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Q:
I have polycystic kidney disease and I inherited it from my mother and it is ADPKD. I have found it since I was 32 and I am now 53 years old. The doctor told me there is no cure for it at present and it will in the end progress into end stage renal failure. And I am now taking dialysis and waiting for a matching donor to transplant a healthy kidney to me. The cysts are continuing to grow and I can sense my kidneys are greatly enlarged. I think that this might be related to alcohol because I like drinking. Can you tell me will drinking alcohol cause cyst enlargement and kidney enlargement?
A:
Yes, drinking alcohol does cause aggravation of PKD. This is because alcohol can stimulate the polycystic gene and cause the cysts to experience more rapid growth than those that do not drink alcohol. That is why there are some PKD patients do not develop end stage renal disease while someone experience worsening of illness conditions even at their 30s. This has much to do with their life habits and lifestyle. To have stable illness condition and slow down the progression of the illness condition, it is strongly recommended that you should give up drinking alcohol as soon as possible. It is true that drinking small amount of alcohol is beneficial to the health, but the health alcohol amount is very small, therefore it is better that you should get rid of it especially because you are taking dialysis. Too much intake of alcohol will further increase the level of serum creatinine and cause the body to produce a lot of metabolic wastes and toxins and increase the kidney’s burden.
