Vitamin E help fight muscle cramps during dialysis

Muscle cramps are an unfortunate side effect of hemodialysis - as many as 20% of patients complain of cramps, and often the session is stopped early due to this problem. But help may be at hand now.

Recently published research from Coney Island Hospital, Brooklyn, shows that Vitamin E is a effective in relieving cramps. They examined a group of patients of various ages who had all proved to be susceptible to cramps during their dialysis sessions. The result? they report a 68.3% reduction in cramp attacks. This is a significant result, and if cramp attacks are a problem for you, it may be worth bringing this to your doctor's attention.

This was a small study, in terms of the number of patients participating, but it is still an encouraging result. Hopefully it will be repeated with a much larger sample size, which is necessary for all treatments. But with no side effects reported, it looks a promising form of relieve for those who suffer from this problem.

Anemia Drug May Raise Stroke Risk in Kidney Patients

We came across this report just recently. Obviously kidney patients need to be aware of this sort of potential problem.

The online news site US News - HealthDay covered, on 31st October 2009, a scientific study that suggests that use of the anemia drug Aranesp should be reserved for the most seriously ill of kidney patients. It claims that the drug appears to double the risk of a stoke in patients with diabetes and kidney disease, and yet it doesn't seem to improve the quality of their life. This is based on research published in the Oct. 30 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, by Dr. Marc A. Pfeffer, a professor of medicine in the cardiovascular division of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston