Last evening, I was just reading an article online titled Positive Thinking Is Prescription For The Heart. There was a quote that got me thinking about how people approach illness:

"Perhaps we should work on changing behaviors by instilling more confidence in the capacity to prevent having a heart attack, rather than raising fears about having one."

There's certainly not a shortage of articles and news reports that warn us about dangers to our health. Doom and gloom sells much better than optimism. Sure, we may THINK that we aren't paying attention to these, but are we aware of them on a subconscious level? My guess is that we are more aware of these than we realize. And what effect does this have on our health? And, how much value should we place on these various reports and studies?

Take, for instance, reports of a recent study regarding gender differences in transplants. The bottom line of the study is that male kidneys transplanted into females had a higher failure rate, probably due to immune system antigens. This is a single study, and very well may have merit, but as with anything, the results of a single study are more reliable when they validated with further studies. However, the way it is reported is what concerns me. Take a look at these titles:

"Gender Plays Role in Kidney Transplant Outcomes"
Male to female kidney transplants 'more likely to fail'
Gender Should Be Considered when Choosing Donors for Kidney Transplant
Gender Matched Organs Affect Failure, Success in Kidney Transplants
Female Kidney Transplant Recipients Are More Likely To Reject Male Donor Organs

So, if you are a female transplant recipient who got a male kidney, and you read the headline Male to female kidney transplants 'more likely to fail', what does that do to your way of thinking? I would think that the more neutral Gender Should Be Considered when Choosing Donors for Kidney Transplant would be more appropriate. But negative is what sells, which is why they probably use these types of headlines.

Although I haven't found much research relating positive attitudes with positive outcomes in kidney disease, there is information in other areas of Mind/Body Medicine showing a relationship between the mind and physical outcomes.

Having been through both my own dealings with kidney failure, as well as seeing my mother go through it back in the 1970's prior to all of the advanced treatments we have today, I realize that being optimistic about Chronic Kidney Disease can be difficult. Instead of thinking “this dialysis diet sucks”, think “I’m lucky that I can take a phosphorous binder to keep my phosphorous levels under better control”. Instead of “I really hate dialysis”, think “if I developed my kidney failure 50 years ago, dialysis wasn’t widely available, and I would probably be dead”. Instead of “I hate taking all of these meds for my transplant”, think “the meds for transplant patients are so much better than 30 or 40 years ago, and my kidney has a much better chance of lasting a long time”. So, do yourself a favor and try out an optimistic approach. It can’t hurt, and probably will help. Comments welcome.