I was bluntly told "People like you don't get well. Symptom management is the name of the game." I replied "It may be true that I will always be infected with something but this particular infection has to go as it's killing me."
My doctor physically took a step back as if I had slapped him.
I'm quite confident it's due to lack of trying. If you have zero goal of actually getting me better, please don't blame my condition for your failure to get me better.
That seems blindingly obvious to me. I want to spit nails that it gets so casually hand-waved off.
Solely symptom management should not be the recommended course of action for anything short of stage 5, and there is a ton you can do to slow or stop progression in the early stages, perhaps even avoiding the need for dialysis / tranplant altogether.
But as much as you say kidney disease "has to go", it won't. Reduced kidney function from chronic kidney disease is permanent, and no matter how hard you try, you're not getting to the point where your kidneys get better. You can only pause progression.
Fair enough. In whatever your case was, it sounds like you may have had the ability to eliminate the disease / infection / whatever. That's not the case for kidney disease, and while encouraging healthy habits is always a good thing, CKD patients (i.e. the ones who would need kidney transplants) can't just exercise or diet away the disease.
> "It may be true that I will always be infected with something but this particular infection has to go as it's killing me."
> My doctor physically took a step back as if I had slapped him.
Not to be cold, and I'm sorry, but what did you expect. You are talking to a doctor not jesus. Everyone with an uncurable disease wants a treatment but just because you want something doesn't mean its possible. If it did, nobody would die.
And of course your doctor isn't trying to come up with novel treatments. Your doctor is not a medical researcher.
I mean, i don't think its for lack of trying.