Bethenny Frankel Fans React After Chronic Kidney Disease Diagnosis

Bethenny Frankel‘s fans are rallying behind her after she shared a “medical announcement” via an Instagram video on Thursday, January 22. The Bravo alum revealed that she’s been diagnosed with stage 2 chronic kidney disease.

“A few months ago I decided I was going to be very proactive about blood tests, bone density, all the things I heard people talking about,” Frankel shared. “I started to take a series of blood tests. Each time, my kidney function was coming up low. Then, today, I was told I had a doctor’s appointment with a kidney specialist.”

Frankel admitted that she “didn’t want to go” to the appointment, but her team convinced her to see the specialist. “When I went, he said to me, ‘You have stage 2 chronic kidney disease.’ He said it could be a function of this traumatic experience I had years ago when I almost died from an allergy attack,” Frankel continued. “It could’ve done damage to the kidney. It could be autoimmune. It’s connected to urinary, which I do get UTIs, not as much anymore.”

 

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The doctor urged Frankel to drink a liter and a half of water a day and told her what medicines she can and can’t take. The goal is to “try and get [her] levels back up,” but she noted this may be “something I have to deal with forever.” Frankel concluded her video by urging followers to keep up with their doctor’s appointments and bloodwork.

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The comments section was filled with supportive messages for the reality star. “Thank you for sharing. Get well soon,” one person wrote. Someone else said, “Praying for your speedy healing!! good that you went!” and another person commented, “I’m so pleased that you’re being pro-active about your health.” Someone else said, “Thank you, thank you thank you for finally saying something about this!!!! There are so many people walking around with kidney disease. Doctors don’t normally test for that and they should.”

There were also messages from followers who have also dealt with kidney issues and were willing to give Frankel some advice, and many gave her tips for how to up her water intake as she deals with her diagnosis.