Worried sick about my Kidneys, need help

[Coravh]

Hey Cher.

Yes, anemia is a common symptom of kidney disease. You kidney does a lot more than just take fluid out of your system. It is responsible, in part, for the production of red blood cells. The good news is that there is medication you can take (sorry, injection only) that will replace the hormone that your kidney no longer produces. Your nephrologist may recommend on of these drugs: epo, aranesp, procrit. There are a lot of these types of things and you may have even seen them advertised for cancer patients on TV. They have found that patients of any sort do better when they are not anemic. Make sure you mention it to the nephrologist.

Good luck and don't be afraid to ask more questions. Sorry, but I forgot to mention a couple of important things. You will, on occasion, not feel so hot. The good news is that there will still be days that you do feel well, and you can have a life. While I was predialysis I still travelled a lot and when I was on dialysis I ended up going to Disneyworld with my cousin who gave me a kidney the following month.

I adopted the mantra "this too shall pass". Sure, I had bad days, but I also had a lot of good ones.

Take care.

Cora

[Isis498]

Originally Posted by stick2013

No I have never been anemic. Actually my kidney problem was discovered when my Rhuemotologist did blood work for my arthritis. He did a full kidney screen because he was going to put me on Mobic(perscription NSAID) for pain management. Mobic is not a good drug for people with kidney problems, needless to say I wasn't allowed to take it then.

My Dr's were worried because my numbers were at the LOWEST possible, and then 8 months later when Rhuemy did blood work the were over normal. They continued to go up slightly for another month. I changed eating habits, stopped coffee, I eat fruits,and veggies by the truckload, and drink enough water during the day to float a small ship. I excersice daily, get plenty of sleep, and I learned that I can't change what is. I can only try to stay healthy. I do get frustratrd with my health at times too. It seems like it's just ONE thing after ANOTHER. But hang in there......... Keep us posted on what's going on.

Take care

Sid, do you by chance have any kind of autoimmune issues going on? I saw a Rheumy before because of a high ANA to check for Lupus, Sjorgen's, RA, etc., but nothing showed up, but that was 5 years ago. I do wonder if my issues are related to the ANA thing. As far as I know, mine is still high.

[stick2013]

Originally Posted by Isis498

Sid, do you by chance have any kind of autoimmune issues going on? I saw a Rheumy before because of a high ANA to check for Lupus, Sjorgen's, RA, etc., but nothing showed up, but that was 5 years ago. I do wonder if my issues are related to the ANA thing. As far as I know, mine is still high.

Yes I do have an autoimmune disorder.... Fibromyalgia is. How high was your ANA? Mine was 320 the last I knew. I was actually told that ANA is also used sort of like a marker for pain also. The higher your ANA the higher pain level can be. Don't know if it's true or not. But at the time i was in moderate pain.

Sid