Dialysis patients are required to take monthly laboratory tests. This is to ensure proper monitoring of our body’s blood and chemistry levels. These tests are also used by doctors as reference on how patient’s respond to dialysis, if they are eating right, their responsiveness to EPO shots via their hemoglobin levels, and so on. I have been through this routine tests all my dialysis years and still going through with it. My lab test schedule [...]

Hypertension or high blood pressure runs in our family. Several of my relatives either died of a heart attack or stroke caused by hypertension that’s been left untreated. I had hypertension as early as my high school days, although I am completely unaware of it. It was just brought up to my attention six years ago, when I was first diagnosed with chronic kidney failure. It was both shocking and unbelievable for me at that [...]

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 [...]