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About Hannah Bracamonte

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So far Hannah Bracamonte has created 472 blog entries.

Blood Sugar Testing to Manage Type 2 Diabetes in Patients Who Don’t Need Insulin

2022-06-06T12:34:04-04:00June 1st, 2022|Categories: eNews, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Quality of Life, Staying Healthy|

Checking your blood sugar daily may not help you manage your type 2 diabetes. If you have type 2 diabetes, it’s important to keep the amount of glucose, or sugar, in your blood at a healthy level. Many patients check their blood sugar at home each day. Patients place a drop of blood from their fingertip onto a test strip; then they insert the strip into a home glucose meter. This test measures your blood sugar level at that moment. People who use insulin check their blood sugar often so that they know how much insulin to take. But if you [...]

Advocate for Your Health!

2022-06-06T12:29:40-04:00May 27th, 2022|Categories: eNews, Treatment|

Written by Orlando A. Torres, a DPC Patient Ambassador from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico Last year, I participated in my first Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) virtual Fly-In. DPC is an advocacy organization that represents all kidney patients in our community. The Fly-In was a virtual event where kidney patients, along with DPC staff, and other advocates, engaged in conversations with Congress members and their staffers in relation to new legislation to benefit renal patients. We discussed the concept of the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act that extended Medicare coverage of life saving immunosuppressive medications for the [...]

Telehealth with a Mental Health Professional: What to Know Before You Start

2022-05-10T13:00:27-04:00May 5th, 2022|Categories: Dialysis, eNews, Kidney Transplant, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Stress Management|

By Kirsten Weir If you or a family member are managing chronic kidney disease, you’re probably thinking a lot about physical health—the health of the kidney and the rest of the body. Caring for your mental health is just as important. And with telehealth options that let you see a mental health professional from your home, it’s more convenient than ever. “The increased availability and acceptance of telehealth might be one of the few positive changes to come out of the [COVID-19] pandemic,” says Amy Walters, PhD, a clinical health psychologist and the director of Behavioral Health Services for St. Luke's [...]

Exercise for Both Physical and Mental Health

2022-05-10T12:56:22-04:00May 2nd, 2022|Categories: eNews, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Physical Health|

It is well known that exercise is important to maintain physical health, but new studies have shown that the benefits of exercise extend to mental health as well. Researchers looked at 15 existing studies that contain data on exercise and depression and have found a correlation between depression risk and physical activity. Even when someone wasn’t exercising as intensely or as often as advised by the US Department of Health and Human Services, there were still significant mental health benefits. The 15 studies used, which included over 191,000 participants total, found that people who did half the recommended amount of physical [...]

DPC’s State Advocacy Efforts Flourish with Elevated Voice of DPC Patient Ambassadors

2022-05-09T16:58:33-04:00April 25th, 2022|Categories: Costs for Treatment, Kidney Transplant, The Kidney Citizen, Uncategorized|

Image: Medigap champion Kentucky State Rep. Tom Burch and Elizabeth Lively, DPC Eastern Region Advocacy Director By Kelly Goss, J.D., LL.M., Western Region Advocacy Director and Elizabeth Lively, Eastern Region Advocacy Director, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) It’s been a busy start in 2022 for DPC’s state advocacy efforts. Many states are holding shorter legislative sessions due to the upcoming primary elections, and several bills impacting dialysis patients have been introduced and are moving quickly through the legislative process. Legislation to expand Medigap access has been introduced in Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Improving access [...]

Falling by the Wayside? Falls Prevention in Dialysis

2022-05-06T16:08:10-04:00April 25th, 2022|Categories: Dialysis, Fact Sheet, Physical Health, The Kidney Citizen|

By Laura Plantinga, PhD, Bernard Jaar, MD, MPH, and C. Barrett Bowling, MD, MSPH Why are dialysis patients at particular risk for falls? Studies show that approximately one-quarter of dialysis patients fall every year, meaning that they are about three times more likely to fall in any given year, compared to the general population. While older age certainly plays a role, there are several other factors that put dialysis patients — regardless of age — at higher risk for falls. In fact, most falls probably result from a combination of factors, usually a combination of long-term “predisposing” risk factors [...]

The Courage to Self-Cannulate – Taking Control Means Less Pain, More Independence

2022-05-06T15:41:22-04:00April 25th, 2022|Categories: Dialysis, Quality of Life, The Kidney Citizen|

By Michelle Carver, Vice President Clinical Service Initiatives at Fresenius Kidney Care If the idea of self-cannulating every time you dialyze seems impossible, you are not alone. Many people fear needles, especially the large ones used for dialysis. But trust me, when you learn to do it, you’ll wonder why you ever doubted yourself. It gives you control, may make your access site last longer and, believe it or not, hurt less. One of my dialysis patients compared it to putting a cotton-tipped swab in your ear – would you rather do it yourself or have someone else do [...]

To Change or Not to Change?

2022-05-06T15:16:44-04:00April 25th, 2022|Categories: Lifestyle, Mental Health, Nutrition, Physical Health, Staying Healthy, The Kidney Citizen|

By Dr. Stacy Ogbeide, Board Certified Clinical Health Psychologist www.stacyogbeide.com “Why is change so hard?” I hear this statement often from the patients I see in primary care. From taking a medication as prescribed to starting an exercise program – change is hard. Having a chronic health condition like Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) can be difficult because, like many other chronic health conditions, CKD is heavily influenced by lifestyle and behavior modifications. What is a person to do? “I just need to do it.” “I will change when I want to change.” “I will start next week.” “I want [...]

Wellness and Mental Health While Living with Rare Disease

2022-05-09T13:15:48-04:00April 25th, 2022|Categories: Lifestyle, Mental Health, Physical Health, Stress Management, The Kidney Citizen, What Causes Kidney Disease|

  By Maya Doyle, MSW, PhD Cystinosis is a rare lysosomal storage disorder (1) that is typically diagnosed in childhood and typically results in kidney failure and progression to dialysis and/or kidney transplant. In the United States, a disease is considered rare if it is affects fewer than 200,000 Americans. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there are approximately 7,000 rare diseases affecting between 25 and 30 million Americans – this means 1 in 10 people may be affected by a rare condition (2). The experience of a rare condition can be very isolating because of the [...]

My Experience as a Kidney Patient in CKD, Dialysis, and Transplant

2022-05-09T12:48:26-04:00April 25th, 2022|Categories: Diagnosis of Kidney Disease, Dialysis, Home Hemodialysis, In-Center Hemodialysis, Kidney Transplant, Stages of Kidney Disease, The Kidney Citizen|

By Orlando A. Torres After a 30-year battle with chronic kidney disease (CKD), in 2016 I had Stage Five kidney failure. This was the end of a three-decade battle which took countless hours of treatment. For years, I had been followed medically for CKD, having a special test done monthly and eating a special diet. As a CKD patient, my condition affected other organs in my body. The number of regular activities I could do also declined, but I never quit and refused to accept those limitations. I never let CKD limit what I did. I think it is [...]

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