I need help on this illness that my mother-in-law has...and to find out if anyone have any comments or experience (themselves or familiar with anyone else who have gone through this) something relating to this. My MIL has a mysterious illness that doc has diagnosed as nephrotic syndrome. Last January, she was vacationing for a month in FL where she exercised and was energetic and was feeling healthy. After her vacation, she returned home for a routine colonoscopy and had a biopsy on nodes. Almost immediately after that, her health deteriorated. Her urine protein was several thousands over the normal limit. She was admitted and discharged from hospital w/unknown cause to her condition. The doc still termed her symptoms as nephrotic syndrome but does not have any clues how to treat it since they don't know the cause. My MIL has been on mega doses of steroid treatment, with many side effects. She has retained a lot of fluids and has generalized edema and has gained a lot of weight due to the fluid retention. She has to be on a low to no sodium diet, among other physical symptoms she endures everyday. My MIL suspects that her deterioration of her health may be due to either of the two: (1) has something to do with the biopsy she had during her colonoscopy; (2) the negative effects from Enbrel. The doc thinks the colon cells has something irregular about it but says it's not cancerous. Another doc also says it may be due to affects from her rheumatoid arthritis, which she was on Enbrel for some time. So far, the steroids have been up and down in regulating her protein levels. With the extreme leakage of protein in her urine, her body is not retaining any.... Any info would be helpful. The docs are trying to help but does not know what else to do... Thanks!
My personal opinion is to get a 2nd and 3rd opinion. I know going to hte dr.'s office and getting test run all the time is not any fun at all but they should have been able to find something out with all this new technology they keep upgrading to these days. I will keep your MIL in my prayers. Best of luck to ya'll.
I work for a kidney doctor, and she specializes in this. Call me at Dr. Amina Ahmed's office at ###-###-#### and we can get your mom an appointment if you want. We are located in Katy. Our hours are from 9-5 M-F
K.
I actually had never heard of Nephrotic Syndrome until now. I did a quick google search and found this website:
http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/nephrotic/ind...
This should help get you in the right direction. I am one of those wakkos that believe in Holistic medicine, so my suggestion is to find a doctor that uses natural cures. Your MIL is going to have to find out WHY her kidneys are failing, thus causing this problem.
Best of Luck to all of you. May she find a way to better health quickly.
Goddess Bless,
K. L.
Something very similar occured with my former mother in law. She went to many doctors and no one could figure it out. finally, she went to a holistic medical center (we called them the "witch doctors" for fun), and they told her to buy a juicer, get a book on the raw food diet and a book on juicing, and she did. She did it for two weeks and saw a GREAT IMPROVEMENT in her symptoms. Her energy level went up enough that she started to walk 30-60 minutes a day, five or six days a week. She is one of those people that thinks that GRANOLA PEOPLE and EARTHY people and PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN HOLISTIC MEDICINE are a bunch of wackos - frankly, I feel the same way.... BUT THE DIET CHANGE REALLY DID HELP HER. On another note... she went to the Mayo Clinic last year, and they said she may very well have/had diabetes, but through diet and exercise it can be controlled/is controlled - their tests came back negative because she was doing the juicing and raw food diet - so there was no way to define if it was DEFINITELY diabetes. Another doc stated that she may have been on the verge of congestive heart failure. anyhow... It's a hard lifestyle change, but it can't be nearly as hard as the symptoms your mother in law has. My ex mother in law is completely better now. :-) She is also addicted to her juicer - she doesnt do as much raw as she was before (75 percent of her diet was raw - it's more like 30-40 percent now - plus juicing) It DEFINITELY wouldn't hurt to try.
My sister was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome when she was a baby. I don't remember how old she was but I remember she was walking so she was definitely over a year old. The doctor could never really explain how she got it. She used to take prednisone (steroid), which the doctor says may have affected her personality (bitchy alot of the time). She would retain water and swell up so bad that she could not open her eyes. She had a biopsy done when she was little. A couple of times she went into the hospital and they would drain the water from her and she would look normal again. We would test her urine in the morning for protein levels and we had to watch her diet (sodium and sugar). But then she grew out of it probably somewhere around the time she was in Junior High or High School. She is going to be 26 in November and she seems to be fine. She is still bitchy but other than that she is fine. We do know that on her father's side (we have different fathers) kidney problems run in the family but we don't know if that was ever a factor.
Hope this help some.
I was reading this, but I see it is from 2007. How is she doing?
