Dialysis is a treatment for kidney failure that rids your body of unwanted toxins, waste products, and excess fluids by filtering your blood. When kidneys fail, your body may have difficulty cleaning your blood and keeping your system chemically balanced. Dialysis can take the place of some kidney functions. It also along with medication and proper care, help you live longer.
Dialysis acts as an artificial kidney by filtering toxins, waste, and fluid from your blood through a semipermeable membrane—a material that allows fluids and small particles to flow through it, but not larger particles.
The 2 types of dialysis, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, use different methods to filter toxins from your body. With hemodialysis, the filtering membrane is called a dialyzer and is inside a dialysis machine. Your blood is circulated through the dialysis machine and cleaned before being returned to your body.
With peritoneal dialysis, the filtering membrane is the natural lining of your peritoneum or abdomen and blood never leaves your body. Both types of dialysis also use a dialysate solution in the filtering process to help remove unwanted substances.
Dialysis Comes With A Surgery
Before you start hemodialysis, your doctor will do minor surgery in your arm or leg to create what’s called vascular access. That’s where your blood will be removed and then returned to your body. For peritoneal dialysis, your doctor also will do surgery. The doctor will put a catheter (a soft plastic tube) into your belly. This lets the dialysate flow into and out of your body.
Dialysis Sessions Last For About 4 Hours
Each hemodialysis treatment takes about four hours, and you will need about three treatments each week. There are two main types of peritoneal dialysis. You do continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) 4 or 5 times a day. The other type, automated peritoneal dialysis (APD), uses a machine called a cycler. It sends dialysate in and out of your belly at night while you sleep.
Dialysis Comes With A Risk
One major risk of hemodialysis is developing a blood clot in your vascular access. If that happens, your doctor may need to remove the clot. This keeps the access area usable. You also could get an infection near your access. The main risk of peritoneal dialysis is an infection inside your belly that doctors call peritonitis. Your healthcare team will teach you how to check for these problems. Also, you might feel nauseous or dizzy from dialysis treatments. These side effects lessen over time.
Dialysis Patients Can Live Longer
It’s true that only those with advanced kidney failure undergo dialysis. In some cases of acute (sudden) kidney failure, you may only require dialysis for a short time, until your kidney function recovers.
Dialysis does not, however, cure chronic (long-term) kidney disease, which is the most common cause of kidney failure. In that case, you must remain on dialysis throughout the rest of your life or until you are able to undergo a kidney transplant.
However, rather than shortening your lifespan, dialysis offers you the opportunity to live a longer, healthier life. Depending on your overall health at the time you began dialysis and how well you follow your treatment plan, the National Kidney Foundation reports that many patients live well on dialysis for 20-30 years.
Dialysis Won’t Hurt
You may note mild discomfort, much like you would feel when receiving an injection, at the start of treatment when the dialysis technician accesses your fistula or graft.
Very rarely, you may also develop a headache or feel dizzy during dialysis. This is normally due to issues such as blood pressure drops during dialysis which are easily managed by your dialysis care team. Be sure to notify your team of the symptoms you’re experiencing.
You can also help prevent side effects in response to dialysis by carefully following the dietary and fluid restrictions your doctor recommends as part of your overall treatment strategy.
Key Takeaway
Dialysis is complicated. It requires a team of caregivers. Your team may include your nephrologist (kidney specialist), a dialysis nurse, and technicians. A dietitian will help you stick to a healthy diet.
A social worker can help you deal with money, work, and travel issues. You and your family are the most important members of the team. If everyone works together, you can live a full and active life on dialysis.
