The treatment of renal disease includes drug therapy and nutritional therapy. To prevent renal insufficiency from deteriorating further, the treatment is designed to control hypertension with antihypertensive drugs and sodium and fluid restrictions.

Usually, a physician will prescribe an ACE inhibitor or a calcium channel blocker to control your patient’s hypertension. He also may prescribe a diuretic to reduce your patient’s fluid overload.

If your patient’s phosphate level is elevated, the physician may limit his phosphate intake to 700 to 1,200 mg per day. He also may prescribe an antacid that contains aluminum hydroxide, aluminum carbonate, or a calcium-based phosphate binder. Because high aluminum levels can induce neurologic symptoms, a calcium-based phosphate binder may be preferable. Antacids that contain magnesium are contraindicated because magnesium is excreted by the kidneys.

If your patient is anemic, the physician may prescribe iron supplements and folic acid to increase RBC production. He also may order erythropoietin to be administered I.V. or subcutaneously. However, your patient will need his blood pressure monitored closely, because erythropoietin may worsen his hypertension.

Nutritional therapy may include protein, sodium, potassium, and fluid restrictions. A protein restriction may slow the deterioration of kidney function. Usually, if the physician orders a protein restriction, your patient’s daily protein intake will be reduced to 0.6 to 0.8 g/kg of body weight.

A sodium restriction may vary from 1 to 3 grams per day, depending on the ability of the patient’s kidneys to excrete sodium as well as the amount of edema and the severity of the hypertension. If the physician orders a potassium restriction, your patient’s potassium intake will be reduced to between 2 and 3 grams per day. Because most salt substitutes contain potassium, avoid giving them to your patient with renal disease.

If the physician orders a fluid restriction, your patient usually will be limited to an intake equal to his urine output plus 500 to 600 ml.

Your patient may have a low serum sodium level because of his kidneys’ inability to reabsorb sodium. He also may have a low serum calcium level caused by reduced renal absorption. And his serum potassium and phosphate levels may be elevated because of reduced renal excretion of potassium and phosphate.

If he has elevated blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine levels, his renal disease may result in azotemia. If his kidneys lose their ability to produce erythropoietin, he may become anemic.

Your patient’s renal disease also may cause signs in other body systems. He may have jugular vein distention, a full and bounding pulse, peripheral edema, pulmonary edema, and heart failure. He may show signs of metabolic acidosis, including Kussmaul’s respirations. And he may develop anorexia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, and difficulty concentrating.

The facts are in and they’re not pretty. If you’ve been thinking of buying one of those cheap dental insurance plans that are all over the place on the internet, do yourself a big favor and don’t do it. There are three main reasons why I’m telling you this. Here they are.

#1. These cheap $8-10.00 per month plans are very maintenance driven. What I mean by this is that they are only designed to give you less expensive preventive care, such as x-rays, teeth cleanings, etc. and not designed to provide much assistance with major dental care. Do yourself a big favor and read every line of the policy exclusions. You’ll be asking yourself “just what AM I paying for here?

#2. These plans, like all dental insurance, do not cover pre-existing conditions that were already there when you bought the policy. Try as you may, you can’t hide a cavity or a broken tooth. If your dentist puts in a claim for it and it’s considered to be pre-existing, you’ll be denied and have to pay 100% of the cost to get the problem fixed.

#3. Even with the dental insurance plan, you’ll still be responsible for paying your annual deductible and co-pay.

There is a better way that makes much more sense in today’s economy. These are called discount dental plans. Discount plans are an excellent alternative to dental insurance because there are no exclusions, pre-existing conditions are no problem, there aren’t any co-pays or deductibles and you’ll get big discounts on both preventive dental care AND major dental work, such as braces, dentures and crowns.

All that you need to do is find a dentist near you that accepts the discount plan, pay the low cost annual fee to join, set up an appointment time, determine what you need to have done, get the dental care you need and pay them the discounted rate when you’re finished. You will save as much as 60% off the average cost of care, whereas, with a dental insurance plan, you would have had to pay 100% for anything pre-existing. You tell me which is the better deal? Why not check out a discount dental plan today?

Health professionals across the country are seeing spikes in the numbers of patients suffering from diabetes. This is troublesome for a number of reasons and the health of your eyesight is one of them. In the United States, diabetes is the number one cause of blindness in adults. I’m not saying that everyone with diabetes will eventually go blind but it should be cause of enough to schedule a visit to your eye doctor.

As a sufferer of diabetes, it should be your everyday goal of keeping all of your vision problems minor and see a doctor right away if you notice something becoming more serious. It doesn’t mean your sight will be affected, but diabetes put you at a higher risk. Here are some of the more common complications that affect the eyes due to diabetes than can result in loss of sight:
Dry eyes – Dry eyes occurs why your tear glands are not able to produce enough tears to properly lubricate your eyes. This condition is always uncomfortable with symptoms of your eyes itching, burning, and simply annoying. Eye specialists recommend sleeping with a humidifier or using artificial tears whenever you feel your eyes becoming too dry. In serious cases, surgery is required. Tearing – The opposite of dry eyes are eyes that tear up too much or too easily. Often times it occurs due to being overly sensitive to light, wind, or temperature changes. Most times shielding your eyes with glasses or sunglasses can fix the problem. Tearing can also be a sign of something more serious such as an eye infection or blocked tear duct. Cataracts – When you suffer from a cataract problem, your eyes get a cloudy almost milky covering over the lens of the eye. Without the full amount of light passing through your eyes, your vision suffers greatly sometimes to the point of total vision loss. These form slowly over time and come with no pain, redness or tearing. Most of the time, cataracts are small enough not to affect your vision but the ones that do can normally removed through surgery. Retinal disorders – The thin lining on the back of your eye is called the retina and its function is to collect all of the visual images, passing them then to the brain. A disorder in your retina will stop this transfer of images. Some of these disorders include problems such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, or retinal detachment. It is critical to your vision health that any of these problems are diagnosed and treated early on. Glaucoma – Glaucoma develops in the eye when there is too much fluid pressure from the inside. It is normally caused by watery fluid that flows between the cornea and the lens of the eye becomes blocked. This sometimes serious condition can lead to permanent vision loss and blindness if not treated in time. Since glaucoma has no real early symptoms or pain, schedule an appointment to see an eye doctor for a checkup to be on the safe side. They can recommend treatments like prescription eye drops, oral medications, or surgery.