CKD can go unnoticed because your kidneys have a lot of spare work capacity. Your kidneys may be able to lose more than 75 percent of their ability to function before you realize that anything’s wrong. Consequently, CKD can be quite advanced before it’s discovered. That spells trouble not only for your kidneys but for your cardiovascular system as well. The risk of cardiovascular problems — which mainly include heart attack and stroke — rises [...]

“Bawal Magkasakit” (It is forbidden to get sick). You can see this words on Ad campaign billboards by the DOH, the Philippines’ national health agency, and on most of their TV Ads. This rings true for most Filipinos, and is a bitter fact among us dialysis patients. It’s not news anymore to hear that a fellow patient died because of the lack of means to sustain treatment. This is quite depressing, though all I can [...]

Dialysis patients have to maintain a certain ideal weight that is established by their clinic’s medical staff. This is called Dry Weight. The excess weight you accumulate in between dialysis sessions would be your Weight Gain and that’s what will be removed from you during treatment in order to attain your Goal or dry weight. Simply said, it’s your actual weight at the time of treatment minus (-) your dry weight equals (=) your Goal. [...]

If you have ever visited my blog before, you might notice that I frequently change my theme. You might wonder why is this so and others might say that this is not good for blog establishment. Well what can I say? I have been into blogging just late last year and I must confess that I still can’t get the feel of a template for my blog. So the result was my frequent theme switching, [...]

It has been overcast here in Manila since yesterday, with occasional rainshowers. I am quite thankful for the reprieve from the summer heat, however temporary it may be. It’s been quite a drag for me tolerating the heat recently, and I’ve been silently praying for rain to alleviate the heat. Who would think that I would get the reprieve I’ve been hoping for? Lucky me. I am preparing for another session of dialysis as of [...]

I was waiting for my turn at the dialysis clinic last Thursday when I overheard the conversations of the other waiting patients. Somebody has “Graduated” recently from kidney failure and dialysis treatment. In our clinic, and I’m guessing on others as well, “graduating” has two different meanings. One is that you’ve recently underwent kidney transplant, thus freeing you from the bonds of dialysis sessions; and the other is simply succumbing to the disease and passing [...]

Summer is one of the seasons we dialysis patients dread. It’s because the intense heat that this season brings makes us want to drink more water to quench our thirst. This is not possible for us patients because we cannot get rid of the excess water we take due to our malfunctioning kidneys. If we weren’t able to discipline our fluid intake, this might lead to fluid overload or edema. Water would accumulate on parts [...]

Happy Easter to all! I woke up at dawn today to witness the easter festivities at our church today. It is called Salubong here in the Philippines and it involves two different processions at the same time. One bears the Virgin Mary and the other bears Jesus. They set out from church on different directions, circles the community, then set out to meet once again at the church. It is a fairly nice representation of [...]