Dialysis

The prevalence of sleep disorders in the United States is exceedingly high. Sleep disorders cause a high number of health problems, are associated with high healthcare costs and are frequently linked with cuts in quality of life that negatively impact social and work relationships. In particular, chronic kidney disease (CKD)

Self-care, self-modalities, self-cannulation…what do these mean to you? Are you familiar with the phrases above? Many of you are already practicing at least one of the three, but use a different term.

What is Fabry disease? Fabry disease is a rare inherited disorder first described by Drs. Johann Fabry and William Anderson in 1898. It is one of a large family of diseases known aslipid storage disorders. The enzyme that causes the disease was identified in the 1960s and since then much progress has been made in its treatment.

In November of 1997, my body started to change. I found myself tired all the time. I was only 17 years-old and working at a local restaurant. Little by little, I started to notice a change in my body. I started to gain weight; at least that’s what I thought.

It was a sunny day at the beach in Southern California. Allana and Trent were paddling out to enjoy their first wave of the day. In an instant everything changed. A wave knocked Allana off her surfboard. The board hit her on the back of her head. She was unconscious. She began breathing in salt water. As her lungs filled, she sank.

When you started dialysis were you told about the option of treating yourself at home either with an artificial kidney or with peritoneal dialysis? A survey of more than 1,000 patients showed only about 12 percent were offered the option of home hemodialysis.

Imagine an in-center hemodialysis program that doesn’t intrude on your daily schedule, delivers better results and makes you feel better than conventional dialysis. That’s nocturnal dialysis.

In order to understand why pregnancy in the setting of renal replacement therapy constitutes a significant medical event, it helps to understand how pregnancy affects women with normal kidney function. During pregnancy blood vessels become dilated leading to lowered blood pressure.

On May 9, 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administratio issued a public health advisory outlining new safety information about ESAs . This included a new black box warning advising physicians to adjust the ESA dose to maintain the lowest hemoglobin level needed to avoid the need for a blood transfusion.

Remember the Waltons, from the 1970’s TV show Walton’s Mountain? Four generations were living together in the same home: grandparents, parents, seven children, and eventually the children’s children. The family members operated as a team, full of collective wisdom and insight.