Hey Cher.

Yes, anemia is a common symptom of kidney disease. You kidney does a lot more than just take fluid out of your system. It is responsible, in part, for the production of red blood cells. The good news is that there is medication you can take (sorry, injection only) that will replace the hormone that your kidney no longer produces. Your nephrologist may recommend on of these drugs: epo, aranesp, procrit. There are a lot of these types of things and you may have even seen them advertised for cancer patients on TV. They have found that patients of any sort do better when they are not anemic. Make sure you mention it to the nephrologist.

Good luck and don't be afraid to ask more questions. Sorry, but I forgot to mention a couple of important things. You will, on occasion, not feel so hot. The good news is that there will still be days that you do feel well, and you can have a life. While I was predialysis I still travelled a lot and when I was on dialysis I ended up going to Disneyworld with my cousin who gave me a kidney the following month.

I adopted the mantra "this too shall pass". Sure, I had bad days, but I also had a lot of good ones.

Take care.

Cora