Q: I am suffering from kidney failure. It’s been nearly two months and I am getting dialysis once a week. I did dialysis every alternative day in the initial stage followed by twice a week and then once a week. My health/finance did not permit me to do this twice a week because I lost weight drastically. So at present, I am undergoing dialysis once in week. Last I checked, my blood urea was 149 and creatinine was 6.7. How do I control these levels besides dialysis?

A:Once a patient of kidney disease has irreversible loss of kidney function to less than 10-15% (kidney failure) the only methods of improving longevity and meaningful quality of life is by replacement of kidney function by dialysis or kidney transplant. Kidney transplant is the best and most cost effective treatment of kidney failure but requires a related member to donate a kidney. However kidney transplant is usually done below age of 65-70 years. Haemodialysis (blood dialysis) is usually done three times a week and not once a week, which is inadequate, and thus your continued symptoms of high toxic wastes, which are not adequately removed. There are no medicine or diet by which you can remove the accumulated toxic wastes, which are not cleaned by the kidney.