Some questions about kidney failure

[pocoloco]

Hi everybody,
I have some stupid questions. A friends father has been diagnosed with high blood pressure and kidney failure. He is overweight and he is a heavy smoker. I met him three weeks earlier and he was just fine, but his doctor has told him he must have been suffering from chronic kidney desease before. I just wondered if this is always true and if yes, how comes nobody noticed? His doctor also told him he will get better if he looses weight and stops smoking and that there is no reason to be afraid, but my friend says he has changed, because he began suffering from anxiety and cannot stand to be alonde any longer. So my friend is very worried and I am doing some research.
Thanks for any answers.

[jbeany]

Hi pocoloco.

I think it would depend on what stage the kidney failure was.  Do you know what percentage of function he has left?  Many people show no physicals signs of kidney failure until their function has dropped down below 25% or so.  Most patients don't start dialysis until their function is under 15%.  If he is at the very beginning stages of kidney failure, then yes, he could conceivably lead a long, reasonably healthy normal life if he keeps from doing any further damage.  Losing weight, getting his blood pressure under control, and stopping smoking would all be very important if that's his goal.

As for no one noticing - standard blood work that is done at most physicals will pick up signs of kidney failure.  If his function is only starting to decline, though, it might not have shown up until just recently.  And if he's like most people who think they are healthy, he might not have been very good at regular physicals.

[Stoday]

Sounds a bit like me.

I used to smoke like a chimney, weighed 245lb, jetted all over the world for my job and I thought I was in great health. I picked up a bug in Pakistan (thought it was maleria but it wasn't) and had a week in hospital. During verious tests they found my kidneys were failing. I should stop smoking & lose weight etc.

I was a good boy and stopped smoking (that was hard). Not long after that I had a heart attack. Three months later I got ulcerative colitis that lasted a year before I got a cure. I lost 55lb because of the colitis, so maybe it wasn't completely bad.

Maybe it took longer than if I hadn't stopped smoking or lost the weight; I expect to start dialysis in October this year. It will then be 6 years since I was first diagnosed with kidney failure. I suppose I should be depressed, but I'm not. I just think I was lucky to survive that heart attack so every day is an extra.