4 ms·

Just to be pedantic, isn't referring to where we're at now as "the dark ages" equally hyperoblic?

by toxican 9y ago

flamedoge 9y ago
I am wishing that we knew more than just "apply more concentrated oxygen in this area" and see what happens.
bryanrasmussen 9y ago
yes, if these are the dark ages then what were the dark ages? The none-more dark ages?
sp332 9y ago
If you've ever been in a dialysis clinic, you might see how someone from a culture that doesn't have them would view us as being in the dark ages.
- TallGuyShort 9y ago
  For those who have no idea why a dialysis clinic makes us look like the Dark Ages - could you elaborate?
  - sp332 9y ago
    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/-god-help-you-youre-on-dialysis/308308/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/-god-he... They're not well-regulated. First they install a permanent port into your bloodstream. Your kidneys aren't working, so after 2-4 days you're feeling bloated and your blood is full of various toxic metabolic by-products. You bum a ride to the dialysis clinic where they cycle your blood out of your body, run it through a filter, and push it back in, for hours. They try to be careful of your red blood cells, but some of them get smashed up in the machinery. They try to regulate the temperature of your blood as it gets returned to your body, but it's often too cold or too hot. You get very dried out during this process because you want it to last another 2-4 days, so you overdo it a little. You and the dialysis clinic want to get this over with as quickly as possible (they have other customers to schedule) so you have 2-4 days' worth of filtering to do in a few hours, which puts a lot of stress on your internal organs. The #1 cause of death of people on dialysis is people deciding to quit because they'd rather die in the next few weeks than continue the treatment.
  - pkaye 9y ago
    It is a pretty crude process using a bulky machine to do only a tiny fraction of what our kidneys can do. It over/under filters different parts of your blood and can create side effects. It doesn't do most of the regulatory functions of your kidneys. You are stuck on it for many hours every (other) day. There are risks of infection. You cannot stay on one mode of treatment your whole life. If you get a transplant you are stuck on anti-rejection medicines your whole life and the kidneys may last for 10-15 years in the best cases. Then it is back to dialysis or another transplant. I happen to be a dialysis patient (just recently) due to a uncommon autoimmune disease harming my kidneys. Maybe 1 in 1500 chance of you having it but that is uncommon enough that doctors don't have a fully understanding of what exactly happens. There is no blood test or meaningful treatment. Through all my experience in the medical system we are truly living in the dark ages. Other than a few common classes of illnesses, they have no clue how to treat you. Kidney disease doesn't seem to have much advancement in treatment because there is already some crude way to keep people alive. There are some efforts going on with artificial kidneys that fit in your body. One in particular https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2015/11/165666/artificial-kidney-research-advances-through-ucsf-collaboration https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2015/11/165666/artificial-kidney-r.... But I see it struggle to get funding over the years. I see every day shitty tech startups funded for 10x the amount in that project and produce nothing meaningful.
- robotresearcher 9y ago
  You don' think they'd be impressed by how the people with busted kidneys don't simply die in days?
melling 9y ago
It's a quote from the Star Trek movie clip. We are starting to believe that we have "Star Trek" like medicine, but we're no where near what they did in the movies/series.

Just to be pedantic, isn't referring to where we're at now as "the dark ages" equally hyperoblic?

flamedoge 9y ago

I am wishing that we knew more than just "apply more concentrated oxygen in this area" and see what happens.

bryanrasmussen 9y ago

yes, if these are the dark ages then what were the dark ages? The none-more dark ages?

sp332 9y ago

If you've ever been in a dialysis clinic, you might see how someone from a culture that doesn't have them would view us as being in the dark ages.

TallGuyShort 9y ago
For those who have no idea why a dialysis clinic makes us look like the Dark Ages - could you elaborate?
- sp332 9y ago
  https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/-god-help-you-youre-on-dialysis/308308/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/-god-he... They're not well-regulated. First they install a permanent port into your bloodstream. Your kidneys aren't working, so after 2-4 days you're feeling bloated and your blood is full of various toxic metabolic by-products. You bum a ride to the dialysis clinic where they cycle your blood out of your body, run it through a filter, and push it back in, for hours. They try to be careful of your red blood cells, but some of them get smashed up in the machinery. They try to regulate the temperature of your blood as it gets returned to your body, but it's often too cold or too hot. You get very dried out during this process because you want it to last another 2-4 days, so you overdo it a little. You and the dialysis clinic want to get this over with as quickly as possible (they have other customers to schedule) so you have 2-4 days' worth of filtering to do in a few hours, which puts a lot of stress on your internal organs. The #1 cause of death of people on dialysis is people deciding to quit because they'd rather die in the next few weeks than continue the treatment.
- pkaye 9y ago
  It is a pretty crude process using a bulky machine to do only a tiny fraction of what our kidneys can do. It over/under filters different parts of your blood and can create side effects. It doesn't do most of the regulatory functions of your kidneys. You are stuck on it for many hours every (other) day. There are risks of infection. You cannot stay on one mode of treatment your whole life. If you get a transplant you are stuck on anti-rejection medicines your whole life and the kidneys may last for 10-15 years in the best cases. Then it is back to dialysis or another transplant. I happen to be a dialysis patient (just recently) due to a uncommon autoimmune disease harming my kidneys. Maybe 1 in 1500 chance of you having it but that is uncommon enough that doctors don't have a fully understanding of what exactly happens. There is no blood test or meaningful treatment. Through all my experience in the medical system we are truly living in the dark ages. Other than a few common classes of illnesses, they have no clue how to treat you. Kidney disease doesn't seem to have much advancement in treatment because there is already some crude way to keep people alive. There are some efforts going on with artificial kidneys that fit in your body. One in particular https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2015/11/165666/artificial-kidney-research-advances-through-ucsf-collaboration https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2015/11/165666/artificial-kidney-r.... But I see it struggle to get funding over the years. I see every day shitty tech startups funded for 10x the amount in that project and produce nothing meaningful.
robotresearcher 9y ago
You don' think they'd be impressed by how the people with busted kidneys don't simply die in days?

melling 9y ago

It's a quote from the Star Trek movie clip. We are starting to believe that we have "Star Trek" like medicine, but we're no where near what they did in the movies/series.