What Lifestyle Changes Can I Make
Chronic kidney disease will gradually get worse, but there is plenty you can do to slow the progression and improve your quality of life. Changes you should make include:
- eat a healthy diet. That means eating a variety of vegetables, fruits, wholegrain cereals, lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, legumes and beans, and low-fat dairy products. Make sure you limit salt to less than 6g a day and limit your intake of saturated and trans fats. In the later stages of chronic kidney disease, you may need to follow specific instructions from your doctor on what you can eat or drink
- maintaining a healthy weight. If you have chronic kidney disease, you should ideally have a BMI of 25 or less
- limit alcohol to less than 2 standard drinks a day
- be physically active on most, preferably all, days of the week. Aim for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous physical activity each week, and make sure you do some muscle strengthening exercises
- take medicines to treat high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol or other underlying conditions
If you are being treated for chronic kidney disease, your doctors may need to change other medicines you are on, since many medicines can affect the kidneys, such as blood pressure drugs and anti-inflammatories. Some medicines which leave the body through the kidneys may need to have their dose adjusted.
What Is The Most Common Cause Of Shortness Of Breath
Shortness of breath, a symptom known medically as dyspnea, is not a disease or disorder in itself, but can be due to many different causes. That is why it is important to observe when it appears and what symptoms are related to be able to determine more precisely what it is due to.
Do you wonder why I feel like I am short of breath ? In the following FastlyHealarticle we are going to explain the causes that can cause it, likewise, we will also differentiate shortness of breath depending on the related symptoms that you may have.
You Have Unstable Blood Sugar
You dont have to be diabetic to have a blood sugar problem. We help many of our patients here at Parsley Health pull the brakes on the rollercoaster of symptoms theyve been experiencing from spikes and dips in blood sugar.
Take a typical on-the-go breakfast for many people: a pastry and sugary coffee drink. That wave of sugar creates a rapid spike in your blood sugar and causes your pancreas to release insulin to stabilize it. As your blood sugar returns to normal, you crash, feeling tired. Youll also feel hungry again pretty quickly, leading you to reach for carbs and perpetuating the cycle.
All that sugar adds up. When people consumed 40g of added sugar a day in the form of a can of soda for three weeks, they showed at least a 60 percent increase in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation . Inflammation has been associated with many chronic diseases, including depression. Learning to eat a combination of fiber, protein, and healthy fat at each meal and never skipping a meal can help you maintain steady blood sugar throughout the day and tame inflammation.
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What Are Breathing Difficulties Symptoms Causes Diagnosis Treatment And Prevention
Feeling as if its hard to catch your breath for a minute or two is not unusual, especially if youve been exercising or doing similar activities such as vigorously cleaning the house or carrying heavy bundles. Thats because when we exert ourselves, our muscles require more oxygen than they do when we are at rest. Our breathing rate momentarily quickens, and our heart beats faster to meet that need.
But if its hard to catch your breath for longer than a few minutes, it may be due to other causes. Oftentimes, those causes are easily fixable or explainable. You may, for example, simply need to loosen a too-tight belt or take it a little easier after spending a long time in bed.
In other cases, however, breathlessness what doctors call dyspnea may signal the presence of an underlying health problem such as a respiratory illness, heart disease, allergies, or obesity.
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Medications For High Blood Pressure
One of the main ways to reduce the progression of kidney damage is to manage high blood pressure. Good control of blood pressure is vital to protect the kidneys.
People with CKD should aim to get their blood pressure down to below 140/90mmHg but if you also have diabetes you should aim to get it down to below 130/80mmHg.
There are many types of blood pressure drugs. Medicines called angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors are used to control high blood pressure in people with CKD.
As well as reducing blood pressure around the body and reducing the strain on blood vessels, ACE inhibitors give additional protection to the kidney.
ACE inhibitors include:
Side effects of ACE inhibitors include:
- a persistent, dry cough
- tiredness or weakness
Most of these side effects should pass within a few days, although some people continue to have a dry cough.
If the side effects of ACE inhibitors are particularly troublesome, you can be given an alternative medication called an angiotensin-II receptor blocker . This group of medicines includes:
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How Common Is Long Covid
Different studies have varied wildly in their results, estimating that anywhere from 10% to 60% or more of COVID-19 patients may be affected by lingering symptoms such as fatigue, sleep problems, and mood changes. Even those who werent hospitalized and only experienced mild coronavirus symptoms may still experience long COVID. Perhaps the most startling research has suggested that up to one third of COVID-19 survivors are likely to suffer neurological or mental health problems within six months, ranging from mood disorders to dementia or stroke.
If youve had and recovered from COVID-19, though, try not to let the numbers alarm you. Many long COVID symptoms are hard to quantify and some may be due to the trauma of the pandemic with all its stress, grief, isolation, and upheaval, rather than the virus itself. After all, how many of us havent experienced anxiety, a depressed mood, or had trouble sleeping or concentrating at some point during this difficult time?
The length of the pandemic, its escalating death toll, and all the associated lockdowns, quarantines, and financial hardships have taken a huge toll on our collective mental health, with skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, and other emotional problemsall of which can trigger physical symptoms as well.
Similarly, its common for long-term health effects such as fatigue, anxiety, and PTSD to follow treatment for any life-threatening illness, especially if it involves hospitalization .
Dialysis For Kidney Failure
Dialysis artificially removes waste from your blood. There are two forms of dialysis haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. Peritoneal dialysis is further broken down into two main types, continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis and automated peritoneal dialysis .The choice of dialysis method depends of factors such as your age, health and lifestyle. Over 2,000 Australian adults start renal replacement therapy each year.
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What Are Heart Palpitations
Most of the time you wont notice your heartbeat, but if you suddenly become aware of it, this may concern you or come as a surprise. The feeling of being aware of your heart beating is described as a palpitation.
Palpitations can range from simply being aware of your hearts activity to the sensation of it beating faster and harder than usual. It can sometimes feel like your heart is missing beats or you have a heart flutter.
Changes to your heartbeat are usually not serious. But always see your doctor if you have palpitations or feel you have an irregular heart beat.
Dial triple zero if you have heart palpitations along with these symptoms:
- severe shortness of breath
What Is Heart Failure
Heart failure occurs when the heart is no longer able to pump a sufficient amount of blood through the body. Similar to COPD, people with heart failure can be somewhat stable, or they can experience exacerbations . There are many conditions that can lead to heart failure, the most predominant being coronary artery disease.
When the heart is too weak to pump enough blood to the cells, tissues, and organs, every system in the body is affected: Muscles weaken, weight loss occurs, fatigue and breathlessness are common, and physical activity becomes increasingly difficult.1
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Shortness Of Breath After Very Little Effort
Why this happens:
Being short of breath can be related to the kidneys in two ways. First, extra fluid in the body can build up in the lungs. And second, anemia can leave your body oxygen-starved and short of breath.
What patients said:
At the times when I get the shortness of breath, its alarming to me. It just fears me. I think maybe I might fall or something so I usually go sit down for awhile.
I couldnt sleep at night. I couldnt catch my breath, like I was drowning or something. And, the bloating, cant breathe, cant walk anywhere. It was bad.
How Me/cfs And Depression Are Alike
ME/CFS and depression can cause fatigue, sleep problems, a lack of energy, pain, digestive problems, headaches, memory lapses, or trouble with concentration.
The way you live with ME/CFS is similar to the way you live with depression. You can try cutting back on activities or avoiding anything that causes stress.
ME/CFS and depression are chronic illnesses. Both conditions may last for years, although your symptoms could be better or worse at times.
ME/CFS and depression are more common in adults, but also affect children and teens. Women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with either ME/CFS or depression.
ME/CFS and depression often affect more than one member of the same family.
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What Is Shortness Of Breath
Shortness of breath clinically called dyspnea is used to describe the subjective feeling of impaired breathing. The term comprises a wide range of respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath, increased respiratory rate, or altered depth in respiration.
Shortness of breath is a scary condition where one feels a tight gasp in their chest, air hunger, difficulty breathing, breathlessness, or a feeling of suffocation.
Expediting shortness of breath is possible in a healthy person too. A quite strenuous exercise, extreme temperatures, obesity, and higher altitude can create shortness of breath in most people. However, they regain their breath within a minute or two.
Shortness of breath is a medical condition when it occurs frequently without any trigger per se.
Surprising Long Covid Symptoms
As of today, there’s no one treatment for long COVID-19.
It’s a complicated illness that can affect multiple areas of the body. Many symptoms can come and go. What’s more, one person’s long COVID-19 course can look very different from another’s.
Here are some common long COVID-19 symptoms:
1. Mood disorders
The COVID-19 illness itself or its effect on the bodycan cause mental health illness. People have developed depression and anxiety after their COVID-19 infection. For others, their preexisting mood disorder can get worse. Some ICU survivors also experience post-traumatic stress disorder .
2. Sleep issues
COVID-19 survivors may experience insomnia. Some may have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Others experience new-onset nightmares. Sleep apnea can be seen as well, sometimes due to weight gain from the prolonged illness.
3. Breathing problems
Breathing is normally an unconscious process something you do without thinking.Shortness of breathmeans you’re consciously thinking about breathing and having difficulty doing so. Patients can experience shortness of breath after exertion or even at rest. A persistent cough is also a common post COVID-19 symptom.
4. Brain dysfunction, including brain fog
Brain fog is a common long COVID-19 symptom and may persist for weeks or longer. Symptoms can include inattention, cognitive troubles, fatigue, behavioral troubles, and other neurological symptoms. Less frequently, long COVID-19 can cause chronic fatigue syndrome .
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Thyroid Issues Are To Blame
Your thyroid gland produces hormones involved in metabolism and growth, releasing the hormones only when needed. But when your thyroid gets out of whack , your thyroid can overproduce or underproduce these hormones, leading to a range of physical and mental symptoms.
In a large 2015 study of people diagnosed with thyroid conditions, researchers linked an overactive thyroid to anxiety, while an underactive thyroid was associated with depression. Another study found that 60 percent of patients with hypothyroidism reported symptoms of depression, while 63 percent reported symptoms of anxiety.
Researchers still arent exactly sure what underlying mechanism links thyroid disorders with depression and anxietythere may be severalbut the relationship between thyroid hormones and mood regulation is likely stronger than previously thought.
Symptoms & Stages Of Ckd
Chronic kidney disease can take years to develop and in most cases it progresses slowly. In its early stages, the patient may not even realize there is a problem. The symptoms of early kidney disease can be subtle and may mimic other conditions. Having regular laboratory testing of your blood and urine done at your doctors office is the surest way to monitor the efficiency of your kidneys.
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Being Unfit Or Having An Unhealthy Weight
When we are unfit, our muscles get weaker. This includes the muscles we use to breathe. Weaker muscles need more oxygen to work, so the weaker our muscles, the more breathless we feel. Its really important to keep active so you can manage your breathlessness better.
Being an unhealthy weight can also contribute to make us feel breathless.
- If youre underweight, your breathing muscles will be weaker.
- If youre overweight, it takes more effort to breathe and move around. Having more weight around the chest and stomach restricts how much your lungs can move. If you have a body mass index of 25 or more, youre more likely to get breathless compared to people with a healthy weight.
People who are severely overweight can develop obesity hypoventilation syndrome. This is when poor breathing leads to lower oxygen levels and higher carbon dioxide levels in their blood.
Maintaining a healthy weight may help you to manage your breathlessness better and be more active. Read more about eating well for healthier lungs.
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Conditions Affecting Brain Drive To Muscles
Anxiety: generalised tiredness can be caused by anxiety. This is due to overactivity of the bodys adrenaline system.
Depression: general weariness and a feeling of generalised tiredness can also be caused by depression.
Note: anxiety and depression are both conditions which tend to cause a sense of tiredness and fatigability rather than true weakness.
Chronic pain: a general effect on energy levels can result from chronic pain. Like anxiety, it stimulates the production of chemical substances in the body which respond to pain and injury. These chemicals lead to feelings of tiredness or fatigue. In chronic pain, true weakness can result, as muscles may not be used due to pain and discomfort.
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Where Exactly To Massage
The main muscles of respiration are:
And heres one more minor respiratory muscle in the low back that could be clinically significant:
- The quadratus lumborum is a sheet of muscle spanning from the pelvis to the lower rib. A crampy quadratus lumborum can pull down on the lower rib like an action hero clinging to the landing skid of a helicopter. It may painfully resist elevation of the rib cage during inhalation and/or hurt when contracting to pull it down during exhalation. Read more about quadratus lumborum massage.
It is also well worthwhile to massage other muscles throughout the neck, shoulders, and chest. Even the upper back! Soothing them may indirectly help the actual respiration muscles. And even if they dont control breathing themselves, they often produce sensations that feel related to breathing in a way that is hard to describe. Feeling stiff in the upper back often has a lot of sensory overlap with shortness of breath they are similar and probably related sensations.
For instance, its startling how much trigger points between the shoulder blades can feel related to breathing . After professional massage of this area, patients often say something like, I feel like I can breathe again! Even if they didnt feel short of breath to begin with!
How Long Does It Take To Recover From Dehydration
The time it takes to recover from dehydration depends on how dehydrated you are. If you are mildly dehydrated, drinking water or an electrolyte-containing solution could rehydrate you in an hour or less.
If you are severely dehydrated, it may take several hours to rehydrate you. This timeframe is true whether you are rehydrating by drinking or receiving IV hydration. Depending on the cause of your dehydration, you may also experience lingering effects like headaches, muscle soreness, and fatigue for a few days as you recover.
It may be helpful to make a point of drinking extra fluids in the week following a period of severe dehydration.
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Causes Of Fatigue Shortness Of Breath And Dizziness
The combination of fatigue, shortness of breath and dizziness usually points to a problem involving the cardiovascular system, meaning the heart and circulatory system. In collaboration with the lungs, this system supplies the body tissues with oxygen as well as nutrients. It also enables removal of metabolic waste products. A significant problem in one or more components of the cardiovascular system can lead to fatigue, shortness of breath and dizziness usually due to reduced oxygen delivery to the brain and other body organs and tissues.
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