WARNING: SELF-DIAGNOSIS AND INTERNET AND BOOKS' ADVICE - CKD AND CAREX WALKERS AT WAL-MART

HELP! I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP!! DO NOT SELF-DIAGNOSE YOURSELF, CHECK ANY CHANGES WITH YOUR NEPHROLOGIST FIRST.

Sounds like a commercial, right? But it true and it happened to me Thursday morning last at 5am. I woke and went to the bathroom with my walker and used the toilet. When I turned to go back to the bed, the walker didn't make the complete turn with me and down I went. Fortunately, I missed the side of the toilet bowl and the sharp-edged corner of the lavatory console. But I was on the floor, with, as it turns out, several severe hematoma's on both knees and on my left hand.

I could not get up. What to do? I tried pushing up against the door frame, no luck; I tried pulling up on the toilet, no luck. So I realized I was going to have to call Michael, my friend who has keys to my locked apartment. I didn't really want to call the EMS because I knew Michael and/or my friend Tom would come. BUT, the phone was beside the bed, 15 feet away. So I crawled on my butt and managed to get the phone and call them both.

They showed up in 30 minutes. But if Tom had come first he didn't have keys. So I crawled again 25 feet to the front door and reached up and unlocked the door, crawled back to the floor beside the bed and waited.

They managed to pull me up and on to the bed. Once in that position, I could navigate with the walker. They stayed, of course. I went to the kitchen and very terribly woozy. which I thought was low blood sugar. So I took some dextrose tablets and the dizziness eased off. They saw me safely in bed and left. I paged my Dr. and she called back around 10 and said, come the office immediately.

So Michael came at 12:30 and we go to the office. They took an EKG and found something irregular with my heart, so I was ordered the the ER for further observation and diagnosis.

Tom took me to the ER where it was discovered that I was completely dehydrated and LOW IN SODIUM. So I was given 2 IV's of Saline. And waited to be admitted to the hospital. That occurred about 8am Friday morning.

I went to a ward that was not Nephrology, but extremely nice. My nephrologist had seen me in the ER the night before, so I knew my “team” was on the case. Plus Dr. Jan had called the ER, and she's my doctor and friend.

Long story story short: The Nephrology Team finally visited me en masse, and said, “Mr. Wall, you are dangerously low in Sodium, and this explains your dizziness and disorientation, NOT blood sugar. YOU ARE NOT EATING ENOUGH FOOD, SPECIFICALLY PROTIEN AND YOU ARE DRINKING TOO MUCH WATER/LIQUIDS.”

At the point, I began explaining that I was following Dr. Walser's book, “12 Steps To Avoid Dialysis”. The head Dr. said, “That works for rats, that does NOT work for humans. AND, has Dr. Walser peronally treated you?”

So I was ordered the eat more Vegetarian choices, and LIMIT ALL FLUIDS TO 1.5 LITRES A DAY.

EXCESSIVE HYDRATION (3-4 LITRES WAS WHAT I WAS DOING per the Walser book's advice) WAS STRESSING THE KIDNEYS AND DEPLETING THE SODIUM IN MY BODY.

THE POINT I AM MAKING HERE: DO NOT DO ANYTHING YOU LEARN ON THE INTERNET OR IN BOOKS WITHOUT FIRST CLEARING IT WITH YOUR NEPHROLOGIST!

I AM LUCKY, SO LUCKY THAT THIS HAPPENED, BECAUSE I WAS KILLING MYSELF.

I am home now and eating about 60 gms of organic vegetarian protein a day, and religiously measuring my LIQUID intake.

DON'T SELF-DIAGNOSE, EVEN IF YOU HAVE 12 MEDICAL DEGREES.

And get “Life Alert ASAP”

Thank you, America! And UNC Nephrology, Dr's Ryan Sanford and Jan Busby-Whitehead.

AND BEWARE OF FLIMSY, CHEAP WALKERS MADE BY CAREX