As I have mentioned in earlier posts, my regular nephrologist has referred me to a university medical center nephrology department. He says I should have much more renal function than I've got. My function plummeted to between 14-15% this past December. My nephrologist thinks this is due to severe, chronic dehydration related to sodium deficiency. He has me ingesting 3000 mg of sodium daily right now. I do feel better and, incredibly, am not having much trouble with fluid retention. But he's not sure what is causing this and so can't be sure how to treat it.
So, after a four month wait, I'll finally see the university nephrologist tomorrow, Wed, Aug 16th. My emotions are all over the place. But more than anything, I'm just hoping for some answers--even if that does mean dialysis.
Well, thanks for taking time to read this post. I have really appreciated your willingness to share what you've each learned as you have adjusted to living with chronic kidney disease. It has lowered my stress and given me hope. So, I will go to this appointment with much less stress.
Marj
Best wishes to you, Marj. If you do start dialysis and your choice is peritoneal dialysis, feel free to ask me any questions as I have been on PD for a year. Or, of course, you can always post your questions to this forum for people to respond to.
Thanks for posting. Keep us updated. Hank
Hi Marj,
the very best of luck at your appointment! I think it shows once again that kidney function is not as well understood as the Consultants would wish us to think! I fully understand anxieties in the circumstances, and I have the feeling that the biochemical disturbances that poor kidney function result in, do cause some mental changes too. So let us hope that fresh opinion will come up with something that helps you!
KenR
I hope your appointment goes well and the new doctors will be able to figure out what is going on. It is always a worry when your GFR is low as to how long you will hold out before having to have diaysis. My GFR has been around 20% for several years now and I'm ok if a bit tired. I have EPO and intravenous iron and together with Vitamin B12 injections, this keeps me anaemia free. I found that reading some literature about dialysis helped to make me less worried, and people on the forunm are always a great support.
My eGFR was stable at 28 for four years. It suddenly plummeted to 14-15 last Dec. my nephrologist had just told me he expected it would be 8-10 years before I was in renal failure. Then 4-5 months later I was suddenly in renal failure.
Clearly my data isn't typical. But that doesn't mean there is anything that can be done to regain any function.
I saw the university nephrologist today. More lab work is underway. But he was immediately talking dialysis with me. He asked when the was scheduled to see my r gulag nephrologist again. He then started talking dialysis.
So, I'm thinking dialysis is going to be a part of my life very soon. I've definitely decided I want to try PD dialysis first with the hope that it will work for me. Not only can this be done while I'm asleep at night, it is likely also somewhat easier on my heart given that it would occur daily.
The big question is whether I'll actually feel better on dialysis. If not, I'm not going to be all a hat excited to go through this on a daily basis.
Well, I'm clearly experiencing some emotional upheaval with all of this. But I expect I can and will adjust to whatever I have in front of me.
I appreciated your words of support as I headed in for this doctor's appointment.
Marj