Kidneys are delicate, protect yours

Nobody was more surprised than Chris Anjowa when he was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure at the age of 40. Although his family was distraught with the horrible news, they could not deny they saw it coming.

Anjowa had been an unrepentant alcoholic and smoker since his youth. It was not unusual for his wife to be called on to come pick her husband up at local night clubs because he had drunk himself into stupor and could not drive.

He was the cause of a road accident that claimed several electric poles on his street. His doctor had, at several times, pleaded with him to stop these deadly habits, but he ignored the advice.

Now, Anjowa, a recharge card vendor, has to undergo dialysis – the artificial process of eliminating waste and unwanted water from the blood, at least twice a week.

He also has to pay at least N70, 000 per week for the procedure. Meanwhile, his doctors have warned that if he does not undergo kidney transplantation in the next five months, which would gulp a whopping N5m, he would lose all bodily functions and death is inevitable.

Experts fear that the incidences of people being diagnosed with acute and chronic kidney diseases are increasing globally.

Frightening figure

Indeed, estimates by the United States-based Centre for Disease Control show that approximately one in six Africans has signs of kidney disease, while black Africans are about three and a half times more likely to develop kidney disease than whites.

Physicians worry that the number of Nigerians with kidney failure has doubled in recent times.

They fear that kidney disease may become an epidemic in the next decade if the trend continues.

Consultant nephrologist (kidney specialist), Dr. Ebun Bamigboye, says one in every seven Nigerian is at one stage of kidney failure or the other.

Bamigboye says, “We estimate that we get about 15,000 new patients with chronic kidney disease every year. About 50, 000 patients in Nigeria require dialysis, but just 1, 000 are on it as we speak. The prevalence rate of kidney failure in Nigeria is 15 per cent and this high in every sense.

Causes of kidney failure

Bamigboye, who is also the head of the Kidney Care Unit, St. Nicholas Hospital, says the reason for this increase is because many people are ignorant of the state of their health.

He says Nigeria has one of the highest populations of people living with hypertension and diabetes, HIV and other infections, which are major causes of kidney failure.

Bamigboye states, “Nigerians are predisposed to kidney diseases because one out of four of us have hypertension. In Lagos alone, diabetes incidence is 10 per cent. Infection is common; HIV prevalence is about four to five per cent; 15 per cent of Nigerians have Hepatitis B, six per cent have Hepatitis C. All of these cause chronic kidney failure. So, if we do the math, we would know why people’s kidneys fail in the country.”

Another challenge Bamigboye identifies for the increasing cases of kidney failure is ignorance and lack of health information among Nigerians, which often leads to late presentation of diseases.

Symptoms

Bamigboye says, “How many people know the signs and symptoms of hypertension, diabetes or kidney disease? By the time you start seeing blood in the urine, swollen stomach and face, the kidneys have failed.

“It is so severe that if you have kidney failure and you do not do dialysis or get a transplant within two weeks, you will die. You can imagine the number of people that are dying every day because of kidney disease.”

Physicians lament that kidney failure and its treatment are very expensive for the average person, hence, many toe the path of prevention rather than treatment due to the huge amount of money involved and the acute shortage of facilities to treat it in developing countries, especially Nigeria.

Bamigboye counsels that one should resist lifestyles that could predispose him to kidney diseases.

“We should focus on prevention and early detection. If we screen people with diabetes, hypertension and HIV, we can detect those who will have kidney problems and end-stage renal diseases quickly and treat them,” he notes.

Bamigboye warns against the use of herbal preparations, uncontrolled alcohol consumption, smoking, abuse of analgesics like pain relievers and antibiotics, as well as bleaching creams, all of which, he says, could overwork the kidneys and lead to their failure.”

He states, “Abuse of simple analgesics like painkillers, over time kill the kidneys. Also, taking herbal products that have no prescriptive dosages is a deadly habit. Bleaching creams contain certain ingredients that affect the kidneys, as such, they should not be used. It hurts to have kidney failure.”

As we mark the World Kidney Day today, let the message, “Protect your kidneys,” reflect in the diets and habits we adopt. Happy celebrations.

Culled from The Punch  

Note: World Kidney Day was celebrated globally on Thursday, March 13, 2014.