Quote of the Day: "The best advice is found on the pillow."
© ALL CREDIT TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
One of the 44,000 KidneyBuzz.com Facebook Friends said, "I have to go to Dialysis 3 times a week and I am in that chair four hours every time. That does not include the time I have to prepare to go to treatments, drive to my facility, bandage up after treatment, drive home, and recover. It kills my day. I wish I had just one more day off of Dialysis!"
Recommended Reading: Is Nerve Pain Inevitable Among Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Conducting Hemodialysis?
Did you know that thrice-weekly (three times a week) Hemodialysis has established itself as the default format of treatment without any randomized controlled trial to examine whether less frequent Hemodialysis treatments including twice-weekly Hemodialysis would be inadequate, according to Dr. Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh (University Of California Irvine)? Let's be clear, there is no doubt that Dialysis is one of the greatest inventions of modern time, and treatments save the lives of approximately 600,000 patients every year and saved millions of other lives since its inception (creation). However, equally as true, many Chronic Kidney Disease patients who conduct Dialysis often find that their lives are greatly limited due to Dialysis Treatments - feeling forever tethered to the machine. Even just one additional day away from Dialysis may give some patients a feeling of enhanced freedom, less pain, more of an optimistic outlook, and help to improve their overall quality of life. That is why it is very exciting when Renal & Urology News reported that there is a resurgence of data that supports twice-weekly Hemodialysis (HD) for some patients instead of thrice-weekly treatments.
Recommended Reading: Study Finds Extending Chronic Kidney Disease Patient Dialysis Time Does Not Improve Quality of Life
Thrice-weekly Hemodialysis treatments are considered the “standard of care” for both initiation and maintenance of the Hemodialysis therapy option. Historically, however, Hemodialysis started with two treatment sessions per week in the 1960s and 1970s, but by the early 1980s the frequency had increased to three times a week said, Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation (Oxford Journals). Now considered taboo to even suggest, Renal & Urology News noted that, "We will likely see an increased practice of twice-weekly Hemodialysis." This is because some experts have revisited the idea of focusing more heavily on nutritional management of Chronic Kidney Disease and diet to better balance symptoms of Kidney Failure.
Recommended Reading: Skipping and Shortening Dialysis Treatment: A Chronic Kidney Patient Perspective
While the report was mainly focused on early Dialysis initiators, the findings may also be promising for longer-term Dialysis patients with limited kidney function as well as patients who are able to maintain a strict diet. Still, many Chronic Kidney Disease patients would never consider the idea of cutting back their treatment times to twice a week, but others on Dialysis may find the idea to be a very exciting potential option. Nevertheless, KidneyBuzz.com urges Dialysis patients, whether new or a veteran, to attend all of their scheduled treatments unless they first discuss the idea of limiting their treatment days with their Nephrologists.
ecommended Reading: Dialysis Patients May Not Have To Worry About Itching Anymore With New Simple Spice Treatment
While this finding will not create a revolution in the Chronic Kidney Disease Community, it may create an important shift and an added option for some patients. Would you ever consider twice-weekly Hemodialysis? Why or why not? Weigh-in with your own pros and cons at the KidneyBuzz.com Facebook Fan Page which has over 44,000 friends (click here). While you are there, like the KidneyBuzz.com Facebook Fan Page and visit KidneyBuzz.com regularly (115,000+ monthly viewers) for the latest tailored breaking news and information which teaches those with Chronic Kidney Disease, Dialysis, Kidney Transplant, Diabetes, and High Blood Pressure how to better manage and improve their lives. You may become a regular visitor like, Charles Griffin who said, "Praise God for KidneyBuzz."
