Why do some people die from early kidney failure?

[*kana*]

I know it seems like a funny question to ask, but I hear it alot.  I'm not asking how someone dies when they have unknown acute failure or have been on D for years etc.  I am asking about a guy on TV that was told without a kidney transplant he would die in 5mths.  Another person I heard about is 21 and they told the family she wouldnt live that long without a transplant.
 
Wasn't dialysis an option for them and why?

[Rerun]

Maybe some people deny dialysis treatment.  Lots of people say "I'm never doing that.... dialysis 3 time a week "  Then when they get really sick they give in. 

There are people on the transplant list waiting for a transplant and not on dialysis yet.  But, I would think dialysis is always an option.

Just thoughts.

[jbeany]

Option 1 - if the person has other health issues, then statistically, they won't "live very long without a transplant."  When I started D, the stats said I had 8 years of life expectancy.  If you have even worse health problems, your odds are even worse.  This, of course, is simply pointing out that someone who is 21 but not likely to make it to 30 is clearly not going to live very long compared to a healthy person who is likely to make it to 80.

Option 2 -  tv reporters tend to exaggerate the seriousness of kidney transplant needs - at least in terms of forgetting that people can and do survive for years on D.  "He could live 20 years on life support" just doesn't make as good of press as the idea that a kidney patient who opts out of D is going to die in weeks or months.

Option 3 - there are a few rare cases where D just doesn't work well for some people.  Maybe the patient has run out of access sites. Maybe they have been unable to find a filter that the patient isn't allergic too.

[fearless]

It is weird - there's a commercial running in my region for a hospital that does transplants.  And the ad has people talking like: they get sick and they go to the hospital and have a kidney transplant.  That saves their life, they go back to normal, and if it weren't for the hospital that gave them a new kidney they would have been dead.  It's so far off what really happens that I don't even understand how it's an advertisement for anything.  Why do they have to advertise that they do transplants anyway?  Seems like anyone wanting and needing a transplant will definitely know where the hospitals are that do transplants: but they'll also know that the ad is bogus.

[Whamo]

I think they advertise because they need the business.  They want your business.  They don't want you to go to another hospital. 

[kristina]

There are many patients with autoimmune diseases like Lupus/SLE/MCTD
who react allergic to many treatments and heaven help them if they develop kidney trouble
and need dialysis or a transplant.

I have known quite a few Lupus-patients with kidney failure and they all developed
huge medical problems because they reacted allergic to dialysis treatment.

One Lupus patient, a dear friend of mine, had terrible problems with dialysis
and she suffered immensely and because of that she was put on top of the transplant list.
But her allergies continued after the transplant and she died shortly after.

So, as a Lupus/SLE/MCTD-patient myself I hold on to my pre-dialysis “two little fighters”
for as long as I possibly can.

[Riki]

When you say "on TV," Do you mean on the news, or TV shows?

TV shows get it wrong all the time.  It used to really tick me off because I knew that the person wasn't going to "die in hours" without a transplant, or "need another round of dialysis" (what the heck does that mean anyway?) in order to live.  BTW, I've heard both of these on different TV shows

[jbeany]

When you say "on TV," Do you mean on the news, or TV shows?

TV shows get it wrong all the time.  It used to really tick me off because I knew that the person wasn't going to "die in hours" without a transplant, or "need another round of dialysis" (what the heck does that mean anyway?) in order to live.  BTW, I've heard both of these on different TV shows

Good point, Riki.  I was only thinking of the tv news and newspaper articles.  If it's a fictional show, all bets are off - none of them ever get it right!