What To Expect When Living On Dialysis
How To Cope With Challenges
The most common challenges individuals face when they first go on dialysis include seeing their blood leave their body, having the needle remain in their body, meeting a team of specialists, feeling limited in what they can do, and soreness. However, patients who have been receiving treatment for multiple years report they did adjust to all of these common issues. For the most part, it is simply a matter of learning a new routine. Many of these patients also report doing research and obtaining as much information as they could before treatment began, which helped quite a lot during their adjustment period.
Other significant challenges for some patients may be in-hospital treatments or depression. Though dialysis often starts this way, patients can do their treatments at home, even during the night. So if going to the hospital is too much of a challenge, patients are encouraged to speak with their doctors to investigate the ability of at-home dialysis instead. Depression occurs in up to sixty percent of dialysis patients. The best way of coping with this particular hurdle is for patients to discuss the situation with the doctor leading their healthcare team and how they can go about treating it. The most common solution is to engage in the services of a mental health professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Eating A Healthy Diet
Everyone should be eating a balanced and healthy diet to be in the best possible health. However, there is a lot of flexibility for individuals without serious medical issues. When on dialysis, a patient’s diet becomes more of a concern. The golden rule is, of course, for patients to talk to their healthcare team before making changes. However, a common recommendation for dialysis patients is to reduce their intake of foods high in saturated fats and cholesterol, such as fried foods, eggs, whole milk, and the majority of cheeses. Patients often also want to limit their consumption of foods high in potassium and phosphorus, such as bananas, as too much of these minerals can be harmful to them.
For the best possible results and health, dialysis patients should focus on foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Popular choices include cold-water fish, such as sardines, salmon, and lake trout, walnuts, as well as flaxseed and canola oil. Individuals with kidney disease who require dialysis are at an increased risk for developing anemia, which means they have a low red blood cell count and the flow of oxygen throughout the body is compromised. Some cases of anemia require prescription medication, but others may be treated with iron. Iron can be taken in pill form, but patients are also encouraged to include iron-rich foods in their diet, such as spinach, red meat, whole grains, Greek yogurt, and many nuts and seeds.
