Q: One of my friends is suffering from swelling of the lower parts of the legs, which has occurred recently. Moreover, his thighs have become hardened and slowly he is getting thinner day by day due to loss of appetite. He has been to a doctor but he was given medicines for only five days on the pretext of being anaemic, but still his condition deteriorated. Now, he is being administered medicine, on the premise of kidney infection. Please advise.

A:The information provided is extremely limited. But it seems that your friend may be suffering from Kidney Failure or Congestive Heart Failure. They both can cause the symptoms you have described. I suggest that your doctor should do appropriate blood tests like serum creatinine etc to accurately determine the level of his kidney function and diagnose the cause of his illness. The treatment would involve (but not limited to) correcting anaemia (iron and/or epogen injections), correcting fluid status with the help of diuretics and instituting agents like ACE inhibitors to improve heart function or kidney function.