Kidney Support Network Podcast

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This Rakshabandhan we share a very special story of How a brother's commitment changed his Sister's life forever.

In this podcast we talk with Kidney Failure Patient Neha and her brother & a Kidney Donor Mayank.

Neha talks about how she managed her life on dialysis for multiple years before getting a kidney transplant. She not only got quality dialysis at 7Med Dialysis Clinic at Solanki Hospital of Alwar, but she ensured and managed her health even after dialysis sessions at her home.

Neha's brother Mayank came forward to donate kidneys to his sister however due to mismatch he could not donate the kidney. However, they participated in Rajasthan's first 3 recipients & 3 donor swap Kidney Transplant wherein Neha got new life in form of a new Kidney.

This Story is equally of Mayank, Neha's brother, who came forward to donate his kidney. This decision changed his sister's life but came at the cost of personal relationship.
Message from Neha -

1. Never stop following your passion, your dreams, your work. Just focus on taking care of your health, follow doctor's prescription and continue your life.
2. Strictly follow your Nephrologist's prescription and suggestion. She shares how her Transplant Nephrologist Dr.Suraj Godara guided her to take right decisions at critical times.
3. Find a good Dialysis Clinic which can work like a partner in your dialysis journey like I found 7Med India clinic in Alwar.

Message for our listeners from Mayank -

1. Never Give Up. During kidney failure or transplant journey you might face hardship or get demotivated at times but never give up. You never know when things will suddenly change for good.
2. Trust Your Doctors.

Things One Can learn from Neha & Mayank's story

1. Never stop dreaming & enjoying your life. Being on Dialysis after kidney failure is an important but a small part of life not life.
2. Choose a dialysis clinic very wisely. To know what you should look in a dialysis clinic you can refer our podcast on the topic. https://www.buzzsprout.com/2112582/episodes/12465659
3. Follow your Nephrologist's instructions. Doctors work very hard to ensure patients are cured and treated properly.
4. Majority of Living Kidney Donors in India are Female. This needs to change as quickly as possible and can be done by understanding the right information & staying away from hearsay and misinformation.

Know more about 7Med India Dialysis Clinics :- https://www.7medindia.com/
Know more about Solanki Hospital, Alwar :- http://solankihospital.com/
Kidney Support Network trust visit our website at the link below:- https://www.kidneysupportnetwork.com/

Follow us on Facebook :- https://www.facebook.com/theksn
Follow us on Twitter :- https://twitter.com/theksnindia
To know more about Mayank Sharma, the man behind the initiative, you may visit his profile at the link below :- https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayanksharmaa/

https://www.kidneysupportnetwork.com/

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Dialyzers, which are also known as Artificial Kidneys are the most important component of Hemodialysis. In simple words Dialyzers are filters which are used to filter blood and remove waste products, excess fluid and toxins from the body during dialysis.

Key Points

1. Dialyzer Surface Area -
   1. Dialyzer surface area is measured in Square Meters or generally you will se dialyzers size written as 1.3, 1.5 or 1.8. This 1.3 or 1.8 means that the dialyzer's surface area is 1.3 sqmt or 1.8 sqmt. The more the better. However decision on surface area shall be made in consultation with your treating Nephrologist.
2. Dialyzer Flux
   1. As we had told you that dialyzer has membranes which have microscopic holes. The size of these holes decide which all molecules can come out of blood.
   2. Its a two way process - Higher the dialyzer flux - it can remove larger molecules from body (eg. Beta2M). However, with high flux dialysers there is always a risk of water/dialysate entering into the blood stream. Thus its very important to ensure water quality is as per required standards.
3. Single use Vs. Re-use of Dialyzer
   1. Single Use or Re-Use - Understanding this is very simple. Dialyzers are either used only once and then discarded or its re-used.
   2. Obviously single use dialysis is going to be costly as a new dialyzer is tobe used in every dialysis procedure. In India due to cost considerations most of the patients are dialyzed by reusing dialyzers.
   3. When it comes to re-usage of dialyzers its important to understand that after every dialysis few of these hollow fibers get clogged or closed. Thus overall efficiency of Dialyzer gets reduced. And its essential to ensure dialyzers are not re-used once they fall below a certain efficiency. This is measured with term Fibre bundle volume in technical term.
   4. Considering that there is no manual way of checking fibre bundle volume there are Dialyzer re-processing machines which are used to not only clean and disinfect the dialyzers but also check if the efficiency of dialyzer and cases of damage.
   5. Patients shall be alarmed if they want to take dialysis in clinics where dialyzers are reused and the clinic does not have Automatic Dialyzer Reprocessing machine. And try not to take dialysis in clinics which do reuse of dialyzers and do not have a automatic dialyzer reprocessor machine. In case you can't avoid taking dialysis in such clinics then try and keep the no. of times a dialyzer is re-used to minimum.
   6. Number of reuse - This is one of the very interesting discussions I have had with patients and doctors both. How many times do we re-use dialyzers ? So we all need to understand - if a dialyzer is declared fit to be reused by the automatic reprocessing machine it shall be treated as good to be reused and else not. It can be 3rd time or 10th time. Considering the process is automated without any human intervention it eliminates chances of error or miscalculation.
4. Company / Brand of Dialyzers :- Government of India has fairly stringent norms for dialyse registration & thus for patients dialyzer brand shall not be a major concern. So, if you are asked to pay more for a particular brand of dialyzer then its better to save the money and use it in getting 1 extra dialysis a month or proper medication etc. Again a very personal choice and there is no wrong decision here.

At the end once you are equipped with information around 'Dialyzers' please do talk to your Nephrologist before changing anything or any protocol.

https://www.kidneysupportnetwork.com/

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Water - Such a simple thing but but plays a major role in our lives.

Water if not clean can make you very very sick.

However, for Kidney Failure patients who are on Hemodialysis water plays another major important role.

On one hand Kidney Failure patients have to restrict water intake based on their residual kidney function and capacity to remove extra fluid from body.

On other hand a lot of Water is used in the Hemodialysis procedure.

In today's podcast we will talk about the importance of quality of water used in Hemodialysis.

So to draw comparison and to explain the kind of exposure Dialysis patients have with Water lets understand the volume of water we get exposed

A normal healthy human - 5-6 liters per day i.e. 24 hours | (Acceptable TDS limits - Upto 100-200)

A hemodialysis patient - 120 - 192 liters in a 4 hour hemodialysis session (Acceptable TDS limits - less then 10, but strict compliance to AAMI/EU/ISN guidelines)

There are Water purification or treatment plants specifically designed for filtering water to a level where it can be used for Hemodialysis.

There are very stringent international guidelines which are now being adopted in India as well where specific parameters are provided on which filtered water has to qualify. Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and the European Best Practice Guidelines (EBPG) are two such guidelines. ISO standards, Indian Society of Nephrology - Guidelines

These guidelines define the acceptable limits for various contaminants, including bacteria, endotoxins, chemical impurities, and water conductivity.

In my experience Very few Dialysis centers regularly test their water sources, dialysis machines, and dialysate to ensure compliance with these standards.

As a patient, you shall be aware of these facts and you may also ask your dialysis clinic or dialysis provider to show the water testing report which can provide you details of the quality of water which is being used in your dialysis.

Any compromise in the water quality may lead to health issues and in extreme conditions be fatal for patient's life.

Woh kehte hain na ... JAL HI JEEVAN HAI. To jagrook rahiyee aur apne dialysis program me sacchee partner aur bhagidaar baniyee.

https://www.kidneysupportnetwork.com/

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#007
This episode tries to understand the emotional impact of Kidney Failure on patients and how different people react to the changes Kidney Failure or ESRD brings to their life.

I share Three Patient Stories, each one with unique perspective and showing how kidney failure patients reacted differently to their situation which lead to an altogether different lifestyle and outlook of life while being on Dialysis.

Key Issues which Kidney Failure and CKD patients face are Lifestyle changes, Chronic Pain, Social isolation, Unpredictability about Future, side effects of medicines, frequent hospital visits and much more. The issues and problems can't be avoided however with right thought process and planning the same can be managed better.

Things patients can do to ensure better & healthier lifestyle while being on dialysis are :-

1. Exercise and being physically active
2. Staying connected to your loved ones & Friends
3. Do activities you enjoy and develop new interests
4. Have Fun - Sounds odd but don't miss small chances to laugh and fave fun
5. Talk about your emotions and how you fee - Remember even our closest people can not understand us all the time so speak up & share your feelings
6. If you are continuously feeling low seek help from friends, Family and if needed talk to your doctor about your feelings and they will guide you better.
7. Consult with your Physician/treating Nephrologist on regular intervals.

To know more about Kidney Support Network please visit our website at https://www.kidneysupportnetwork.com/
Listen to KSN Podcast at :-

Apple Podcast link
https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/kidney-support-network-podcast/id1675128887
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/73Zy1DZo0gcBHG9ocYYuOe?si=15fa8fd720924781
KidneySupportNetwork.com
https://podcasts.kidneysupportnetwork.com
Amazon Music
https://music.amazon.in/podcasts/14ac6d72-3874-426d-a1e7-c781b0522d78/kidney-support-network-podcast

https://www.kidneysupportnetwork.com/

If u liked the podcast, have a query or want to connect with us - leave us a message

#006
In this episode of Kidney Support Network, I discuss Kidney Failure, Options for Kidney Failure Patients, Peritoneal Dialysis, Kidney Transplant, Impact of COVID-19 on Kidney Failure Patients and a lot of issues in candid discussion with Dr.Jagmeet Singh.
Dr.Jagmeet Singh is a renowned Nephrologist, Director of Nephrology at Guthrie Healthcare Systems in New York, United States (https://www.guthrie.org/ , https://tinyurl.com/DrJagmeetSingh), Recognised as a 2021 Top Physician Under 40 by the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PAMED) , https://tinyurl.com/TopUnder40
Key Takeaway -
Peritoneal Membrane can work as 3rd Kidney,
Patients shall focus on knowing what's going on with their body during dialysis,
Explore and understand all your options,
Talk to your Nephrologist and stay on course as per your Doctor's prescription.
To Know more about Dr.Jagmeet Singh please click on link below:-
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jagmeet-singh-47835327/
To know more about Kidney Support Network trust visit our website at the link below:-
https://www.kidneysupportnetwork.com/

To know more about Mayank Sharma, the man behind the initiative, you may visit his profile at the link below :-
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayanksharmaa/

Our Website :- https://www.kidneysupportnetwork.com/

https://www.kidneysupportnetwork.com/