| Author | Subject: Mom is in kidney failure |
| nancy | Posted At 21:49:25 05/09/2002 Mom was diagnosed with cholesteral embolic disease and was told this is one of the few kidney disease for which there is no treatment. She is on a restricted diet and medications. Her appetite is practically gone. Can anyone tell me how much time we're looking at before she goes into end stage renal failure? |
| Beth Witten | Re: Mom is in kidney failure (Currently 0 replies) Posted At 11:11:02 05/11/2003 You might want to look up this disease in PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed). Type in the search field "cholesterol embolism kidney failure." This will give you a list of research articles, including treatments that have been attempted and their success. A quick review of some of the most recent ones with abstracts, yielded some treatments (steroids, lipid lowering drugs) that have been successful in improving kidney function in studies with small numbers of patients. Reading these may give you or your mother some questions to ask the doctor. You might also consider asking the doctor to recommend where you can go for a second opinion. It isn't easy to predict how long someone's kidneys will function well enough to sustain life. Nutrition is very important in well-being and survival. If your mother hasn't talked with a renal dietitian, this might be something to ask for. If your mother's doctor hasn't mentioned treatments for kidney failure, ask about these. Kidney School (www.kidneyschool.org) has several interactive modules that you and/or your mother may be interested in reading. Even if your mother has irreversible kidney failure, she can still live a good life and enjoy many activities but she will do better if she gets the help she needs to keep a positive attitude, learns as much as she can, and takes an active role in her treatment. |