Hospitalized when the disease was already in a severe stage, Ms. N.T. N. (35 years old, Ho Chi Minh City) still does not forget the shock 5 years ago when she was diagnosed by doctors with stage 3 kidney failure.
Ms. N. said that before that, she had a habit for many years of almost not drinking filtered water. The amount of water put into the body mainly comes from soup or food in meals.
That day, I was going to work when I suddenly fainted and was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. When the doctor announced that I had stage 3 kidney failure, I really collapsed. What I regret most is that the cause originated from my habit of not liking to drink water," Ms. N. shared.
More unfortunately, Mr. N.V.T. (from Lam Dong) has been attached to dialysis machines for many years. Moving to the hospital three times a week for blood filtration completely disrupts the life of the man who used to be the main breadwinner in the family.
I have never had the habit of regular health check-ups. Every time I feel tired, I just buy medicine to take myself. When I was diagnosed with kidney disease, I still thought it could be cured. After the doctor explained that only kidney transplantation is a long-term solution, while the source of rare organs and costs are up to more than one billion VND, I just hope to maintain stable dialysis," Mr. T. said.
Not only the story of the two patients alone, the pressure of kidney failure treatment is present in many hospitals. Most blood filtration units operate in a state of overload, dialysis sessions are arranged continuously from morning to night but still do not fully meet the treatment needs.
At Le Van Thinh Hospital, previously the unit only operated 3 blood dialysis sessions per day. However, from 2025, the hospital must increase to 4 sessions to serve about 250 patients and is considering the option of opening a 5th session. With the evening dialysis session, many patients can only return home when it is almost midnight in a state of exhaustion after many hours of blood dialysis.
According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Trang, Department of Endocrinology - Kidney - Hemodialysis, Le Van Thinh Hospital, the increasing number of patients causes medical staff to regularly extend working hours. Notably, nearly 15% of dialysis patients at the hospital are under 40 years old, including many cases under 30 years old. This shows that chronic kidney disease is no longer a disease only encountered in the elderly but is tending to become younger.
Explaining the reason why more and more people discover kidney failure when the disease is already in a severe stage, BS.CKII Le Thi Dan Thuy, Head of the Department of Nephrology - Hemodialysis, Binh Dan Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, said that in addition to underlying diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, a worrying cause is the abuse of functional foods.
According to Dr. Thuy, functional foods can support nutritional supplementation when used as directed. However, self-use or abuse of the product for a long time can cause many health consequences.
One of the common risks is excess nutrients. Supplementing too much vitamin A can cause liver damage; excess calcium or vitamin C increases the risk of kidney stones; while excess iodine can lead to hyperthyroidism," Dr. Thuy said.
Doctors also warn that many functional foods can cause damage to the liver, kidneys or interact with treatment drugs. For example, people with cardiovascular disease who are taking anticoagulants, if they add omega-3, vitamin E or ginkgo biloba, may increase the risk of bleeding, even brain hemorrhage.
Products of unknown origin or poor quality also risk containing heavy metals, preservatives and many toxic impurities that affect the liver, kidneys as well as other organs.
What is worrying is that many people are too confident in the uses of functional foods, so they delay medical examination and self-treatment at home, causing the disease to be detected late and missing the time for effective treatment," Dr. Thuy emphasized.
