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Enjoy Your Life!

2024-03-28T20:57:10-04:00February 8th, 2024|Categories: Dialysis, eNews, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Physical Health, Quality of Life, Staying Healthy, Stress Management|

Dialysis does not mean the end of your life! You are still able to perform many of the tasks that you did prior to dialysis but patience and planning are necessary. Please read the following tips provided by Fresenius Medical Care (www.freseniusmedicalcare.com). Talking to the staff at the dialysis centers. Writing down questions ahead of time and inform family members about changes in treatment. Finding out as much as possible about the illness through a National Kidney Association or Society, local or national support groups, written materials, and educational classes. Staying involved in the pleasures, activities, and responsibilities of daily living. [...]

Andrew Carr Knows There’s More for Him

2024-03-28T20:57:24-04:00June 14th, 2023|Categories: Dialysis, Kidney Transplant, Mental Health, Stress Management, The Kidney Citizen|

Andrew Carr Kidney disease has been part of Andrew’s life since he was 7 years old, when he was diagnosed with Hydronephrosis. Now 29, Andrew has had kidney disease for the majority of his life, but he’s guided by the principle that his kidney disease doesn’t control his life, he does. Andrew began dialysis treatments when he was 19. While Andrew’s exposure to kidney disease happened so early in his life, he does not remember how he felt about it at its outset, but vividly remembers the beginning of his dialysis treatments. For three-and-a-half years Andrew persevered through [...]

Telehealth with a Mental Health Professional: What to Know Before You Start

2024-03-28T20:58:07-04:00May 5th, 2022|Categories: Dialysis, eNews, Kidney Transplant, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Stress Management|

By Kirsten Weir If you or a family member are managing chronic kidney disease, you’re probably thinking a lot about physical health—the health of the kidney and the rest of the body. Caring for your mental health is just as important. And with telehealth options that let you see a mental health professional from your home, it’s more convenient than ever. “The increased availability and acceptance of telehealth might be one of the few positive changes to come out of the [COVID-19] pandemic,” says Amy Walters, PhD, a clinical health psychologist and the director of Behavioral Health Services for St. Luke's [...]

Wellness and Mental Health While Living with Rare Disease

2024-03-28T20:58:14-04:00April 25th, 2022|Categories: Lifestyle, Mental Health, Physical Health, Stress Management, The Kidney Citizen, What Causes Kidney Disease|

  By Maya Doyle, MSW, PhD Cystinosis is a rare lysosomal storage disorder (1) that is typically diagnosed in childhood and typically results in kidney failure and progression to dialysis and/or kidney transplant. In the United States, a disease is considered rare if it is affects fewer than 200,000 Americans. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there are approximately 7,000 rare diseases affecting between 25 and 30 million Americans – this means 1 in 10 people may be affected by a rare condition (2). The experience of a rare condition can be very isolating because of the [...]

How to Move Out of Loneliness and Isolation

2024-03-28T20:58:20-04:00April 25th, 2022|Categories: Mental Health, Stress Management, The Kidney Citizen|

By Rebekah Palmer Oftentimes, people whose bodies live with rare diseases and chronic illness are not only separated from their peers and society, but feel separate from their peers and society. This is especially true regarding peers who are considered able-bodied, as well as a society that is inherently ableist. People who do not live with chronic illness do not always know the existence that is lived regularly with hospital and clinic visits, and the consumption of treatment and medications. It can be what we see and hear on media and online when it comes to how disabled and [...]

How to Care for Yourself When You’re a Caregiver

2024-03-28T20:58:33-04:00March 8th, 2022|Categories: eNews, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Nutrition, Physical Health, Quality of Life, Staying Healthy, Stress Management|

Being a caregiver is a huge responsibility – whether you’re a parent, spouse, or sibling, being fully responsible for the well-being of someone else can be a full-time job. When you also need to juggle work or raising children as well, it is no wonder that the caregiver’s needs are often what gets neglected. Studies have shown that no matter the age, sex, race, or ethnicity of the caregiver, all are more likely to be sleep-deprived, unable to exercise regularly, and have poor eating habits.  They are also less likely to keep up with doctor’s appointments for themselves or allow themselves [...]

How to Have Difficult End-of-Life Conversations

2024-03-28T20:58:38-04:00January 27th, 2022|Categories: eNews, Mental Health, Quality of Life, Stress Management, Uncategorized|

Although death is an inevitable part of life, it can be a difficult subject to discuss with loved ones. We worry about upsetting our family or seeming too morbid, but having these conversations can actually be extremely helpful in minimizing the stress of loved ones once we’ve passed. Especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, people may not have as much time from receiving a diagnosis to when they die, and many families have found themselves in situations where they don’t know their family member’s last wishes. For these reasons, it has become even more important to discuss advance care planning with our [...]

Sifting Through the Many Options for Integrative Chronic Pain Treatment

2024-03-28T20:58:57-04:00October 8th, 2021|Categories: eNews, Lifestyle, Medication, Mental Health, News & Events, Physical Health, Quality of Life, Staying Healthy, Stress Management|

For the more than 50 million Americans who experience chronic pain every day, trying to create a treatment plan can be an exhausting battle. Due to the complex nature and differences in individuals’ pain, it is usually most effect to have an integrated or multidisciplinary treatment plan, which is the use of different methods of treatments together in order to manage/reduce pain. Although there are a wide range of integrated treatments that exist, multidisciplinary specialists are hard to come by, causing most of the research to fall onto the patient. While it is still important to work closely with your doctor [...]

Anxiety and Kidney Disease

2024-03-28T20:59:00-04:00August 30th, 2021|Categories: eNews, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Stress Management|Tags: |

By Kathy Aebel-Groesch, MSW, LCSW It will come as no surprise that anxiety has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic (not to mention the political and social climate).  Even those of us who have never experienced anxiety may be finding ourselves affected. Anxiety can affect how we function in daily life--imagine yourself in a situation where you have felt extremely anxious… How did you feel physically? How clearly could you think or concentrate? How thoroughly could you have learned important information or skills? The interdisciplinary care team at the dialysis clinic is there to support you if anxiety could be affecting your [...]

Mind Over Matter – How Mindfulness Can Help Improve Both Mental and Physical Health

2024-03-28T20:59:05-04:00June 22nd, 2021|Categories: eNews, Mental Health, Physical Health, Stress Management|

With a million things all going on at once in our lives – work, family, friends, school, health, news, etc., it’s hard to think about focusing on just a few things at a time, let alone just one. However, it is possible to train yourself to focus in just on what you are thinking or how you are feeling in the present moment (without judgement); this is mindfulness. While not a new concept, mindfulness has been gaining more attention in today’s society as a way to increase awareness between the mind and body and to help improve concentration. Additionally, it also [...]

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