“Glaucoma = the “silent thief of sight” because it slowly damages the eyes and can cause irreparable harm before vision loss.”

National Eye Institute

“By age 80, more than half of all Americans either have a cataract or have had cataract surgery.”

National Eye Institute

GFR = Glomerular Filtration Rate

There are numerous causes of kidney failure, and treatment of the underlying disease may be the first step in correcting the kidney abnormality. Some causes of kidney failure are treatable and the kidney function may return to normal. Unfortunately, kidney failure may be progressive in other situations and may be irreversible.

1. Urination Changes

The kidneys are responsible for handling urine, so it makes sense that urine will start to change if the kidneys are failing. Some examples of urination changes include: • Urine comes out bubbly or foamy • Urine may have traces of blood • You may have the overwhelming urge to urinate during the night, waking up • Urination occurs more often and appears pale • Urination occurs less often and appears dark • You may have difficulty attempting to urinate

2. Fatigue

The kidneys are responsible for producing a specific hormone called erythropoietin (EPO). This hormone is responsible for instructing the body to produce red blood cells, which are meant to carry oxygen throughout the body. If the kidneys start to fail, they will make less EPO, which means fewer hormones are directing the body to produce the necessary amount of red blood cells. At the end of this cycle, you’re left feeling very tired and weakened throughout the day. Experiencing fatigue even when you seem to get enough sleep at night is one symptom that the kidneys are not producing enough hormones for your body.

3. Swelling

Because of the way the kidneys interact with the body and handle the process of urination, they also are largely responsible for removing the extra fluid within your body. Kidneys that are starting to fail won’t get rid of that fluid as well as they should be. As a result, it stays inside the body — and while it’s in the body, it has to go somewhere; the fluid starts filling in pocketed areas. You may experience swelling in one or both ankles, the legs, the face, hands, as well as feet. While the swelling can be mild, it can also swell to difficult stages; for instance, it might be hard to wear a regular shoe. This is edema.

4. Nausea

Healthy kidneys also take on the role of the body’s garbage men; that is, they’re responsible for getting rid of waste in the body. In the event of kidney problems or failure, waste won’t exit the body as efficiently as before, causing a buildup of excess waste in the bloodstream. This is known as uremia, and it can cause feelings of nausea or make you need to vomit. It should go without saying that your body doesn’t like being filled with waste, and it attempts to purge the waste by way of vomiting.

5. Bad Taste in Mouth

When kidneys begin to fail and cause uremia, or a buildup of waste in the body, the body may react by producing the taste of metal in your mouth or causing bad breath. Overall, you might taste a rather poor flavor in your mouth that causes you not to taste food in the same way as you did before. In particular, this may make you less interested in eating meats. In addition, you might start to notice some weight loss as a result of not eating. This could be due to the taste issue or you may simply not feel hungry enough to eat much.

6. Rashes

Developing uremia as a result of kidney disease doesn’t stop with metallic taste or the need to vomit. The waste buildup in the bloodstream manifests further by causing patches of rashes on the skin and causing itchiness. In some cases, patches of skin can break out in what appears to be acne as well. These itchy rashes can be difficult to relieve; in more progressed instances, the itch can feel like it goes right down to the bone, making it difficult to feel relief by way of scratching.

7. Chills

As explained in a previous slide, the kidneys produce the hormone EPO to signal the body’s production of red blood cells. Failing this, there are fewer blood cells, which is anemia. Anemia comes with its own set of symptoms, the most prominent but overlooked being chills. If you feel cold, even inside of a warm room, you could be experiencing anemia.

8. Leg Pain

One of the more characteristic symptoms of chronic kidney disease include feeling discomfort in the back or in the legs. In some cases, the feelings of discomfort could be painful. It is also possible to experience pain as far as the upper back. Problems that can cause pain include: • Kidney stones and infections, which cause severe spasms of pain • Bladder infections, which can produce a burning sensation during urination • Polcystic kidney disease, which produces painful cysts on the kidneys and liver.

9. Out of Breath

If you have been experiencing shortness of breath lately, it could be connected to the kidneys in two different ways. The first possible connection is a result of the extra fluid buildup; sometimes, this extra fluid builds up in the lungs, making it more difficult to breathe. Otherwise, the shortness of breath can be a result of anemia; in this case, there are an insufficient number of red blood cells available to carry oxygen throughout the body. This leaves the brain and body starved and short of breath. If you experience shortness of breath, sit down for a moment and calmly attempt deep breaths. The experience is naturally frightening, but panicking can only lead to more difficulty breathing.

10. Dizziness

Anemia as a result of kidney disease has one more grasp on the body: It can make you dizzy and cause you to have trouble concentrating on things. When this happens, your brain is becoming starved of the oxygen it needs to be at full power. When your brain isn’t getting enough oxygen, it manifests beyond dizziness and concentration problems; you can also experience memory problems and other issues with cognitive functions. This symptom often goes hand in hand with fatigue due to the taxing effects on the brain.

” Kidneys cleanse your blood by removing waste and excess fluid, maintain the balance of salt and minerals in your blood, and help regulate blood pressure.”

Linda Bernstein MD      M.D. with Web Med

“The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.”

Zig Ziglar  (November 6, 1926 – November 28, 2012, was an American author, salesman, and motivational speaker).

You were born preprogrammed to bond with one very significant person—your primary caregiver, probably your mother. Like all infants, you were a bundle of emotions—intensely experiencing fear, anger, sadness, and joy. The emotional attachment that grew between you and your caregiver was the first interactive relationship of your life, and it depended upon nonverbal communication. The bonding you experienced determined how you would relate to other people throughout your life, because it established the foundation for all verbal and nonverbal communication in your future relationships.

Individuals who experience confusing, frightening, or broken emotional communications during their infancy often grow into adults who have difficulty understanding their own emotions and the feelings of others. This limits their ability to build or maintain successful relationships. Attachment—the relationship between infants and their primary caregivers—is responsible for:

• shaping the success or failure of future intimate relationships
• the ability to maintain emotional balance
• the ability to enjoy being ourselves and to find satisfaction in being with others
• the ability to rebound from disappointment, discouragement, and misfortuneWhether it turns out good or bad, the infant brain is profoundly influenced by the attachment bond—a baby’s first love relationship. When the primary caretaker can manage personal stress, calm the infant, communicate through emotion, share joy, and forgive easily, the young child’s nervous system becomes “securely attached.” The strong foundation of a secure attachment bond enables the child to be self-confident, trusting, hopeful, and comfortable in the face of conflict. As an adult, he or she will be flexible, creative, hopeful, and optimistic.
• Our secure attachment bond shapes our abilities to:
• Scientific study of the brain—and the role attachment plays in shaping it—has given us a new basis for understanding why vast numbers of people have great difficulty communicating with the most important individuals in their work and love lives. Once, we could only use guesswork to try and determine why important relationships never evolved, developed chronic problems, or fell apart. Now, thanks to new insights into brain development, we can understand what it takes to help build and nurture productive and meaningful relationships at home and at work.

• feel safe
• develop meaningful connections with others
• explore our world
• deal with stress
• balance emotions
• experience comfort and security
• make sense of our lives
• create positive memories and expectations of relationships
• The powerful, life-altering lessons we learn from our attachment bond—our first love relationship—continue to teach us as adults. The gut-level knowledge we gained then guides us in improving our adult relationships and making them secure.Relationships in which the parties are tuned in to each other’s emotions are called attuned relationships, and attuned relationships teach us that:
• Lesson No. 1—adult relationships depend for their success on nonverbal forms of communication nonverbal. Newborn infants cannot talk, reason or plan, yet they are equipped to make sure their needs are met. Infants don’t know what they need, they feel what they need, and communicate accordingly. When an infant communicates with a caretaker who understands and meets their physical and emotional needs, something wonderful occurs.
• Attachment bonds are as unique as we are. Primary caretakers don’t have to be perfect. They do not have to always be in tune with their infants’ emotions, but it helps if they are emotionally available for the majority of the time.

• nonverbal cues deeply impact our love relationships
• play helps us smooth over the rough spots in love relationships
• conflicts can build trust if we approach them without fear or a need to punish
• When we can recognize knee-jerk memories, expectations, attitudes, assumptions and behaviors as problems resulting from insecure attachment bonds, we can end their influence on our adult relationships. That recognition allows us to reconstruct the healthy nonverbal communication skills that produce an attuned attachment and successful relationships.

“Some risk factors, like a person’s age or race, can’t be changed. Others are linked to cancer-causing factors in the environment. Still others are related to personal behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, and diet.”

The American Cancer Society

QUOTE FOR THE DAY:

“Breast cancer prevention starts with healthy habits — such as limiting alcohol and staying physically active. Understand what you can do to reduce your breast cancer risk.”

MAYO CLINIC

Is there a link between birth control pills and breast cancer?

A number of older studies suggested that birth control pills slightly increased the risk of breast cancer, especially among younger women. In these studies, however, 10 years after discontinuing birth control pills women’s risk of breast cancer returned to the same level as that of women who never used oral contraceptives. Current evidence does not support an increase in breast cancer with birth control pills.

Be vigilant about breast cancer detection. If you notice any changes in your breasts, such as a new lump or skin changes, consult your doctor. Also, ask your doctor when to begin mammograms and other screenings.

Once you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, your doctor works to find out the specifics of your tumor. Using a tissue sample from your breast biopsy or using your tumor if you’ve already undergone surgery, your medical team determines your breast cancer type. This information helps your doctor decide which treatment options are most appropriate for you.

Here’s what’s used to determine your breast cancer type.

Is your cancer invasive or noninvasive?

Whether your cancer is invasive or noninvasive helps your doctor determine whether your cancer may have spread beyond your breast, which treatments are more appropriate for you, and your risk of developing cancer in the same breast or your other breast.

• Noninvasive (in situ) breast cancer. In situ breast cancer refers to cancer in which the cells have remained within their place of origin — they haven’t spread to breast tissue around the duct or lobule. One type of noninvasive cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is considered a precancerous lesion. This means that if it were left in the body, DCIS could eventually develop into an invasive cancer. Another type of noninvasive cancer called lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) isn’t considered precancerous because it won’t eventually evolve into invasive cancer. LCIS does, however, increase the risk of cancer in both breasts.
• Invasive breast cancer. Invasive (infiltrating) breast cancers spread outside the membrane that lines a duct or lobule, invading the surrounding tissues. The cancer cells can then travel to other parts of your body, such as the lymph nodes. If your breast cancer is stage I, II, III or IV, you have invasive breast cancer.

In what part of the breast did your cancer begin?

The type of tissue where your breast cancer arises determines how the cancer behaves and what treatments are most effective. Parts of the breast where cancer begins include:

• Milk ducts. Ductal carcinoma is the most common type of breast cancer. This type of cancer forms in the lining of a milk duct within your breast. The ducts carry breast milk from the lobules, where it’s made, to the nipple.
• Milk-producing lobules. Lobular carcinoma starts in the lobules of the breast, where breast milk is produced. The lobules are connected to the ducts, which carry breast milk to the nipple.
• Connective tissues. Rarely breast cancer can begin in the connective tissue that’s made up of muscles, fat and blood vessels. Cancer that begins in the connective tissue is called sarcoma. Examples of sarcomas that can occur in the breast include phyllodes tumor and angiosarcoma.
•  FYI a complication that can occur with advanced cancer that many of you may be unaware of. Bone metastasis occurs when cancer cells spread from their original site to a location in the bone. The most common types of cancer more likely to spread to bone include breast, prostate and lung cancers.Signs and symptoms of bone metastasis may include the following:
• Bone metastasis can occur in any bone, but more commonly occurs in the pelvis and spine. Bone metastasis may be the first sign that you have cancer, or it may occur years after your cancer treatment is completed, ex. Hodgkins Disease.
• Bone pain (back and pelvic pain are most common)
• Unexplained broken bones
• Loss of urine and/or bowel function
• Weakness in the legs
• High levels of calcium in the blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause nausea, vomiting and confusion
• The most common problem with metastatic bone cancer is pain and fractures. Metastatic bone cancer usually can’t be cured, but instead the goal is to provide pain relief and control further spread. Treatment can make a big difference and may include the following:
• Medications to repair and build new bone — These medications are similar to those used by people with osteoporosis and can help in building and strengthening your bone.
• Chemotherapy — Given as a pill or through a vein, used to control and treat cancer that has spread to the bone.
• Traditional radiation therapy — Radiation is given as external beam therapy to treat the cancer in the bone.
• Hormone therapy — Medications are used to block hormones (for breast and prostate cancers) that help control the spread of cancer to the bone.
• Surgery — Used to fix a fracture and stabilize a break from the cancer in the bone.
• Cryoablation — A special technique that freezes the cancer cells.
• Radiofrequency ablation — A special technique that heats the cancer cells.
• Chemoradiation — A form of internal radiation that is given through the vein and travels to the site of bone metastasis and targets the cancer cells.
• Pain medications — Medications provided with the goal of relieving and controlling pain from bone metastasis.
• Physical therapy — Exercises may be prescribed to assist in strengthening muscles and providing any assistive devices that may help you (cane, walker, crutches, etc.).If you’re living with metastatic bone cancer, you may find help and resources from a website called Bone Health in Focus. It was established with partners including BreastCancer.org, the National Lung Cancer Partnership and Us TOO International Prostate Cancer Education & Support Network to offer resources that help patients and caregivers understand more about cancer that has spread to the bone (find the site at www.bonehealthinfocus.com). Are you living with cancer that has spread to the bone?  Go to good references to answer your questions and great doctors (2 or more for you to get more than one MD for direction and choose what best serves you).

• REFERENCE: Mayoclinic.org

• Make the changes in your lifestyles including diet if you want to prevent cancer, live long and have a productive life.