Dialysis
What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way to clean your blood when your kidneys fail. There are 2 different types of dialysis- Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis.
Hemodialysis uses a machine with a filter. Blood is taken from your body and passed through the filter, then, the blood is returned to your body. Patients can do this at home or in a center. When this is done in a center, patients typically go 3 times per week for 3-4 hours each treatment.
Peritoneal dialysis uses a lining in your abdomen as the filter. In peritoneal dialysis, patients have to have a tube put in their belly. Through the tube, they put a specific type of fluid in their abdomen, let it sit for a couple hours, then drain it out. When they drain it, excess fluid and toxins are drained out too. This type of dialysis is done at home.
Who needs dialysis?
Patients whose kidneys have failed require dialysis. When patients are no longer able to pee enough or unable to clean the blood enough, they start dialysis.
What happens if someone in kidney failure decides not to do dialysis?
Well eventually, they will die. Usually from what we call “uremia” – a build up of toxins. It’s a peaceful and painless death and typically occurs within 2 weeks of stopping dialysis. Part of working with kidney patients requires a good relationship with the process of death and dieing- seeing the humanity in allowing a person to make that decision when the time is right. We can talk more about this later because it is super complex.
How much does dialysis cost?
Lucky for you, in the United States, the government pays for 90% of dialysis costs. We are truly blessed. I say this because in MANY other countries, you gotta pay to play. If you don’t have the money, you can’t get the treatment and well, we just talked about what happens when you don’t get the treatment.
Kidney Beans 