Living With Kidney Disease What You Can Do To Manage Your: Fill & Download for Free

Cats are very subtle creatures.If you think your cat is ill, it is and it needs care quickly.Because cats are prey animals (yes, they are also predators), they are very good at hiding illness so that they don’t look like easy prey. It is an innate behavior, meaning it is a hardwired, instinctive reaction. Once a cat starts to really look or act ill, it is usually critically ill.Pay attention to the small changes of behavior. If your cat doesn’t want its usual food, it is probably not being picky. It is more likely that it is nauseated and is having an aversion to the food it is associating with feeling bad.If your cat starts sleeping in out of the way places, it is likely ill and needs to see a vet ASAP.A thorough physical exam by a veterinarian who is knowledgeable in feline medicine is needed.2. Get check ups for your cat an absolute minimum of yearly. Every 6 months is even better. Good physical exams and timely lab work will catch most diseases and illnesses before they become critical and need thousands of dollars of treatment. It will save you money and may save your cat’s life.3. Feed your cat a good diet that is high in protein (at least 33% dry matter or 10% canned animal source) that is free of white-fleshed ocean fish, beef and gluten.Inflammatory bowel disease is the number one disease I see in cats older than 9 years of age. Avoid inflammatory foods.4. Kidney disease is not a death sentence if it is diagnosed early and managed well with blood pressure checks and urine cultures at least yearly. Do not feed low protein kidney diets before a cat is in late stage 3 kidney disease. Manage calcium and phosphate levels with calcitriol and phosphate binders.5. Cats should live to be between 16 and 20 years old. Dentistry is needed through their entire life.6. Age is not a disease or anesthesia risk. Anesthesia for dentistry is much less of a risk than infection and kidney damage from dental disease. Ask questions about the anesthesia protocol, but if your vet says your cat is too old to anesthesthetize, find a new vet. There are protocols that are safe, even for debilitated pets.I could go on, but this is a discussion that is good to have with a great veterinarian of your choosing that is tailored to your cat.Just remember to listen to your instincts and watch for sudden changes in your cat’s behavior. Your vet will thank you and your cat will too.

I’m speaking at the top of my mind. Do your own due diligence, I’m not a doctor or a medical professional. Here are my tips:Increase your lung capacity. There is a positive correlation between increased lifespan and lung capacity (increased lung capacity is probably not a direct causality, but most likely just a positive correlation).Exercise.All you sedentary people may scoff at me, but you NEED to move. We are animals, we were meant to move. It is truly unnatural to be sitting all day, let alone all your life.Get your minimum 30 minutes of walking or low intensity cardio in.Flexibility. Gym goers may scoff at this, but I scoff at gym goers for merely going to the gym for vain purposes of merely increasing your aesthetics. Flexibility is one of the most important points on fitness everyone needs to focus on. Why? What happens when you lose flexibility? You lose your range of motion. If you lose your range of motion, you are most likely to injure yourself due to a sudden unintentional acceleration, whether tripping and falling when you’re old, this crippling you for the remainder of your short days, or losing your balance and breaking your hip in old age, where after that, sorry but your chances of living longer after that injury are statistically limited.Balance. Balance is another area of fitness that is important. As mentioned earlier, when you’re old and lose your balance, and you break a hip, you’re hanged of living longer after that are severely limited due to the recovery period you’ll have to go through, the nature of the period being sedentary.Resistance training. You need resistance training to help increase the strength of your bones. If your bones are weak, how can you expect to survive a fall? You also need at least some resistance training to keep your level of independence up.Bottom line, think of maintaining fitness as a vehicle for prolonging your independence, and by independence I mean independence from wheelchairs, from assisted living, etc… Fitness is NOT an effortless pursuit. Some people make it all about vanity, about how much they can lift, about petty insecure things. You don’t have to make it about that. Make fitness about securing a longer life. Sure people get hit with sudden illnesses or tragic misfortunes that couldn’t be avoided without fitness, but ignoring fitness will only decrease your standards of living.Nutrition.Monitor your sugar intake. Breaking down glucose in the body introduces more free radicals. With that logic, people can argue that exercising is bad for you, since your body breaks down more energy, thus introducing more free radicals. I am not educated enough to have an opinion on the way exercise increases this electron leakage in the body (free radical exposure), but what does your common sense tell you? Just limit your sugar intake is all in trying to get at here.Carbs. Don’t rule them out. Moderation is key. What happens when you don’t have carbs? You’re tired. You’re grumpy. You’re miserable. What’s the point of living if you’re in this suboptimal mindset?Fats. Avoid trans fats like the plague. Limit saturated fats like you limit your sugars. Be more open to unsaturated fats. The biochemistry behind trans fats and saturated fats: they more easily bind to you damaged linings on your arteries, thus accelerating the likelihood of strokes or cardio vascular disease.Protein. Don’t eat more protein than you need. Excess macronutrients turn into triglyceride levels in your bloodstream, increasing your blood pressure. It also increases the levels of gout and place stress on your kidneys, enough which may even cause kidney failure. Moderation is key.No comment on micro nutrients such as minerals and vitamins, as I’m not a nutritionist.Bottom line for nutrition, moderation is key when it comes to your macro nutrients. If you’re a woman, monitor your calcium levels and bone density as you age. You are more susceptible to developing more brittle bones (osteoporosis).Check ups.The healthcare system in America, let’s be honest, isn’t the best. Most physicians are great people, but the journey of being a doctor is one filled with cruelty, and bitterness does develop as you’re in the field more, especially after you realize the insurance companies and administration truly run things (I speak only from experience outside of a medical profession, I am not [currently as I’m writing this] working in the healthcare system). Physicians are truly interesting people. But regardless of where you are in the world, always question your doctor. Try to get second opinions from other doctors if something doesn’t feel right, or if you think they’re wrong. Yes, doctors can be wrong, and it’s scary sometimes what they can be wrong about. They can be wrong about major things, believe me. Doctors know it too, and most understand the responsibility they hold, although there are a very few doctors who shouldn’t be doctors, as they don’t understand that responsibility or at lest take that responsibility seriously any longer. My point is, be vigilant, and fight for your health. Treat everyone with respect, but understand that healthcare systems treat illnesses as numbers, as statistics. You can be an outlier, yet healthcare systems don’t really care about outliers, because insurance companies exist for the sole purpose of making money, not to promote good health and save people’s lives. So like I said before, respect the healthcare people you deal with, but be vigilant and fight for your health!Go on regular physicals. Get your blood work done. Work on what you need to improve. Focus on cardiac health, as cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the US. Write questions before you go on your checkups, questions of things that may be bothering you, whether if it’s about a lump some place on your body, or if it’s about a section of skin on your body that is giving you concerns.Education.Whatever country you live in, look at the top health issues in your country, and try your best not to fall victim to those diseases that are most prevalent in your country, whether it’s something like HIV/AIDs, cardiovascular disease, Malaria, etc. Educate and protect yourself from the diseases most prevalent in your country. Keep up with epidemics.If you don’t understand something, try looking it up on the internet, ask your physician, or try books or libraries.Mental health:Get your sleep. If it’s borderline impossible to get 8 hours of sleep a day, at least try to get your full 8 hours of sleep 2 days during the workweek.Do things differently sometimes to keep your brain working. Fight routine that leads to your mental sharpness from dulling. Constantly seal to earn new things. Read. Practice or develop new skills.Manage your stress. Stress will take off years of life. Hypertension is not a good thing. Learn to clear off some part of the day just for you. If not everyday, then at least 2 times a workweek. It is your life. Never forget that. You are entitled to time for your life, in your life.Get rid of toxic relationships, or if they’re unavoidable at the moment, at least limit your exposure.Loneliness is the nature of being human. Understand that it’s ok to feel lonely, as it is an inescapable part of living life in this lonely world. Embrace that. We will all come to grips with this realization, and it’s ok.Don’t be stupid. Prevention:Look both ways when crossing the street.Don’t drink and drive.Don’t smoke.Don’t drink too much alcohol.Avoid drugs. If you’re addicted, admit it and get help.Don’t entrust animals more than you should.Eventually we all die. It is inevitable. Whether via trauma or some sort of failure in our bodies, we all die. Embrace it. Don’t die dead. Trying to live life avoiding all harm is impossible, as some things are just plain unpredictable and frankly unavoidable. You’re life expectancy may increase, sure, but the value out of your life may deteriorate. So just embrace death, and don’t go on living avoiding it, as you will avoid life itself.The list can go on, but these are only the things on top of my mind.

Most people believe that staying fit means to do a lot of workout but thats not at all true. Fitness is achieved by eating healthy food with some exercise. In fact food contributes 80% to your health.So the best way to stay fit is to maintain a diet with some great eating habits. Some of them can be the followingEat before sunset. Akshay Kumar always tell to eat before 6.30 which is generally the sunset time in IndiaDon't fall prey for the cheap marketing tactics of big brands. For example, Bournvita has more than 14 grams of sugar per 20 grams of serving and it is marketed as the best drink for children. If they are using tactics like this for kids then imagine what kind of products we are consuming. Always check the back labels before you use any productLocal fruits are the best. According to Ayurveda you have to eat veggies which are produced within 100 kms of radius from your living. But some people spend hundreds of rupees for so called foreign fruits which is a complete waste. By consuming local goods you can also help your local vendorsWorkout for at least 30 min. It might be a normal walk or a intense gym. just do something. And don't forget to exercise your mind by meditation( Start with 5 min and gradually increase the time limit)Sleep plays an important role in deciding your physical health. It is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, and high blood pressure. And don't forget to follow this chartSprouts, Dry fruits like walnut, badam and fruits like Banana, Musk Melon, Apple, Pineapple, Watermelon, Mango or any other fruit must must be eaten according to the season. Try avoiding them at nightMorning before brush drink 1 ltr of water(It might be weird but works) then drink according to your thirstThis might not be the exhaustive list but a very important one