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Oct 03, 2010
URINATING is a bodily function we do not have to think twice about. When we feel the urge, we go and ease ourselves.
URINATING is a bodily function we do not have to think twice about. When we feel the urge, we go and ease ourselves. As Joyce Nyakato writes, if you do not feel the urge as often as you should, you need to get your kidneys checked
Saidat’s story
Saidat Nantumbwe ,17, was in high school at City View High School when she started experiencing prolonged bouts of flu and headache.
She was left with only a week to go for the school holiday so she postponed seeking immediate medical attention. But the one week seemed like eternity. She started swelling and realised that she had not urinated for a week.
Her peers mistook the swelling for weight gain. Her mother took her to a clinic tand the doctor carried out a number of tests that revealed Nantumbwe was suffering from kidney failure.
She was admitted at Mulago Hospital. The doctors’ attempts to induce urine by administering drugs seemed futile and she seemed to be getting worse. Cases like Saidat’s are examples of the end-stage kidney disease where the organ totally shuts down.
“Unfortunately, by the time she discovered that she had a kidney problem, it was too late and there was nothing the doctors could do to save the kidneys,†says Margaret Nsereko, her mother.
After three weeks of agony, she was put on a dialysis machine to artificially remove the waste and toxins from her body. She has to be on that machine three times a week in order to survive.
The dialysis gave her some relief and she attempted to go back to school but the dialysis sessions cannot allow that.
“When I reported back to school the following term, all my friends wondered what had happened to me.
I had become small,†she says. The machine has become an artificial kidney and therefore an important part of her life. To save her from all this despair, she needs to undergo a kidney transplant in India.
Her mother has offered to donate a kidney but she needs sh60m for the operation.
To help Saidat send donations to,
Stanbic Bank, Account 014000183150. The account name is JCRC .
What is kidney failure?
According to Dr. Eyoku Simon Peter, a kidney specialist and the head of the renal Unit at Mulago Hospital, kidney failure is mainly caused by diab
“In the past, it was mainly caused by infections like sore throat, diseased kidneys, malaria and hepatitis but now, diabetes and hypertension are the leading causes,†he says.
Mulago has outpatient renal clinics on Tuesdays and about 60 patients are treated, 10 of which are new kidney cases.
Kidneys are two bean-shaped organs located at the back of the upper abdomen. They maintain the body’s internal equilibrium of water and minerals (sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and sulfate).
Acidic metabolism end products that the body cannot get rid of via respiration are also excreted through the kidneys.
Kidney disease, therefore, is a medical condition where the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood.
Problems resulting from kidney malfunction include abnormal fluid levels in the body, deranged acid levels, abnormal levels of potassium, calcium, phosphate, blood in the urine and long term anaemia. Mild kidney diseases can progress to end stage kidney disease (failure) if unattended to.
An acute (sudden) renal failure occurs when the blood supply to the kidneys is suddenly interrupted or when the kidneys become overloaded with toxins.
Causes of acute failure include accidents, injuries, or complications from surgeries, abortions, delivery, severe vomiting and HIV, AIDS, among others.
Drug overdoses, whether accidental or from chemical overloads of drugs such as antibiotics or chemotherapeutics, may also cause the onset of acute kidney failure. This condition may stop on its own or not.
When a person has renal failure, there is decreased urine production, quantified as less body water and body fluids disturbances.
“When they get problems, they fail to adequately filter out the toxins and the problem will lead to kidneys shutting down in case it is not dealt with immediately,†Dr. Eyoku says.
A build up of potassium in the blood that diseased kidneys cannot filter out may cause abnormal heart rhythms which are fatal.Nantumbwe cannot eat foods rich in the above mentioned minerals such as bananas, passion fruits and paw paws because her kidneys cannot filter out the Potassium.
Chronic kidney disease is identified by a blood test for creatinine (protein end product). High levels indicate a falling filtration rate and as a result, a decreased capability of the kidneys to excrete waste products.
Prevention
“We encourage people for frequent checkups such that we can be able to help those with early stage chronic kidney disease, “he says.
When people discover early, it can be prevented from progressing. The longer the insult to a diseased kidney, the more acute problem becomes, Kidney failure sets in.
Chronic Kidney disease can be managed by avoiding malaria, reducing alcohol intake, treating sore throats, reducing intake of animal protein, guiding them on which drugs they can’t take. Taking high amounts of salt with a diseased kidney increases blood pressure.
Treating kidney failure
When the kidneys have completely shut down and they cannot filter out the toxins naturally, it has to be done artificially through dialysis. “Since kidney failure is not reversible, dialysis is regarded as a “holding measure†until a renal transplant can be performed,†says Dr Eyoku.
Dialysis is a process that removes wastes and water by circulating blood outside the body through an external filter called a dialyser that contains a semi permeable membrane.
Patients like Saidat have to be on that machine thrice a week in order to survive.
Though dialysis replaces some of these functions through waste and fluid removal, it cannot correct the endocrinal (hormonal) functions of the kidney.
Therefore, a successful transplant remains the best treatment for kidney failure.
Saidat’s story
Saidat Nantumbwe ,17, was in high school at City View High School when she started experiencing prolonged bouts of flu and headache.
She was left with only a week to go for the school holiday so she postponed seeking immediate medical attention. But the one week seemed like eternity. She started swelling and realised that she had not urinated for a week.
Her peers mistook the swelling for weight gain. Her mother took her to a clinic tand the doctor carried out a number of tests that revealed Nantumbwe was suffering from kidney failure.
She was admitted at Mulago Hospital. The doctors’ attempts to induce urine by administering drugs seemed futile and she seemed to be getting worse. Cases like Saidat’s are examples of the end-stage kidney disease where the organ totally shuts down.
“Unfortunately, by the time she discovered that she had a kidney problem, it was too late and there was nothing the doctors could do to save the kidneys,†says Margaret Nsereko, her mother.
After three weeks of agony, she was put on a dialysis machine to artificially remove the waste and toxins from her body. She has to be on that machine three times a week in order to survive.
The dialysis gave her some relief and she attempted to go back to school but the dialysis sessions cannot allow that.
“When I reported back to school the following term, all my friends wondered what had happened to me.
I had become small,†she says. The machine has become an artificial kidney and therefore an important part of her life. To save her from all this despair, she needs to undergo a kidney transplant in India.
Her mother has offered to donate a kidney but she needs sh60m for the operation.
To help Saidat send donations to,
Stanbic Bank, Account 014000183150. The account name is JCRC .
What is kidney failure?
According to Dr. Eyoku Simon Peter, a kidney specialist and the head of the renal Unit at Mulago Hospital, kidney failure is mainly caused by diab
“In the past, it was mainly caused by infections like sore throat, diseased kidneys, malaria and hepatitis but now, diabetes and hypertension are the leading causes,†he says.
Mulago has outpatient renal clinics on Tuesdays and about 60 patients are treated, 10 of which are new kidney cases.
Kidneys are two bean-shaped organs located at the back of the upper abdomen. They maintain the body’s internal equilibrium of water and minerals (sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and sulfate).
Acidic metabolism end products that the body cannot get rid of via respiration are also excreted through the kidneys.
Kidney disease, therefore, is a medical condition where the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood.
Problems resulting from kidney malfunction include abnormal fluid levels in the body, deranged acid levels, abnormal levels of potassium, calcium, phosphate, blood in the urine and long term anaemia. Mild kidney diseases can progress to end stage kidney disease (failure) if unattended to.
An acute (sudden) renal failure occurs when the blood supply to the kidneys is suddenly interrupted or when the kidneys become overloaded with toxins.
Causes of acute failure include accidents, injuries, or complications from surgeries, abortions, delivery, severe vomiting and HIV, AIDS, among others.
Drug overdoses, whether accidental or from chemical overloads of drugs such as antibiotics or chemotherapeutics, may also cause the onset of acute kidney failure. This condition may stop on its own or not.
When a person has renal failure, there is decreased urine production, quantified as less body water and body fluids disturbances.
“When they get problems, they fail to adequately filter out the toxins and the problem will lead to kidneys shutting down in case it is not dealt with immediately,†Dr. Eyoku says.
A build up of potassium in the blood that diseased kidneys cannot filter out may cause abnormal heart rhythms which are fatal.Nantumbwe cannot eat foods rich in the above mentioned minerals such as bananas, passion fruits and paw paws because her kidneys cannot filter out the Potassium.
Chronic kidney disease is identified by a blood test for creatinine (protein end product). High levels indicate a falling filtration rate and as a result, a decreased capability of the kidneys to excrete waste products.
Prevention
“We encourage people for frequent checkups such that we can be able to help those with early stage chronic kidney disease, “he says.
When people discover early, it can be prevented from progressing. The longer the insult to a diseased kidney, the more acute problem becomes, Kidney failure sets in.
Chronic Kidney disease can be managed by avoiding malaria, reducing alcohol intake, treating sore throats, reducing intake of animal protein, guiding them on which drugs they can’t take. Taking high amounts of salt with a diseased kidney increases blood pressure.
Treating kidney failure
When the kidneys have completely shut down and they cannot filter out the toxins naturally, it has to be done artificially through dialysis. “Since kidney failure is not reversible, dialysis is regarded as a “holding measure†until a renal transplant can be performed,†says Dr Eyoku.
Dialysis is a process that removes wastes and water by circulating blood outside the body through an external filter called a dialyser that contains a semi permeable membrane.
Patients like Saidat have to be on that machine thrice a week in order to survive.
Though dialysis replaces some of these functions through waste and fluid removal, it cannot correct the endocrinal (hormonal) functions of the kidney.
Therefore, a successful transplant remains the best treatment for kidney failure.