Hi. I have a friend who has kidney failure & is on dialysis. He is unable to have a transplant because of a disease which caused the kidneys to fail in the first place & it would only happen again. Can he live a "normal" life on dialysis or will there come a point where it will no longer work?
I hope someone can help because it upsets my friend to talk about so I'd rather not ask directly but I thought if I find out more about it I can understand better whats happening & be more supportive.
Also he didn't tell me what kind of dialysis it is but said something about it involving chemicals. If someone could explain this better to me it would be a big help.
Thanks for your time & take care.
Question
Moderator: administrator
Hi,
Firstly I would like to say you must be an amazing friend to try and understand what he is going through, as it is difficult for a lot of people to understand how kidney failure affects you.
I have just started Peritoneal Dialysis and although I found it hard to start with it is gradually getting easier. My brother is in a similar position as your friend and he has been on haemodialysis for over 13 years and is very well on it.
There are two main types of dialysis and this site should help you understand what they are and how they work. Basically the two types are Peritoneal Dialysis and haemodialysis.
Peritoneal Dialysis or PD is done 4 or 5 times a day and consists of a catheter which is placed into your abdomen and goes into your abdominal cavity. A Glucose solution (about 2 litres) is then put into there through the catheter and exchanged 4 or 5 times a day. It works by the process of ultrafiltration which I am not very good at explaining but these links hopefully will help you understand.
http://kidneypatientguide.org.uk/site/pd.html
http://kidneypatientguide.org.uk/site/pdanim.html
There is another version of PD called APD and basically it is similar to PD but done by a machine overnight leaving your days completely free.
haemodialysis or HD is done usually 3 times a week at hospital for 4 to 5 hours at a time. You have to have an operation to strengthen the vein in your arm before you can do this type and it takes a few months before it can be used. It basically works in the same way as PD but outside the body, have a look at the following links.
http://kidneypatientguide.org.uk/site/HD.html
http://kidneypatientguide.org.uk/site/HDanim.html
theoretically you can be on either type of dialysis for the rest of your life and your life expectancy shouldn't be affected. The most important thing is in the case of PD to look after your catheter properly and as long as you don't get any infections which can be very serious you should be able to stay on PD without any problems. HD is the same but the access site or fistula can fail but there are many different places that they can put a new one so you can be on that for years too.
As far as living a normal life on dialysis you can to a certain degree but have to make some changes to your lifestyle with regards to diet and some other things such as playing certain sports may be out of bounds depending on what type of dialysis you are on.
I hope this helps you understand a little and please feel free to ask any questions as I'm sure someone here would be able to help.
best wishes
Mike
Firstly I would like to say you must be an amazing friend to try and understand what he is going through, as it is difficult for a lot of people to understand how kidney failure affects you.
I have just started Peritoneal Dialysis and although I found it hard to start with it is gradually getting easier. My brother is in a similar position as your friend and he has been on haemodialysis for over 13 years and is very well on it.
There are two main types of dialysis and this site should help you understand what they are and how they work. Basically the two types are Peritoneal Dialysis and haemodialysis.
Peritoneal Dialysis or PD is done 4 or 5 times a day and consists of a catheter which is placed into your abdomen and goes into your abdominal cavity. A Glucose solution (about 2 litres) is then put into there through the catheter and exchanged 4 or 5 times a day. It works by the process of ultrafiltration which I am not very good at explaining but these links hopefully will help you understand.
http://kidneypatientguide.org.uk/site/pd.html
http://kidneypatientguide.org.uk/site/pdanim.html
There is another version of PD called APD and basically it is similar to PD but done by a machine overnight leaving your days completely free.
haemodialysis or HD is done usually 3 times a week at hospital for 4 to 5 hours at a time. You have to have an operation to strengthen the vein in your arm before you can do this type and it takes a few months before it can be used. It basically works in the same way as PD but outside the body, have a look at the following links.
http://kidneypatientguide.org.uk/site/HD.html
http://kidneypatientguide.org.uk/site/HDanim.html
theoretically you can be on either type of dialysis for the rest of your life and your life expectancy shouldn't be affected. The most important thing is in the case of PD to look after your catheter properly and as long as you don't get any infections which can be very serious you should be able to stay on PD without any problems. HD is the same but the access site or fistula can fail but there are many different places that they can put a new one so you can be on that for years too.
As far as living a normal life on dialysis you can to a certain degree but have to make some changes to your lifestyle with regards to diet and some other things such as playing certain sports may be out of bounds depending on what type of dialysis you are on.
I hope this helps you understand a little and please feel free to ask any questions as I'm sure someone here would be able to help.
best wishes
Mike
I think that Mike has covered most things there for your friend, the only thing that I would add is to direct your friend to this board so that he can get some support from others in a similar situation to himself. While this type of thing is not for everyone, it can help enormously, particularly if your friend is at the "why me?" stage. Just knowing that there are other people who are living in similar circumstances to you can help you to get a grip on things.
Having you as a friend must also be a great support too.
Best wishes.
Having you as a friend must also be a great support too.
Best wishes.
question
Everybody is different. Just as some people can tolerate a transplant for years, and others keep rejecting kidneys, some people take fine to dialysis and others have trouble. There are cases of people being on PD or hemo for years and years, and the oldest person I've heard of on PD was 97. I don't think there's any way of knowing how long one can do dialysis, just as there's no way of knowing how long one is going to live in the first place. I think what's more important is the attitude one has going into dialysis (or anything else). Try to help your friend divelop a positive, day-at-a-time attitude and tackle the problems one at a time as they arise. The important thing is don't be defeated. The mind has an amazing ability to control what happens with the body. If your friend has a faith he can lean on that for help and support. Be with him and be a friend.