This blog posting is regarding fasting for patients with renal disorders. In this article, in this article, I shall focus on fasting for patients with chronic kidney disease.

Fasting during the month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. During this month, healthy adult Muslims are obligated to refrain from eating and drinking from dawn until dusk. With the Ramadan of 2016 falling during the peak summer period here in Kuwait, I have concerns about the impact of fluid restrictions and dehydration during Ramadan fasting for patients with renal disorders.

Patients who are suffering from chronic kidney disorders are strongly recommended being under medical supervision since water restriction during Ramadan coupled with renal hypoperfusion can induce acute tubular cell injury in these patients. Patients at Kuwaiti German Urology Unit are monitored closely by our in-house team of physicians while fasting. In case, if the symptoms of acute tubular necrosis or renal colic do occur during the course of the fast, the fasting must be immediately discontinued. We also provide special care and attention to patients with chronic kidney disorders like metabolic syndrome and impaired lipid profile complications during their fasting period.

In a rather comforting manner to a few of my patients with other kind of chronic kidney disorders, I have observed that fasting during the month of Ramadan is a kind of some blessings to their overall health, like the fluctuations in body weight, lipid profile, blood sugar, GFR, serum electrolytes and urinary protein excretion. The subsequent drop in blood pressure is quite beneficial to patients with chronic renal disease and the decrease in body weight during the month of Ramadan tends to reduce over-hydration, thereby improving renal perfusion. Fasting or abstaining from eating from dusk to dawn curtails dietary protein intake which significantly diminishes serum creatinine values as well.

The impact of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan on our patients with various diseases is under extensive discussion at Jarallah German Specialized Clinic in general and patients with renal diseases are of special concern for our specialists at Kuwaiti German Urology Unit in particular due to the fear of agonizing and deleterious effects of dehydration on renal function.

— Dr. Ali Mehdi Zadeh, Consultant Urologist and Head of Kuwaiti German Urology Unit, CEO & Partner at Kuwait Medical International Company

د. علي مهدي زادة

الوحدة الكويتية الالمانية لجراحة الكلى و المسالك البولية و التناسلية

عيادة الدكتور على مهدي زاده