Hello, my name is Katherine and this is going to be the best video about kidney disease
you'll watch this year.
I'm telling you this because there are 5, yes just 5 things you absolutely need to know
If you want to lower your creatinine and reverse kidney damage
These things are the 5 keys to your success against kidney disease.
In today's video I'll show what they are and how to use them to unlock your best health
and wellness.
And, by the way if you are new here on 00kidney, welcome to our journey together to a better
kidney health!
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What I'll show you in this video is that there are ways to get your kidney function back.
It's not easy, I know, but I've seen people do it.
And some of them have even shared their stories here on 00kidney.
Let their stories be your motivation to beat kidney disease.
Now, let's start immediately with the very first key to your success against kidney disease
key to success number 1: know your enemy Ok, this is in my opinion the very first thing
doctors should tell their patients when they diagnose them with kidney disease.
We're talking about assessing the damage here, ok?
And this is very important.
I know this part is scary, especially for new patients.
I've even met people who would prefer not to know.
But also consider this.
PATIENTS WHO TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THEIR HEALTHCARE AND TREATMENT DECISIONS ALWAYS
HAVE BETTER OVERALL OUTCOMES.
This is why you need to know very well how much your kidneys are working, and you have
to take control.
Here's how to do this.
In this slide we can see the stages of CKD and the symptoms each one of these stages
will cause.
Now, there are 5 stages of CKD, from stage 1 where there are basically no symptoms and
no complications to stage 5.
As we can see, the severity of the symptoms increases as the functionality of the kidneys
decreases, right?
The stage of chronic kidney disease you're in depends on the GFR, or glomerular filtration
rate.
That's an accurate measure of how much your kidneys are working.
Don't worry if you don't know what GFR means, I'll explain that in a moment.
For now, let's say that it corresponds to your kidney function.
As we can see here, if your GFR is more than 90, or 90% of kidney function, you are in
stage 1, ok?
Between 89 and 60 is stage 2.
Stage 3 is between 60 and 30 and stage 4 is below 30.
In stage 5, kidney function is less than 15 percent.
Now, there are two very important things to learn from this.
First of all, don't' trust the symptoms of CKD for assessing the damage.
I always tell this to every single patient asking me for advice about the symptoms of
kidney disease they may be having.
If you have reasons to think your kidneys are not working properly, get tested.
As soon as you can.
Especially if you have one or more of the following risk factors:
diabetes, high blood pressure, a family history of kidney disease, heart problems, obesity
and being over 60 years old.
If you have one or more of these risk factors, especially diabetes and high blood pressure,
get checked regularly.
The sooner you get diagnosed, the more you know about your condition, the better the
outcome.
Consider that very few people get diagnosed at the FIRST stages, because as we can see
here, there are basically no symptoms.
This means that people get instead diagnosed at the advanced stages, when things are more
difficult to manage.
This situation could be totally different if more people would get tested before seeing
the symptoms.
A lot more people could completely stop kidney disease.
Now, as you can see from my slide, I've listed "foam in the urine", as a symptom of stage
2, but that's actually really, really difficult to spot.
Actually, when people get diagnosed this early, is mainly because they were being tested due
to risk factors for CKD they have.
The second thing we need to learn from this slide is that someone with 50% kidney function
will need a totally different diet and treatment approach from someone with let's say 10% kidney
function.
First of all, to treat the different symptoms and complications, obviously.
But there's also going to be a different potassium restriction, different phosphorus restriction
and this is going to completely change the diet too.
And I really feel like many patients have no idea how important this is.
How to change this?
With the second key to reverse kidney disease
Second key: Being able to understand your lab values.
Doing frequent checkups, blood draws, urine samples have become a part of the life of
people suffering from kidney disease.
These lab tests are very important for you, and your doctor should evaluate all the numbers,
interpret them and tell you everything you need to know.
In an ideal world.
Unfortunately, the world in which many patients live is less than ideal.
This is why I'm telling you that to beat kidney disease, you have to know it.
You have to know in what stage you are and what is the cause of the kidney damage.
It's not enough to get tested, you will need to know what the most important values on
your lab results mean, ok?
But don't worry, you don't have to be able to read all the numbers on your labs.
Just the most important ones, the 4 LIFE-SAVING TESTS.
Let's see what they are
first life-saving test, Blood pressure.
High blood pressure is the second-leading cause of kidney failure after diabetes.
But it's not just that.
High blood pressure can cause kidney damage and kidney damage can cause high blood pressure.
Yes, it's a vicious circle, if left untreated.
So it's very important to keep blood pressure always under control.
What are the good scores for this test?
Below 120/80 is the best result possible.
Below 130/80 means elevated blood pressure, and it's usually treatable.
If your results are above 139 on 89, it means you have high blood pressure.
This will require medications and lifestyle changes that your doctor will prescribe you.
Now, this is a test you can even do at home, with a very simple device.
Doing it correctly, and regularly, is the key to understand if what you're doing to
improve is working.
Always write down what your results are, so you can understand the trend.
Second test is protein in the urine.
Protein in the urine is the very first symptom of kidney disease for a lot of patients.
Unfortunately, not everyone gets checked for this regularly or their doctors don't pay
enough attention to a test that could save so many lives.
So, if you don't have kidney disease but you are at risk for it, get checked and pay close
attention to Albumin.
What are the good scores for this test?
Less than 30 mg of albumin per gram of urinary creatinine.
If you have more than this, it's a sign of kidney damage.
Third test is Serum Creatinine, or creatinine in blood.
This is one of the main indicators of kidney function.
So, how to read this test?
Normal levels of creatinine in the blood are approximately 0.6 to 1.2 milligrams per deciliter,
in adults.
Now, when these levels rise, it means that kidney function is decreasing.
If this happens, there's another value we should be looking at.
The fourth, and most important life-saving test is glomerular filtration rate, or GFR.
GFR is the most sensitive and accurate gauge of kidney function.
GFR tells you exactly what your stage of CKD is.
As I was saying this is the most important value, it tells you exactly how much your
kidneys are working.
So, get checked regularly.
Do regular checkups to monitor creatinine and GFR.
And remember that everything you do must be fine tuned according to your stage of ckd,
symptoms and complications.
But there are some dietary habits that work for every single kidney disease patient.
Let's see what they are
Key to your success number 3, the plant based renal diet
The diet is very important if you want to reverse kidney disease.
You should leverage your way of eating and use it to nourish your kidneys instead of
burdening them.
To do this, the renal diet doesn't have to be complicated.
It has to be effective.
This is why many patients have great results with the plant based renal diet.
The main focus should be to reduce protein intake to the minimum, especially those coming
from meat and processed foods.
Best way to achieve this?
Take a look at this slide.
These are all the processed foods you don't want in your renal diet.
Start replacing processed foods, sugar or sodium rich foods including sweetened drinks,
added sugars, fatty foods, processed meats with
foods rich in all those nutrients your kidneys need.
follow a healthy diet of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes and nuts
Now, this is not a vegan diet, it's the smart way of eating to support the recovery of your
kidneys.
In fact, lean protein and fish are also included.
But focus on greens low in phosphorus and potassium, like the foods in this slide.
Yes, this is how you eat smart.
And I know that finding the right foods to eat on a daily basis is hard for people suffering
from kidney disease.
This is why I've made a playlist just for you.
Here you'll find the best, healthiest and tastiest superfoods to add to your renal diet.
And these aren't just fruit and veggies, there are whole grains you can eat, there are snacks
and more.
But don't forget the next KEY to your health!
This alone could save your life.
Key number 4, be very careful with the medications you're taking
Working with kidney disease patients, there's one thing that's clear for me.
More people are killed by the wrong medication or dosage than by kidney disease itself.
Now, if you want to defeat ckd, you absolutely need to double check every single medication
you are prescribed.
No, not all doctors will do this for you.
This is why I always tell people to write down, to make a list of what they're taking
everything they take and to bring this list to their doctors.
So they can double check.
Also, do not take over-the-counter medications on a regular basis.
Especially NSAIDs.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are known to cause lifelong lasting kidney damage
if taken regularly.
We are talking about very common drugs like ibuprofen, naproxen... even aspirin can cause
damage.
They are proven to cause up to 5% of chronic kidney disease new cases every year.
And I know that many people will say... oh my god I take that for my migraines ... what
do I do now?
So, listen...
I used to take them too.
It's not the end of the world.
Today, use of NSAIDs has become more common than ever.
Some people are used to take Aspirin, Ibuprofen or Naproxen at the slightest symptom of a
headache or fever.
Don't do that.
They're not harmless, it's a lot better to avoid them if you can.
Especially if your kidneys are already damaged, NSAIDs are nephrotoxic, meaning that they
can cause further damage.
So taking an ibuprofen or an aspirin regularly should be avoided by everyone, but especially
by kidney patients.
This is why it's always recommended to take analgesics at the lowest dose and for the
shortest time possible.
So talk to your health care provider if you are taking them.
Now, the most important key to improve your kidney health
Key number 5 keep diabetes and high blood pressure under control
Now, diabetes and high blood pressure are the most common cause of kidney disease.
This is why I'm telling you this is the most important key.
The kidney friendly diet, the medications, the lifestyle changes... everything you do
is basically aimed at keeping blood pressure and blood sugar levels under control.
This will give your kidneys the chance to recover.
Remember that a fasting blood sugar level less than 100 mg/dL is normal, anything between
100 to 125 mg/dL is prediabetes and If it's 126 mg/dL or higher it's diabetes.
If this happens, don't worry, it can still be managed.
The winning strategy is really simple and effective.
Eat smart, follow a healthy diet of vegetables, fruits and absolutely avoid sweetened drinks
and added sugars.
The aim here is to keep a healthy weight, which is really important to manage diabetes.
Other lifestyle changes like being physically active and avoid stress are important too.
Yes, these recommendations, with the needed adjustments, are valid for every single kidney
disease patient.
Same for blood pressure
The best way to improve your kidney health, is to improve your heart health.
Take all the necessary steps to keep a healthy blood pressure.
Remember that you can check your blood pressure at home easily, and you should do it regularly.
Most of the steps I'm describing in this video... the renal diet, the treatments... will help
reaching the goal of lowering blood pressure to a healthy level.
This is because, if you want to reverse kidney disease, it's vital to keep your blood pressure
under control.
Ok, this was the last key to your kidney health.
And stay tuned because this Friday a very interesting video is coming: I'll show you
everything you need to know about the renal vitamins.
What vitamins you need to take, what you need to avoid.
This is all for today, thank you for watching, see you there!