Last night Rotarians heard from Diane Holland on the topic of kidney health. Diane has worked at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for 10 years as a chronic kidney disease support officer with Kidney Australia.
Did you know: your kidneys control body fluids, maintain salt balance, filter waste products, produce red blood cells, regulate blood pressure, control potassium, calcium and phosphorous levels and regulates vitamin D.
Everyone has two kidneys but it is not unusual to find in older people that only one is working, the other can compensate and work just fine. Your entire blood supply passes through your kidneys every 3-4 minutes!
Kidney disease (a decrease in function for three months) causes the nephrons (filters) to stop working. 60 people per day die of kidney-related disease which is more than breast cancer. You can lose 90% of kidney function before you get a symptom, by which time the only option is dialysis or transplant. The main cause of kidney disease is diabetes (37%), high blood pressure (13%), glomerulonephritis (20%), polycystic kidney disease (6%) and other causes (24%).
Signs to look for which signals problems with your kidneys include high blood pressure, change in passing urine and appearance, swelling ankles and legs, pain in kidneys, loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping.
Prevention is better than suffering dialysis or waiting for a transplant so act now - see your doctor and have a simple blood test, urine test to check for protein and have your blood pressure checked. The alternative is; haemodialysis three times a week for five hours at a time, periotoneal dialysis where a tube in inserted into the abdomen and is just slightly less intrusive or transplant with all its inherent risks. So see your GP to get a kidney check done, people.
Also, and importantly, consider organ donation. You can contact the Australian Organ Donors Register on 1800 777 203.
Next Rotarians heard from Joylene Seppelt who generously shared her story of having suffered kidney disease (holes in the tubes to the kidneys which were leaking), undergone peritoneal dialysis for five to six months and finally, having received a kidney from her husband Malcolm, a transplant in September 2008. Malcolm finished off the presentation by reviewing his experience of the complications of being a kidney donor and how his and Joylene's life had improved so markedly now she is healthy again.
