Kidney Transplant Health Feed

Severe disorders in one or more kidneys can be debilitating since the quality of life is severely affected. If you suffer from such a condition, you may already be undergoing dialysis. But, have you considered a kidney transplant yet?

Here is a look at some benefits of kidney transplant over dialysis.

1.Increased life expectancy

• You may not know this, but dialysis restricts your life expectancy. For instance, a person undergoing dialysis at 30 will have a life expectancy of 15 more years. However, with a transplant, you can go on to lead a full life. The same 30-year old person will have a life expectancy of 30 additional years in case of a transplant from a brain-dead donor. If the donor is a healthy individual, life expectancy may extend to 40 years as well.
• Therefore, if you want to live longer, you need to seek a kidney transplant.

2. Enhanced quality of life
Not only does severe kidney disorder mean relying on dialysis, but it also imposes other major restrictions in regards to diet and lifestyle. However, kidney transplant is a more permanent solution to the problem. Once the transplant is completed and you recover from the surgery, you can resume a normal life. Additionally, some of the dietary restrictions are also lifted in such a case. 

Why dialysis is more common?

Dialysis is more common for the following reasons-

•   The kidney to be transplanted may not be readily available. You would be placed on a list and it may take a while for a suitable kidney to arrive. During this period, you would need to undergo dialysis.
•   Since dialysis is a minimally invasive procedure, it is often preferred by patients. However, kidney transplantation is better in the long-term.

Elimination of the waste products is the core function performed by our kidneys. Any failure or any infections to the kidney can hamper this process thus leading to a condition where the waste could accumulate in the body. These body fluids can rise to dangerous levels and are often life-threatening. In medical terms, they are known as acute kidney failure. Though there are countless options and medical treatments available in treating them, nothing can beat a homeopathy approach in treating the symptoms. Come, let us take a look at how homeopathy can be used in treating acute renal failure.

Acute kidney renal failure happens over a period of time and can be due to many reasons. Some of them are severe or sudden dehydration, toxic kidney injury due to certain medications, autoimmune kidney diseases, and urinary tract obstruction. Reduced blood flow can also damage the kidneys to a considerable extent, and these can include low blood pressure, internal hemorrhage, injury, surgery or a serious illness. Kidney failures are themselves, not a disease but they lead to many complications that may result in utmost discomfort and life-threatening consequences. The main symptoms of kidney failure can include bloody stools, generalized swelling or fluid retention, fatigue, pain in the ribs, hand tremor, prolonged bleeding, nausea, vomiting and high blood pressure. Urinary discharges can entirely stop or can flow continuously; often with a lot of pain.

In some extreme cases, the degeneration can happen very quickly and can be a medical emergency. Though conventional medicines can help in treating the symptoms, homeopathy offers the most practical solutions available in the market with a long-term focus in mind. Homeopathy uses a simple principle of treating the person as a whole. The complete nature of the individual is understood first before imparting the treatment. The medical history of the patient and his physical and mental constitution are all taken into the picture before the treatment is prescribed. The patient can find himself only talking with the homeopathic doctors initially in the sessions. This is done so that the patient is looked upon as a person - as an individual first and not as an element of the disease. This helps in imparting the best homeopathy treatment depending on the individual's vulnerability and their preferences.

Homeopathy has a high success rate in treating a person with acute renal kidney failure. The biggest advantage is that there are no side effects, unlike conventional treatments. The doctor focuses the treatment plan in such a way that the condition is arrested first and no further degeneration occurs. Then in the second stage, they start to estimate the root cause. A patient can feel the results mostly within a few weeks and if treatment is followed properly, a person can get completely cured within a few months. Many homeopathy medicines would be prescribed during the treatment. However, care should be taken to not exceed the dosage.

Conventional medicines can treat these renal failures. However, the biggest disadvantage is that in more chronic cases they lead to kidney transplantation and other complications. In other words, homeopathy can be your sensible choice of medicine in the long run. This medicine focuses more on the human value of the person rather than the medical condition.

Nephrectomy is a surgical procedure where the kidney is removed. It can be just the one kidney or both. This procedure is resorted to in cases of kidney cancer and other kidney problems. It is also done during kidney transplantation where a healthy kidney is removed from a donor.

Types of nephrectomy

Nephrectomy is of two types – partial and radical.

In a partial nephrectomy, only the diseased parts of the kidney are removed. In the radical variant, the entire kidney along with the ureter, adrenal gland and the surrounding fatty tissues are removed. If both the kidneys are removed then it is called bilateral nephrectomy.

For donors in kidney transplant, the procedure is called donor nephrectomy.

How is it done?

There are two ways in which this surgery can be done – laparoscopic and open.

Laparoscopic method

In this method, a laparoscope is inserted from a small incision in the abdominal wall. Once the laparoscope is in place, the kidney is removed through a small incision made by the doctor.

This procedure is carried out under general anaesthesia. The advantages of this method are – quicker recovery, a short stay at the hospital and lesser chances of complications.

Open nephrectomy

In this method, the doctor makes a relatively larger cut in the abdomen to reach the kidney. Once the kidney is removed then the incision is sutured.

Recovery

Once the surgery is complete, you will be taken to recovery where your vitals will be monitored. A urinary catheter will be attached to your bladder to drain away urine.

You may feel pain in the incision area for which pain medications will be given. You will also be asked to do breathing exercises to protect yourself from pneumonia. You have to avoid stressful activities like heavy lifting for 6 weeks once you return home from surgery.

You may also need to undergo tests like urinalysis, kidney function tests and blood pressure checks on a regular basis to detect complications after the surgery.

A kidney transplant is a procedure that employs an operation to transplant properly functioning kidney in the body. The main job of the kidneys is to remove the excess waste from a person’s body with the help of a filtration process. When the kidneys stop filtering the toxins properly, they become diseased as harmful waste products and toxins begin to accumulate in the body. Following this, the patient has to go through treatment measures like dialysis or kidney transplant.

Read on to know the five things you should keep in mind about a kidney transplant:

1. Treatment: Transplant is one of the best ways to treat chronic kidney disease stage-V, until unless it is contraindicated. Life becomes near normal after transplant, though there is a possibility of rejection of transplant kidney. Patient has to take immunosuppressive medication life long. 
2. Medication: Medications are mainly for:
   1. To prevent rejection: Patient takes immunosuppressive medications life long.
   2. Prevention of infection: Patient has to take care all the measures to prevent infections as they are more prone to infections.
   3. Other medication: To control diabetes, HTN etc. 
3. Family Only: The donors are from family or emotionally related or cadavers (after brain death). HLA-matched donors are better because of less chances of rejections and first reduction of immunosuppressive. 
4. Doing Your Part: Once transplant is done - patient becomes normal and he/she lives a normal life. However, they have to take regular medications and to protect themselves from various infection. 
5. End Stage Renal Diseases: These diseases includes diabetes mellitus, HTN, polycystic kidney disease, chronic glomerulonephritis or interstitial nephritis etc.