A man from Neath is using TikTok to raise awareness of the symptoms of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).
Darren Daniel, 41, creates videos about his experience of the condition on his TikTok account @ttkwarrior.
Mr Daniel has been living with CKD for the last five years, getting a diagnosis after experiencing many common symptoms.
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Mr Daniel said: “I was tired all the time. I had swollen ankles, headaches, felt cold and dizzy. I had no idea what was wrong. So I went to the doctor who ran some blood tests, and told me that the problem was with my kidneys.
“I didn’t know anything at all about kidney disease and I was unsure about what was going on . When you hear kidneys you think about transplant and dialysis, but I didn’t know much at all.”
Kidney disease is extremely common and affects around 10% of the population of the UK.
Despite this, awareness is quite low.
Mr Daniel, who works full-time for Amazon, is using his TikTok account to try to change that.
He said: “The response is absolutely amazing. A lot of people in the same boat as myself have said how helpful the videos are.
“I’ve had messages from people saying thank you because they have had symptoms and didn’t know what it was. They now have a diagnosis of CKD and they would not have known about it otherwise.”
Symptoms of Chronic Kidney Disease include:
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Tiredness
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Feeling sick
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Headaches
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Passing more urine than usual
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Itching
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Aching bones
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Muscle cramps
Some people with CKD can live without noticing any symptoms, whereas others suffer with the disease.
Mr Daniel said: “I’m tired frequently which is not very nice at all, especially when you’re working full-time, and looking after a child. I get headaches, dizziness, nausea. You have to manage it day-to-day.”
You can read more about Chronic Kidney Disease here.
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