Get your bloodwork done if you can. It could save your life.
RHONY alum Bethenny Frankel is opening up about how diligent blood testing helped get her a diagnosis sooner rather than later.
Between her recent bacterial infection and this, she’s having rough luck!
Stage 2 is still relatively “early,” but she’s explaining what her doctors have told her to expect.
What is her diagnosis?
On Thursday, January 22, Bethenny Frankel took to TikTok to deliver a health update.
“I have a medical announcement,” she shared with her followers.
“Months ago, I decided I was going to be very proactive about blood tests,” she explained.
Bethenny detailed: I started to take a series of blood tests.” That can be difficult for most Americans, but her wealth affords her access to first-rate healthcare.
“And each time,” she revealed, “my kidney function was coming up low.”
@bethennyfrankel Medical cautionary tale #drinkwater #kidneydisease #health #bloodwork ♬ original sound – Bethenny Frankel
Naturally, she wanted to understand why her kidney function was continuing to miss the mark.
Earlier on Thursday, Bethenny told her followers, she’d gone to a doctors appointment.
That was when she received her diagnosis.
Bethenny clearly didn’t waste in any time in sharing the news with the world.
The Bravolebrity and businesswoman has stage 2 chronic kidney disease.
What is stage 2 chronic kidney disease?
Chronic kidney disease is just what it sounds like — long-term abnormalities of the kidneys in form of function. It is “chronic” if the patient has had it for three months or longer.
Blood tests and urinalysis are key gauges for finding indicators of chronic kidney disease, as well as of the stage of development.
Chronic kidney disease can come from various sources. There are major hereditary factors, but a major focus tends to be upon blood pressure.
Estimates say that eight-to-sixteen percent of the world has chronic kidney disease at some stage.
For Bethenny to be at stage 2, she would have kidney damage — not just reduced kidney function like at stage 1. (Stage 5 is full kidney failure, for the record)
According to Bethenny, the cause may have been a “traumatic experience I had years ago when I almost died from an allergy attack.”
Alternatively, she suggested that it might be an autoimmune disease.
Bethenny shared that other infections could have damaged her kidneys. She used to get a lot of UTIs, but “not as much anymore.”
She admitted: “I don’t drink a lot of water. I’m holding a bottle, but I’m not usually drinking it.”
Bethenny emphasized: “[My doctor] said, ‘Water is your medicine.’” She now has to drink up to 1.5 gallons of water per day.
In the near future, she needs to have more water and less of, well, other things
The doctor also advised Bethenny to avoid pain medications, such as ibuprofen, and supplements, such as turmeric.
When your kidneys are in bad shape, things that are fine or even good for a healthy person to take can have a detrimental effect upon your health.
Bethenny advised her followers to “take precautions” for their own health — rather than worry about her.
“Be mindful,” she encouraged. “Maybe this is something I’ll have to deal with forever, but I just wanted to tell you because I think it’s important to go get all your bloodwork done.”
While we’ve admittedly not looked at Bethenny the same since she seemingly called for segregated summer camps a few years ago, we wish her a full recovery.
And while we’re admitting things, writing about this and reading up on kidney health has definitely encouraged our water intake. It’s seldom a bad idea!