Chronic kidney disease refers to lasting kidney damage that worsens over time. Over 30 million people in the United States are currently living with chronic kidney disease. They often ask, “what are the stages of kidney disease?”
When you think about a hospital emergency room, the first thing you might picture are ambulances racing up to deliver a patient who is facing death, while emergency room doctors and nurses work frantically to keep them alive.
Too often, congestive heart failure (CHF) patients wait until their final days before bringing in the support of hospice care, despite the discomfort of their symptoms. Little do they know that they don’t need an immediate terminal diagnosis to get extra help. Palliative care for CHF can begin managing symptoms at the time of diagnosis, bringing comfort and support to the patient and their family.
Nausea is unfortunately a very common symptom in palliative care patients. It’s a frequent complaint in cancer patients, but can also affect patients with kidney failure and heart disease.
In her 2018 Golden Globes speech, Oprah Winfrey said, “What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.” This is especially true when your health is at stake. Your medical team can’t give you all the help you need if they can’t see the full picture.
Embracing and loving one’s body, despite its imperfections or changing conditions, is the idea behind body positivity. Once a fringe social movement that began in the 1960s as a way to challenge societal norms around body types, this concept has now become so mainstream that it’s the inspiration behind countless television commercials, ad campaigns, and social media hashtags.
