Unknown to many who suffer from chronic kidney disease, alternatives exist for those who do not want dialysis. For many, dialysis is a way of life, for all life-changing, giving many the feeling they are tethered and tied down to a machine. Worse, while it means feeling better and living, there are many times a weak when they feel tired and unwell as the toxins and waste build up in their bloodstream.
The kidneys are a critical part of the human body. Serving as filters for the blood where toxins and waste are removes and then expelled from the body through urine. Those who suffer from chronic kidney disease have suffered damage to their kidneys and they are no longer able to process this blood.
If they can, it is at greatly reduced levels and not enough for a healthy life. If the kidneys are not able to process blood, the toxins and wastes build up in the blood. Damage to organs follows and eventually death.
Dialysis is a process where patients are connected to a machine which filter their blood instead of their damaged kidneys. This process safely removes the toxins and wastes and allows them to live outside of a hospital of medical setting. But there are significant draw backs.
Dialysis needs to be done on average three days a week and maybe more in some cases. Patients will feel great when it is over, but later, as waste and toxins build, they will feel sick and fatigued all in the same week. Many patients need to have dialysis done in a medical environment which makes holding a steady full time job difficult, if not impossible. Many of those on dialysis also have to shoulder the burden of poverty as a result of reduced income, if any at all.
This already adds more stress to the person which can lead to emotional problems as well as more physical problems. One of the best long term medical procedures for handling chronic kidney disease is a transplant.
A donor, deceased or living, provides a healthy kidney and is put into the patient suffering from chronic kidney disease. Surgery is safe and recovery time is quick, usually only a few days. But there are downsides to this as well. Organ waiting lists can keep a person in limbo for months, even years. Worse, there is always a risk the patients body, even with the same blood type as the donor, may reject the kidney.
A patient suffering from chronic kidney disease has the right to determine their own treatment. This goes for any other medical condition. An alternative to the above mentioned treatments is conservative management. Here, a patient, working on conjunction with their medical team, decides how chronic kidney disease is treated.
The treatment of the illness will include many things such as preserving the patient’s own kidney function for as long as possible. The patients and specialists will also work to reduce and manage symptoms such as nausea, bad appetite and emotional hurdles which tend to crop up.
Emotionally, a person may feel sadness or guilt and may be mourning the loss of their old life. They may also feel as if they are a burden to their loved ones. They will also work to plan for end of life care as you get to the end of your life.
Conservative management will not cure the disease, but it will allow you to work to provide the best quality of life as possible. Other treatments and hospital stays may make life quality worse. Patients are subject to constant medical appointments, blood tests and medicines which can have painful side effects
In the United States, however, conservative management is not the norm as many patients do not know about it. Patients have said doctors do not present it as an option and, instead, go straight to dialysis. This is mainly because American doctors are very skeptical about it. Another reason is the financial intensives of insurance companies; all of them are geared toward getting a patient with chronic kidney disease on dialysis.
If you’d like more information about options for CKD management, be sure to check out our YouTube for more information about natural remedies, supplements and lifestyle tips to support normal kidney function.
