Persuasive Speech On Kidney Disease

Kidneys are pretty important, and often an underdog in the grouping of organ systems. Without functioning kidneys, none of us can live for more than about a week, making the kidneys pretty important from a survival standpoint. Seems interesting that a person can literally be brain dead and survive–but without kidneys you can’t. Kidneys often get lumped into the “random organ” category and people often think of them like their gall bladder and appendix. Kidneys are more like lungs if you are looking for a good comparison. You can live with one, you can’t live without two, and you really would prefer to have two that work.

There are three major issues to address when it comes to kidneys and TEOTWAWKI: infection, stones, and failure. Infection of the urinary system can progress to kidney infection and cause a much more serious problem called pyelonephritis. Untreated pyelonephritis can damage the kidney directly or indirectly through severe scarring, causing kidney failure. Kidney stones can obstruct the urinary system and can then cause both infections and kidney failure. Stones can also cause rupture of the urinary …show more content…
Kidney stones cause pain and blood in the urine, but can also obstruct the system and then become a real risk to life. There will be no lithotripsy (sound therapy) or surgery available to correct these types of large stones. Prevention of stone formation is a must for those that have had a kidney stone in the past, or delevop one at any point in the future. The research-based knowledge bowl of UpToDate, one of my most reliable information sites medically, states that: “from the viewpoint of diet, increasing the intake of fluid, dietary calcium, potassium and phytate and decreasing the intake of oxalate, animal protein, sucrose, fructose, sodium, supplemental calcium and supplemental vitamin C may be beneficial”. Some of these issues need a little more description or