Women share experiences with kidney disease
Ann-Marie Hall wishes she could turn back the clock and listen more closely to the red flags her body was giving that something wasn’t right.
She had just given birth to her second son and was constantly thirsty, craving sugar and had very little energy. At a checkup, the doctor revealed she was diabetic. But the working mom didn’t really think diabetes was a big deal, so just shrugged it off and continued with life.
“For years, I really didn’t take good care of myself,” said Hall, 50, of Windsor. “But over time, I started to lose my sight, my eyes were getting dim, I was losing feeling in my toes and just always felt weak and sick.”
Three years ago, severe pain in her side forced her to visit a hospital. She barely made it to the emergency room before passing out. A series of tests showed failing kidneys, which can’t filter blood properly.
“I knew I wasn’t feeling well because of diabetes, but I didn’t think it would get so bad that I would end up in kidney failure,” she said. “It was very scary. I knew people who had kidney failure and I knew what they had gone through. I started to get mad at myself for not having taken better care of myself.” Today, Hall feels much better, but her life revolves around going to the renal centre at Windsor Regional Hospital’s Ouellette campus three days a week for four-hour hemodialysis treatments. There is no cure for kidney disease, but hemodialysis filters waste and water from blood, as healthy kidneys do. Hemodialysis also helps control blood pressure and balance important minerals, such as potassium, sodium and calcium in the blood. Admittedly, the day following her dialysis is usually a little rough, but she’s accepted her new life. She sometimes feels sad though, knowing it could have been prevented if she had just controlled her diabetes with insulin and pills and also paid attention to her diet and lost a few pounds through exercise. On Thursday, Hall joined three other local women with kidney disease to celebrate World Kidney Month, which happened to fall on International Women’s Day. Dr. Amit Bagga, nephrologist at Windsor Regional Hospital, considers kidney disease difficult to diagnose because no symptoms stand out. In fact, the only way it can be diagnosed is through blood and urine tests. Many times the vague symptoms are overlooked until the kidneys are close to failure and causing fluid retention, shortness of breath and chest pain. Some of the early symptoms include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue, weakness, sleep problems, changes in urination frequency, decreased mental sharpness and muscle twitches and cramps.
“It’s a challenging problem to detect,” he said. “And really there’s no real reason why someone would go every month for a kidney check. So it’s one of those things where people just really have to pay attention to the symptoms.” Statistics show every day 15 Canadians will learn their kidneys have failed. In 2015, there were more than 36,000 Canadians (excluding Quebec) living with end-stage kidney disease. Of that number, 58.5 per cent were on some form of dialysis and 41.5 per cent were living with a transplant. “Our goal is to just bring awareness about the kidney and, this year in particular, a greater focus on women,” he said. “For everyone to be aware that there are more organs in the body than just the heart and lungs. If you have risk factors, male or female, we just want to help you screen for it.”