What should CRF patient eat to balance potassium in diet ? What should be avoided to lower it in blood.?

Question

My mother is suferring from CRF since year 2000.She has Creatinine around 7.5, she is on dialysis since year 2004.Urea is between 130-150. Her heart pumping function is less around 30%.Her tolerance level is very high.She can do all the household works as the normal person. But her potassium level is always 5.5 to 6.0. all other tests are fine. Suggest proper diet which do not contain potassium or what not to eat to lower potassium? what should we eat to keep the heart and kidney maintain at this stage only?

Answer 1

Right now, there is several synthized potassium products aimed at conditions like CRF. However, most doctors would also like you to control and regulate the potassium level with natural foods that are in potassium content. The reason for the synthized potassium, the body can not be regulated with levels with potassium enriched foods alone.

Even with diet control, drugs and fluid therapy, you will eventually see at least some of the symptoms on the following list. Not all cats will exhibit all symptoms.

Excessive urination
Increased thirst
Nausea and gagging
Licking lips
Grinding or cracking sound in jaw
Vomiting (both clear/foamy liquid and food)
Drooling
Dehydration
Hunching over the water bowl
Stomach irritation (uremic gastritis)
Constipation
Loss of appetite
Weight loss
Muscle wasting
Emaciation
Poor hair coat
Halitosis (ammonia smell)
Lethargy
Sensitivity to sound
Eating litter
Weakness
Depression
Oral ulcers
Detached retinae
Convulsion, low temperature, coma (end-stage)

The best cure is prevention; but with no cure, regulating the diet is essential, per some Duke University studies.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Her dialysis center should have a dietian on staff who explains diet do's and don'ts of her diet and exchanges that can be made.

The website for the National Kidney Foundation ... http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=103
link above is also helpful many times.

I know what you're going through because my mom started just last year and my husband has kidney dysfunction (what they call it when they're losing function but not yet ready for dialysis) So in order to keep all kidneys working we watch what we eat to keep levels stable and failure from progressing

What I do know is that its really about limiting portions of any one food every day. So instead of a big huge piece of meat try to do 3 to 4 ounce (approx deck of cards). limit fluids. A few of the high potassium foods are bananas, tomatoes, beans and potatoes (though if you soak potatoes in water for 24 hours and then cook as desired it lowers the potassium and phosphates enough to be ok. It's best to just keep portions limited since all foods contain the bad ingredients, some are just higher than others. Oddly enough wheats and whole grains aren't good for kidney failure patients. So cerials are better that are corn and rice based. They say Rice Dream (milk substitute) is a better choice. Nilla wafers, jelly beans are good, ginger ale rather than colas. These are just some but like I said the NKF link above should help out a lot. There are also drugs that should be taken with every meal to help control potassium and phosphate absorption ... this is important as well.

Every dialysis center (as far as I know) employs a dietition to help sort out details. I always have my mother ask about foods that I can't find info on. Her center had a little book (about the size of an index card) with foods listed, I grabbed one but a book that small doesn't have nearly all the foods out there. But it's a good refernce for potass. phos. and sodium. It even had some of the restaurants foods listed.

Sorry if this is long but as you can tell taking care of my family has become a priority ... so I understand your questions as I've been doing it for my own knowledge as well.

Answer 4

Potassium (think fruits, veggies, nuts) is controlled by diet between dialysis treatments. Everyone needs some potassium but if you're on dialysis you have to be careful not to get too much, especially during the two day dialysis weekend.

It’s important to make good choices: an apple has much less potassium then a glass of apple juice but either choice is better than it’s orange counterpart. Have a slice of orange, not a glass of juice. It’s important to eat if you’re on dialysis, someone on dialysis needs calories and should be sure to eat enough protein.

People on dialysis should limit salt to much less than the average diet - limit prepared foods, canned soups and enhanced meats. Salt creates thirst and fluid must be limited (remembering that food that is liquid at room temperature e.g. jell-o count as fluids). Salt also makes standard hemodialysis harder on the body and less effective. However, be careful about using salt substitutes because they are often made from potassium. For seasoning try something like Mrs. Dash but get use to reading labels.

People who choose peritoneal or more frequent and/or longer hemodialysis have fewer diet and fluid accommodations to make. People who choose nightly hemodialysis at home have relatively no dietary/fluid restrictions.

Answer 5

trying to control potassium through diet is a tricky business. there are alot of "hidden" ways of getting potassium in diet, the biggest one being in different forms of salt and other flavourings that restaurants may put into their food. lots of "healthy" foods contain potassium so it's not really a good idea to avoid them. Some are more easily avoided such as bananas or orange juice. you should speak to a dietician, some supermarkets have a registered dietician that you can make an appointment with and they can talk about everything.

Answer 6

i just went through this. My doctor prescribed. A clove of garlic (raw) or a bulb cooked a day and bananas. This worked in a matter of 7 days, it lowered my blood pressure by 12 points systolic and the bottom number went down about 20. From 168/110 to 156/81

Answer 7

Chronic renal failure is long-standing, progressive deterioration of renal function. Symptoms develop slowly and include anorexia, nausea, vomiting, stomatitis, dysgeusia, nocturia, lassitude, fatigue, pruritus, decreased mental acuity, muscle twitches and cramps, water retention, malnutrition, GI ulceration and bleeding, peripheral neuropathies, and seizures. Diagnosis is based on laboratory testing of renal function, sometimes followed by renal biopsy. Treatment is primarily directed at the underlying condition but includes fluid and electrolyte management and often dialysis and/or transplantation.
Fish such as salmon, cod, flounder, and sardines are good sources of potassium. Various other meats also contain potassium.
Vegetables including broccoli, peas, lima beans, tomatoes, potatoes (especially their skins), and leafy green vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, and parsley contain potassium.
Fruits that contain significant sources of potassium are citrus fruits, apples, bananas, and apricots. Dried apricots contain more potassium than fresh apricots.
Patients on dialysis for kidney failure should avoid excess consumption of these foods. These patients require specialized diets to avoid excess potassium in the blood (hyperkalemia).
Please see the web pages for more details n Chronic kidney failure and Diet rich in Potassium.

Answer 8

if you re cooking food in the microwave chances are you re eating unhealthy packaged foods if you must microwave consider soy chicken patties veggie burgers or steamer vegetables and brown rice

Answer 9

use the freezer to add some extra oomph to summer foods freeze grapes for some bite sized delights or get a popsicle mold and freeze some greek yogurt with berries

Answer 10

Use 3 bite rule have three small bites and put fork down each time