Welcome to the Chronic Kidney Disease Insider Newsletter. If you are living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) on dialysis, have had a kidney transplant or are helping care for someone who is, this newsletter was created for you and your family! The content is meant to keep you and/or a family member up to date on the latest information to help you manage your health now and in the near future in consultation with your physician.
In this month’s CKD Insider: Mental Health & Stress Management Webinars (NKF, AAKP), Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials (AAKP), IgAN webinar (AAKP), One Track Health Mobile App, and your Fun Tip of the Day!
News from Kidney Organizations
NKF Mental Health, Wellness and CKD Webinar The National Kidney Foundation NY Chapter is hosting a virtual presentation to discuss mental health and living with CKD. Depression is common in people on dialysis with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). If you are feeling down this season, you are not alone, and there is help available, sometimes hearing what people in the same situation are going through and how they are managing can provide the support you need. For caregivers and people with CKD, the importance of knowing/monitoring the signs of depression will be discussed.
February 22, 2023 4pm EST Register here.
AAKP Building Resilience: Strategies for Managing Mental Health and Kidney Disease Webinar The American Association of Kidney Patents (AAKP) hosted the webinar "Building Resilience: Strategies for Managing Mental Health and Kidney Disease" that you can revisit to practice the exercises. This webinar walks through multiple strategies to help you manage stress and build resilience. This is beneficial if you are a person with early-stage CKD, are on dialysis, or have a transplant.
A few strategies covered in the webinar are below. This webinar is full of easy actionable strategies to deal with stress and build resistance presented by Jennifer Jones, USMC, Ret., a person with CKD who has been on dialysis and has received transplants. She is also available to reach out to directly if you have questions.
Deep Breathing Exercise
Techniques for Anxiety
Three Good Things Exercise
The 3 C Method (Catch it, Check it, Change it)
Finding Silver Linings
Webinar available here
AAKP A Treatment Specifically Designed for IgA Nephropathy Webinar The American Association of Kidney Patents (AAKP) has organized this webinar for you to learn about a treatment specifically designed for IgA Nephropathy. During this webinar, you will learn more about IgA Nephropathy, discover a treatment that was specifically designed for this disease, and review clinical trial results.
Webinar available after January 31st at AAKP Healthline Webinars here. If you are interested in participating in IgAN clinical trials, these can be found on the NKF Clinical Trials Listing webpage.
AAKP Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials: The FIND-CKD Study Webinar
February 6 3pm EST Register here.
Your Fun Tip of the Day!
A New Year, A Stronger You!
How did your first month of the year go? Are you thinking you want to take more action and make some plans? Are you happy with the special moments and experiences you had in the past year? Do you want more of those experiences or if nothing stands out what do you want to create in the new year? Do you want to improve how you handle stress or building your business? There are many free and pay for service resources available. Now is the time to start planning.
Start your new year planning with a quick overview
Set aside an hour of uninterrupted time.
Take 2 pieces of paper or in your computer create a simple grid of 6 months on each page.
For each month put in what you must do (any events, family gatherings or business related for example)
Step back for a minute and think about what you want to create. Do you want to take a fun trip, visit friends or family, take a self-improvement or business course?
Make the plans, do the research and add them to your calendars.
Make sure you have at least one stand out activity on your calendar. One that will be your defining memory of 2023.
It is always good to include more memory making events, even small ones that once they are scheduled you will commit to, so try for one smaller event every 3 months and enjoy!
This might seem like a simple practice, but to make lasting memories you need to take the time to make the plans and put them on your calendar. If you have an event or activity scheduled on your calendar when people ask you or see that your calendar is blocked out, they will not ask to meet you on those days, your work colleagues or family members will choose other days to make plans with you, and your planned memory making activities will have a better chance of happening!
Resources:
There are many planning resources available - for those that want a wall calendar version check out the BIG Build Your Life 2023 Calendar by Jesse Itzler
This webinar on building resilience has many great tools for you to easily implement to help with stress - Building Resilience: Strategies for Managing Mental Health and Kidney Disease with Jennifer Jones USMC, Ret.
January 2022 CKD Insider Newsletter has many more resources
What it is: A free mobile phone application that allows you to easily view and track key blood test results and get the latest news and educational information delivered to you directly in the app. The app is designed specifically for people on dialysis and their care partners. Available on apple store here. Web and Android applications will be available soon with sharing capabilities.
View test results with simple color coding system
Customize the dashboard with tests you monitor
Track your test results with multiple views
Receive The CKD Insider Newsletter & Educational Content
Why it's important: You can't improve what you don't measure. Keeping track of your blood test results or those of a family member helps you make more informed choices on a daily basis. If you are tracking phosphorus for example, your latest blood test result might impact your decision on what you choose for dinner versus remembering later that you shouldn't have eaten what you did. These little consistent improvements can add up to big changes.
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