New to Stage 4 CKD

[thomascald]

I am 47 years old and have stage 4 ckd and congestive heart failure. My EGR is at 22 and ejection fraction is at 23% My kidney doc told me to look to family members for a donation for transplant, but to no avail there is no one. If that's the case, shouldn't they be looking towards dialysis? Also, they want to implant a defribulator for my heart. I'm tired of feeling sick and being depressed. I am new to all this and don't know what to do.

[Jayhawker]

Welcome to this forum🐶

Have you completed the transplant evaluation process? If not you should talk with your nephrologist about that.

When I reached Stage IV my nephrologist provided patient education about renal failure treatment options, ie, transplant, dialysis (PD and HD, in home and in center), and palliative care.

I’ve been in renal failure since the first week of January 2017. I’m not yet on dialysis.

So, it sounds like it may be time to visit with your nephrologist about provision or renal failure patient education. However, it may be some time before you will need dialysis. So you may also want to talk with your nephrologist about treatment goals (eg, can your renal function be improved; if not, can it be stabilized). And finally, when does your nephrologist expect you will progress to renal failure? When will you need dialysis? It may not be possible to guesstimate these but it’s still worth asking from my perspective.

Jayhawker

[Bassetmommer NKF Ambassador]

HI thomascald

Welcome to our group. There are many things that you can do to forestall dialysis. I agree with Jayhawker that becoming educated is the best answer. Talk to your doctor and lay out a plan to deal with both issues. What can you do for diet? Can you see a renal dietician? Are all the drugs you on the best for both conditions.? What habits can you change? Do you smoke for example? Learn about the options of dialysis so you know and can not be fearful of what is involved.

Here is a simple plan to start:

1. Eat out infrequently. You have less control over your food choices.

2. No fast foods

3. No process foods such as frozen dinners or packaged products

3. Less meat the better, chicken and fish still have high potassium, eat sparingly

4. 1-2 cups of coffee and use real crème not non-dairy

5. Lots of water up to 2 liters unless told by the doctor to drink less or more

6. Incorporate more whole foods in your diet: vegetables and fruits

7. Little to no alcohol especially beer One glass of wine might be ok

8. Cook without salt. You will get used to it and then eating stuff with salt will taste bad

9. Do not take supplements, OTC drugs or other without checking with the doctor first.

10. Get Educated. Take classes on how to manage kidney disease. There are classes on the internet as will as maybe by your local Kidney Foundation davita.com/education/kidney...

[not2worry in reply to Bassetmommer]

Great advice! One other thing is do not use any salt substitutes on the market....they are worse than real salt. For any pain relief stick with Tylenol. Motrin, Aleve and the like are like feeding your kidneys poison.