promising all kinds of cures.
I had to take on one jester who was promising ''cure'' for sickle cell anaemia on another thread.
Kidney problems in Nigeria may be from diverse causes but something tells me we havent seen anything yet untiol the effect of consuming all these unfounded drugs start to show.
You are sure doing a great job educating people, please keep it up.

@reindeer, thank you for your comments. I agree with you wholeheartedly.

We do our best to educate; we distribute pamphlets, we've been on Classic FM and we will also be on Channels TV discussing this issue. We will never stop.

The commonest causes of kidney failure in Nigeria are:
1. Hypertension
2. Diabetes
3. Chronic Glomerulonephritis (a big name for the after effects of some infections like HIV, sometimes malaria, etc)

Other causes common in our environment are:
1. Chronic use of analgesics (pain killers).  Always see a doctor
2. The use of bleaching creams especially those containing mercury
3. Herbal preparations both local and international (food supplements). Even in China, home of herbal medications, they have a separate name for the kidney failure caused by this herbs and it is common.

The kidneys do a lot in our body and to show you how effective they are, one does not need dialysis or kidney transplant until their function is 10 - 15%!

Are your kidneys ok?