Another Treatment Option for Renal Disease: The HPV Vaccine

Your body faces a tough uphill battle when you develop renal disease. Without your kidneys fully functioning, you may experience a long list of health problems that have a big impact on your quality of life. Nausea, fatigue and weakness, high blood pressure, to name a few.

And there’s at least one other danger to watch out for when you have renal disease…a compromised immune system. It’s typically caused by excess waste and toxins not being filtered out by the kidneys, and then making their way to other areas of the body. It can lead to high blood sugar levels, interfere with sleep, have an impact on brain health, and ultimately weaken your body’s ability to ward off infection.

So what can you do about it? When you have renal disease, your doctor and your healthcare team can help you determine which medications you need to take to maintain the kidney function you have left. Your diet and lifestyle habits can have a big impact on your health, too, when you have renal disease. And new research suggests a vaccine typically used to prevent a certain sexually transmitted disease, can actually help people with renal disease. In a study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, researchers found that the human papillomavirus vaccine may help strengthen the immune system for people with renal disease. They also found that the vaccine provided little immune system support benefits to patients who had already received a kidney transplant.

Managing renal disease and protecting your health requires support from your healthcare team, and your own efforts to eat right, take medications, and practice healthy lifestyle habits. The HPV vaccine may be one more tool you can use to boost your immune system and protect your health. Questions about the HPV vaccine for renal disease? Talk to your doctor.

Medications and the HPV vaccine can help you manage renal disease. But another important factor to protect measure you can take your kidney’s aren’t working perfectly is eating a healthy diet. You need to limit the amount of sodium, potassium, phosphorous, and protein in your diet. And we’ve made it a lot easier for you with delicious, and easy-to-make meals for anyone on a Renal Diet.