Welcome to my Website about Kidney Disease and Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) !

I feel honoured that something attracted you to visit my site.

I hope that browsing through these pages, you get some understanding about kidney disease and high blood pressure. I have made this website, so that people know what the organs are for, and how they can fail, and what high blood pressure actually means and what dangerous effects it will have for your health.

There is so much that you can do yourself, but sometimes you need some help and the GP will tell you that you need to see a nephrologist or specialist for high blood pressure. I have now experience for 32 years with these medical issues in 5 different countries and collected all my knowledge about it. But what is nephrology and hypertension specialism all about and how is it all done ?

My approach to seeing and talking to my patients is quite different from the usual, ‘doctor’ knows best’ style. You will be strongly involved in getting better.What I often notice is that doctors are not always the best communicators, take little time and after 10 minutes the patient leaves the room, wondering what is going on. They often are more worried that before seeing that doctor.

My working style is to prevent this. I will take a lot of time for you. The first time a full hour and we talk about your medical history, I will examine you, then show you how healthy kidneys work, show what your problem is and together we work on a plan forward. If you want, you can read more about that under the button ‘ More about me’, and my Core Values I strongly believe in. Doctors are there for their patients and not the other way around.

Nephrology is the specialism that treats kidney disease and also helps patients suffering from high bloodpressure (hypertension). The consequence of failing kidneys is that our blood is no longer cleaned and we need dialysis or kidney transplantation.

If you click on the Hypertension button on the right you will see all information you require if you want to know more about high blood pressure and how I can help you with that. The principles I use for patients with kidney disease are exactly the same as for those as described above with kidney disease.

If you click on Kidney Disease, then you will get a lot of information about all kinds of kidney diseases and their often very severe consequences. It is my job, to work together with you and your GP to treat you appropriately and do everything in our power to keep the condition from worsening. Be aware that this also requires full commitment from your side, as there exists no ‘silver bullet’ pill that just cures you. It is a matter of careful tweaking and above all we need time together so you understand all about your body.

The way I set up my private clinic, if you are referred for kidney disease or hypertension, is introducing this new concept, that will closely involve yourself, your GP and will deliver excellent results in a short time for less cost. You will have the problems sorted faster.

For patients who need to be seen for kidney issues or for high blood pressure, but live in remote areas with long travel time, I can do computer-to-computer face to face consultation, 1 hour the first time and 30 minutes for every follow up. I have many patients, very efficiently treated this way from The Kimberley, Pilbara, Wheatbelt, Goldfields and the South. I have also overseas patients, especially those that seek a second opinion, but in that case will charge the full consultation fee, as going through all the documentation is a lot of work and there is no bulkbilling system. They are often from Europe, the Middle East, India and the USA.

Kidney Disease as well as Hypertension are diseases that are often difficult to treat, and since we have a large array of medications, these get switched regularly, as they can have quite significant side effects. Precious time gets lost between specialist appointments, where the patient may not take the tablets because of the side effects. My aim is to see you face to face as often as we think is appropriate. In between we can have Online Video contact (like Skype, but then over a safe channel), or email contact or simply a phone call. It is always possible to arrange an urgent consultation. When you are one of my patients, you can send me an email at any time if you  have a question and usually get the answer the same day.  No need to wait till the next consultation. This way your specialist is always just an email away.

TeleHealth was very popular in New Zealand, as patients did not have to travel all the way to my clinic, lose time waiting, and then still found that their bloodpressure or kidney function was not well controlled or had side effects, with the next appointment 3 months away. GP’s felt also very comfortable with this way of follow up as it delayed the time, needed to get the problems sorted. It also saves you money.

What I have described above is of course, somewhat technical, and should you prefer to see me on a regular basis and do it all face-to-face in my rooms, I am more than happy to treat you that way. The way I do the clinic is just an option, making it easier for people to do the consultation from their home, work or even FIFO workplace.

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