Originally Posted by
robschuh
I had renal failure in 1990 and was on dialysis until 1998 when I had my transplant. It started to fail a few years ago, but it's still hanging in enough to keep me off of dialysis until I get another transplant. I hate to tell you this, but by now, your kidneys are shrunken down and could never come back. GH has been used in patients with renal failure to help with wasting syndrome, much like it's used for AIDS patients, but it won't help your kidneys. I know a great deal about dialysis and I've never heard of anyone doing hemodialysis 4-5 days/week for that many hours. I was 230 lbs when I started and I'm 5'10". I was a former national level competitor in bodybuilding. No, my steroid use had nothing to do with my kidney failure. I had the same disease that Flex Wheeler had, but it mainly shows up in athletic black males in their late 20s to early 30s called FSGS. I was the right age, wrong skin color. :-) If you are doing dialysis that much, you must be on antiquated equipment. Like I said, I had a lot more lean body mass and the most I dialysized was for 4 hours 3x/week. Are you not on High Flux? Do you go to a center or at home? I would still try to get another transplant. You're still young and your quality of life will exponentially better. I would ask your Nephrologist if you are on High Flux dialysis because if you're not, there's something very wrong. High Flux has been around for at least 20 years, so you should not have to do hemo that much. AS often as you are dialilizing, you could do peritoneal dialysis, but I can't stress enough about getting a transplant. I waited 5 years to get on the list because I initially had moronic MDs who told me horror stories about the anti rejection meds. I've had pneumonia 4 times since 1998 that put me in the hospital and I've had a few benign skin cancers removed, but those are really the only side effects from the anti rejection meds. I don't take any prednisone, which in the past caused the most problems. If you have any ?s, feel free to e mail me at . If you are tying to get your wife pregnant and have problems, I would get your test levels checked and sperm count. Both can be lowered over time due to the high levels of BUN in your system. I've been on Test replacement for about 15 years, but I'm not trying to get anyone knocked up either! :-) I'm 48 and still am in great shape for my age. I'm about 185-190 and about 5% body fat at 5'10. Good luck with all of this. I know what a pain in the ass all of this can be, but you will do so much better with a transplant. Let's hope the 3rd time is the charm! :-)
Rob
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--
Robert Schuh
"Everything that elevates an individual above the herd and
intimidates the neighbour is henceforth called evil; and
the fair, modest, submissive and conforming mentality,
the mediocrity of desires attains moral designations and honors"
- Nietzsche
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