Home Page
  About Kidney Disease
  Activities
  In the Press
  About Freedom to Live
  Ask the Nephrologist
  Contact Us
     
 
Ask the Nephrologist
A panel of specialists is on hand to answer your
questions or direct you to where you can seek professional medical assistance.
 
Living free
Being diagnosed with kidney disease does not
mean life is over. Today a host of treatment options make it possible to live a full life. Find out from other kidney patients how they do it.
 
Living well
Living a healthy lifestyle is important for all of us, but
for people at risk of diabetes or kidney disease it is critical. Get tips on how you can be pro-active about prevention here.
 
WORLD KIDNEY DAY

 

Click here for more information

"Are your kidney's okay?" Take this quiz to find out 

Find out what you can do to support World Kidney Day 2008







 

 

 

  More..
 
FAQs
  • Do you have a question for our Kidney Health Education Panel?

    • Submit your question and the Panel will publish its response here once it has had time to consider your question
  • Patients diagnosed with end stage renal failure must face some difficulty with coming to the terms with this news. What support is there for patients to help them and their families adapt to living with kidney disease?

    • Being told that you have renal failure and need to go on dialysis is indeed a traumatic experience and most, if not all, patients go through various phases of something akin to a grief reaction. In Hospital Kuala Lumpur, support is offered to new patients who are trying to adjust to the diagnosis of end stage renal failure and the reality that they must regularly undergo dialysis treatment. We have social workers that offer counselling and, in certain cases, the liaison psychiatrist is called upon to help patients adjust.

    Similarly, support is also offered to patients that are already on some form of renal replacement therapy (RRT), and those that are dealing with depression and other reactions to their condition. Staff of the dialysis units may not be specifically trained as counsellors but experienced staff are an incredible support and source of encouragement to patients.

    Another valuable resource to new kidney patients are the ‘veteran’ patients that have gone through similar experiences. Their accounts of how they have lived well with kidney dysfunction for many years carry a lot of weight with new patients. Through informal counselling, they offer compassion and friendship. All these can make a tremendous difference in other patients lives.

    - Dato’ Dr Zaki Morad

     
  • Is kidney disease more prevalent in Malaysia than in other countries? Are there any particular aspects of the Malaysian lifestyle that put people more at risk of kidney ailments? Do you think there is a 'Malaysian mentality' to ignoring warning signs?
    		•
    I don’t think that kidney disease is more prevalent in Malaysia than in other countries. It is just that we are detecting the illness more efficiently now than in the past. We have better medical facilities and improved access to treatment.

    Diabetes, however, which is a major cause of renal failure is more common in this country reflecting the fact that the disease is poorly treated here. There are generally similar lifestyle habits that may make kidney disease worse as they do for cardiovascular disease – these include obesity, smoking, lack of exercise and diet.

    Kidney disease, like hypertension and diabetes, is a silent disease. It takes a lot of convincing and committment on the part of patients to get regular check ups and take medication regularly for conditions that, at that point in time, do not seem to affect them physically at all.

    Many Malaysians do not take their health seriously. Perhaps this is because healthcare is readily available and cheap good quality care is provided by the government to almost anybody who needs it. This does not seem to be related to education levels as there are even highly-trained professionals and academics who ignore their health.

    There is also an increasing trend of people wanting to try all kinds of unproven medications and traditional and complementary treatment. Direct selling, unsubstantiated claims in media advertisements and the lack of critical appraisal of products by the population lead to this state. Studies have shown that excessive consumption of certain medications such as painkillers can harm the kidney, yet large numbers of people habitually take more than the accepted dosage a day.

    - Dato’ Dr Zaki Morad
  • What advice do you have for someone who has been diagnosed with kidney failure?
    		•
    Once you have been diagnosed with renal failure, although you may feek angry, upset and disappointed, try to accept it early. There are many new things you need to set your mind to doing and this includes living a whole new lifestyle. Your life now will revolve around your treatments which may include multiple dialysis sessions. In addition, your schedule, diet, leisure time, financial spending, holidays and so on will all have to take into account your dialysis treatment and schedule.

    By all means, patients should get a second opinion about their diagnosis. But they should not be like many patients I have encountered that harbour a hope that their kidneys will recover. They get caught up seeking many different opinions before finally accepting their condition. They should realise that such delays will only cause their health to deteriorate.

    Remember, with a whole new range of treatment options available now, it is possible for kidney patients to do most things you do in life even when you are on dialysis, with some modifications. Patients will benefit most from maintaning a positive attitude.

    - Dato’ Dr Zaki Morad

     
    Freedom to live is an initiative of the Malaysian Society of Nephrology and Baxter Healthcare