#diabetes Archives - All Things Kidney ~ Official

Breathing Difficulty in Kidney Disease

August 11, 2019May 21, 2021Leave a comment

Breathing Difficulty in Chronic Kidney Disease is an inevitable accompaniment in advanced stages. But why does CKD make you breathless in the first place? Learn here.

The other day, some of us at Team ATK just sat reflecting on our pre-transplant days with Kidney Failure. And we all concurred on the helplessness we felt about that relentless “out-of-breath” sensation even at the slightest exertion. In fact, right after transplant, this was one of the first positive changes that I remember as uplifting my quality of life. I could breathe fully, freely & effortlessly again!

So, what is this “breathlessness” or as the fancy medical terminology would have it, “Dyspnoea” (pronounced as “disp-neah”) in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) all about? Continue reading “Breathing Difficulty in Kidney Disease” →

Muscle Wasting in CKD: Treatment

July 8, 2019May 21, 2021Leave a comment

Muscle wasting & pain is a common complication reported in most patients with Chronic Kidney Disease, worldwide. Speaking from personal experience, this is also one of those “visibly apparent” physical changes in the course of CKD, which can have a negative impact on our already complicated quality of life.

So, can you prevent this from happening? Well, that’s the million-dollar (research) question, isn’t it?

In our previous article in this category, we covered the whole bunch of causes that conspire together in CKD to make your muscles gradually “lose themselves” over time. Fortunately, medical research has offered us effective solutions to keep muscle wasting in CKD at bay for as long as possible. In addition, some approaches can also partially restore muscle bulk and strength after muscle wasting has already started.

Let’s explore these treatments then, shall we?

Continue reading “Muscle Wasting in CKD: Treatment” →

Muscle Pain & Wasting in CKD

June 20, 2019May 21, 20212 Comments

Muscle Pain

Muscle Pain & wasting (shrivelling) is a constant, debilitating & rather frustrating accompaniment during your CKD journey, in the advanced stages. It is only but one of the many myriad “complaints” arising from across multiple organs — something that’s a part & parcel of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).

Previously, Team ATK has simplified the concepts of “Protein in Urine“, “Blood in Urine“, “Anemia” & “Bone Pain“, in the context of CKD.

Adding to this list, today we seek to cover the significance of skeletal muscles in kidney disease and explain why muscles begin to “lose themselves” when we enter the great abyss of Chronic Kidney Disease!

But first things first. Continue reading “Muscle Pain & Wasting in CKD” →

Bone Pain vs Muscle Pain in CKD

June 20, 2019May 21, 2021Leave a comment

Bone Pain Muscle Pain

Pain as a sensation, wherever it might arise from, is solely felt because nerves present in that region relay it to our brain and back. This is a “protective reflex”, Continue reading “Bone Pain vs Muscle Pain in CKD” →

Healthy Kidneys prevent Blood & Protein in Urine. But how?!

April 4, 2019February 9, 2023Leave a comment

Normally, Urine produced by healthy kidneys is a cocktail of toxic waste products of cellular metabolism, a host of minerals, salts, smelly organic compounds & excess water. (Find the complete normal urine composition here). These components begin to get together to form Urine once healthy kidney micro-filters “strain” our blood through themselves. These micro-filters are uber-selective with what they “let-out” into the urine. This is such that, all blood cells & “plasma” proteins remain in the bloodstream while the wastes & excesses purge themselves out.

But what makes these Kidney Micro-filters that selective against leakage of blood cells & protein in urine?

LET’S DISSECT!

Continue reading “Healthy Kidneys prevent Blood & Protein in Urine. But how?!” →

Chronic Kidney Disease — The Basics

December 10, 2018May 22, 2021Leave a comment

What is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)?

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), also called Chronic Renal Disease is defined as the gradual loss of kidney function over at least 3 months to several years “since the time of organ insult by the root disease” (not since symptoms appear).

When kidney function is jeopardized in a gradual but progressive manner, they will be unable to perform any of their designated functions properly, that they otherwise normally carry out to keep you alive and kicking!

What causes CKD?

CKD is an umbrella term for a multitude of medical conditions that can affect and gradually damage the kidney during their natural course in our body.

The following diseases & conditions have been found to cause Chronic Kidney Disease:

Continue reading “Chronic Kidney Disease — The Basics” →

It’s not just your Lungs!…Smoking damages your Kidneys too!

November 18, 2018May 22, 2021Leave a comment

Be it the rugged Marlboro Man or the suave James Bond, showbiz has had a way of making a big section of its audience (especially the impressionable age groups) believe how smoking Cigarettes (tobacco) has an important role in building a “more attractive” social image for themselves. However, what these unsuspecting viewers are unaware of is the full range of clinically proven and often fatal health complications that accompany smoking tobacco in the long run.

Continue reading “It’s not just your Lungs!…Smoking damages your Kidneys too!” →