Fears over my diagnosis
Working as a deputy nurse on a cardiology unit, Jazmin first realised she might be unwell when she began experiencing headaches.
She says: “I checked my blood pressure at work, and it was quite high. I monitored it over the next week, but it remained outside of normal range, so I visited my GP. The following day, I got a call to say my kidney function had fallen to 35% and I needed to go to A&E. After more tests, including an ultrasound and a biopsy, I was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy.”
“I had a lot of negative thoughts at first, thinking about how this is going to impact my life. Wondering why this has happened to me and whether I’ll be able to have kids in the future. I know if my kidney function keeps dropping, I will probably have to have dialysis and a transplant.”
“Kidney disease and cardiology are interlinked, so as a nurse I see what dialysis patients go through and it’s hard to think about that happening to me. I’ve worked hard to do my degree, my nursing qualifications and have recently been promoted. To think that dialysis treatment could affect my job and reduce the number of hours I could work is hard.”
“I rent on my own, away from my family in London, so I don’t have much support up here. I worry I’ll have to move home and leave the life I’ve built up. It’s scary to think I might have to give up everything I’ve worked so hard for.”
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- Source: https://www.kidneyresearchuk.org/2024/04/05/the-26-year-old-defiantly-walking-10000-steps-a-day-to-fight-kidney-disease/