What are the most common causes of sepsis? In this article we will describe what are the most common causes of sepsis. A bit of background first. What is sepsis? Sepsis is a rare but serious complication of an infection. It is the body’s extreme response to an infection. It is a life-threatening medical emergency […]
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Lithium and chronic kidney disease: to stop or not to stop? In a recent paper this question has been debated again (Velani, 2023). Two cases are discussed. Lithium is the first-line treatment as a mood stabiliser in bipolar affective disorder and can prevent suicide in mood disorder. However, lithium therapy in this patient group is
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Itching and chronic kidney disease (CKD) Itching is a persistent and common complaint in more advanced CKD and kidney failure. It can be called CKD-associated pruritus (which means itching), ‘uraemic pruritus’ or ‘renal pruritus’. You may have the urge to scratch, but that actually makes the itching worse. Scratching releases substances that induce itching. There
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Did Mozart die of kidney failure? Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was one of the most prolific and influential composers of the Classical period. Sadly, he died towards the end of his thirty-fifth year, at his rented apartment in Vienna, in 1791. There has been no agreement as to the
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Why does this matter? Pain that occurs during the draining phase of peritoneal dialysis (PD), or drain pain, is an underreported complication of PD. PD drain pain can be in the shoulder, not just the tummy What did this study show? In a recent international study of over 1600 patients on PD, 28 percent had
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Have you ever wondered what abnormalities of the kidneys and urinary tract are babies born with? What are their symptoms? Can they lead to kidney failure? Read this article to find out more. What’s normal? Babies are usually born with two kidneys. The kidneys filter waste and excess water from the blood. This filtered waste
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How to check kidney blood tests at home – Patient Knows Best We recommend your join an excellent free web service called Patient Knows Best (PKB). It shows your latest blood test results. It can also show (for some people), your letters and medicines, plus information about your diagnoses and treatment. You can also set up
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Kidney blood tests explained Keep track of your kidney data with PKB In this article, we will explain the commonly measured kidney blood tests, urine and other tests. Minerals Kidney function tests Other electrolytes Liver tests Bone tests Lipids (fats) Haematology (blood). Minerals Sodium (Na) Sodium is a mineral in the blood that is involved
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Debates in nephrology: CKD staging system Introduction In 2002, the US National Kidney Foundation (NKF) released a new classification of chronic kidney disease (CKD) (Levey et al, 2003). This classification system represented a new conceptual framework for the diagnosis of CKD, moving away from an diagnosis-based system to a scheme based on disease severity defined
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When to start should dialysis This a controversial area [“not another one. Is it complicated (again) docs?!” CKDEx Ed] Yup, sure is. And doctors tend to vary with regard to recommending an earlier or later start to dialysis. The ‘earlier start’ group tend to want to avoid the risks of an emergency start (e.g. at
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