Kidney Friends

Recently, thousands of babies and children in China who drank milk tainted with melamine were sickened, and many developed painful kidney stones.

While these cases were due to the melamine–an toxic chemical used to thin out milk–doctors here say they are seeing a rise in the number of children suffering from kidney stones, once a condition mostly associated with middle age, according to the New York Times.

And what is one of the major causes? Salt.

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WASHINGTON - There could be new hope for people who need organ transplants, but can’t find a matching donor.
A local woman was able to donate a kidney to her sister — even though their blood types did not match.

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By Richard L. Faber, PhD
Author’s Note: This article was written in stages over four decades. Each stage or section documents my medical status at the time and my evolving attitudes toward dialysis. I’ve prefaced each section with comments (in italics) written in the present.

Picking up a pen-1970

This section, written in 1970 after two years of treatments, may make dialysis seem too good to be true, but it does portray how successful the treatments were for me. Unfortunately, I was largely oblivious to the stress that home dialysis caused for my wife. She had to take care of me and our daughter, who was one year old when I began treatments.

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CINCINNATI, Oct. 22 (UPI) — U.S. researchers say the use of modern immunosuppressive drugs eliminates the need for steroid therapy as early as seven days following a kidney transplant.

Dr. Steve Woodle of the University of Cincinnati, who led the study, said elimination of a daily dose of steroids following transplantation minimizes chronic health conditions common to kidney transplant recipients.

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DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My wife is 63, not overweight and not diabetic. She was recently diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, CKD. Her glomerular filtration rate is 49. Her doctor indicated she should limit sugar, lower her LDL cholesterol and keep her blood pressure down.

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MONTREAL—Researchers have developed a treatment algorithm that may help improve physicians’ ability to manage bone loss following kidney and kidney/pancreas (KP) transplantation.

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When Barbara, a retired school library administrator, received a healthy kidney from her sister in October of 2004, and then a pancreas from a cadaver donor three months later, a new chapter in her life began.

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EL PASO, Oct 16, 2008 (El Paso Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) — DVA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating — Behind the cute kitty-wearing-sneakers logo for Sunday’s KAT Walk-a-thon is a serious message about the dangers of chronic kidney disease.

An estimated 26 million people in the United States have chronic kidney disease, and 325,000 have kidney failure and are on dialysis. Most people who have it don’t know it.

Francisco Rodriguez, a surgical technician, discovered he had kidney disease after his vision became blurry at times.

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HP has reached an agreement with the manufacturer of a home kidney dialysis system to use some of the technology from its inkjet printers.

The dialysis system will use the same “fluid management” concepts that were developed to mix and apply different colour inks.

Instead of ink, it will mix water and a concentrated salt and electrolyte solution in a formula prescribed by the patient’s doctor. It also uses HP memory-chip technology to monitor the mixture and ensure that the correct formula is used.

The technology is being used by Home Dialysis Plus, a private company developing the system, which said patients can use it every night while they sleep, in a pattern that more closely resembles the function of healthy kidneys. It will mean they will not have to visit a dialysis centre three times a week.

HP has licensed its inkjet patents for medical applications in the past, but this is the first medical product using HP’s patents to come to market. It will go on sale in 2010.

Ludhiana, October 16 : RG Stone and Super Speciality Hospital, part of the RG Stone Hospital Chain for Urology & Laparoscopy, announced the successful treatment of three patients suffering from kidney stones by Holmium Laser Flexible Ureteroscopy here today.

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