When your kidneys fail, the process of dialysis keeps the balance of the body by removing the waste, salt and extra water to prevent them from building up in the body. It is important to keep a safe level of certain chemicals in the blood such as potassium, sodium and bicarbonate. It basically involves diverting blood to a machine to be cleaned, so as to slowly start functioning normally. In some cases, kidney failure may be temporary and dialysis can be stopped when your kidneys recover.This can be done at a dialysis center in Bangalore with prior appointment with a nephrologist.
Normally, the healthy kidneys filter the blood, removing harmful waste products and excess fluid and turning these into urine to be passed out of the body. When your kidneys are damaged, they will not be able to remove wastes and excess fluid from your bloodstream in an effective way and these are dangerous for the body if left untreated, causing a number of unpleasant symptoms and eventually be fatal. The wastes that build up in the bloodstream of the body are nitrogen and creatinine.
According to the National Kidney Foundation guidelines, the patients whose kidney function has dropped to 15% or less, or if you have severe symptoms caused by your kidney disease like shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle cramps, fluid overload, nausea or vomiting are recommended to start on dialysis at the earliest.
The process of dialysis for a kidney that has failed has a recovery target that ranges between 10% and 15% within the first 30 days of dialysis. Although half of the patients did recover kidney function within 90 days after the start of dialysis, there were few patients who recovered after 180 days of outpatient chronic dialysis.
How Dialysis perform kidney function
- In the process of haemodialysis, a common type of dialysis, a tube is attached to a needle in your arm.
- Blood passes along the tube into an external machine that actually filters it, and then it sends the purer blood back into the arm along another tube.
- At the dialysis center in Bangalore, this is carried on for 3 days in a week, with each session lasting for around 4 hours.
- It can also be done at home with a home dialysis schedule – 4 times a week for 4 hours, 5 times a week for 3 hours and 6 days a week for 8 hours overnight.
- As for peritoneal dialysis, the lining of the abdomen is used as a filter rather than a machine. The peritoneum contains thousands of tiny blood vessels which behave like a filter device, practically like the kidney itself.
- The procedure of peritoneal dialysis requires an incision made near the belly button where a thin tube called the catheter is inserted into the space inside your abdomen. This tube is left in place permanently.
- Now a fluid is pumped into the peritoneal cavity through the catheter, and as the blood passes through the blood vessels in the abdomen, waste products and excess fluid are drawn out of the blood into the dialysis fluid. The used fluid is then emptied into the bag, and later fresh liquid is passed through the catheter again.
- Changing the dialysis fluid usually takes about 30 to 40 minutes and the process is repeated 4 times a day.
Some kidney failure symptoms from the buildup of waste in the body are:
- A metallic taste in the mouth or ammonia breath
- Protein aversion
- Nausea and vomiting
- Difficulty concentrating
- Loss of appetite
- Itchiness
The dialysis treatment at the dialysis center in Bangalore is painless, although there could be a drop in the blood pressure of some patients that could eventually lead to nausea, vomiting, headaches or cramps. These side effects could be avoided with the right kidney diet that needs to be followed strictly along with fluid restrictions. During the dialysis sessions, you will sit or lie on a couch, recliner or bed.
When a patient is on dialysis due to acute kidney injury(AKI), then recovery is possible and dialysis can be stopped, but a patient on dialysis due to chronic kidney disease(CKD), if dialysis is stopped, it could result in death or severe illness. When your kidneys stop working completely, your body could fill with extra water and waste products, the condition is known as uremia. Your hands and feet may swell, you may feel tired and weak because your body needs clean blood to function properly. You must immediately meet a nephrologist at a dialysis center in Bangalore and get a course of dialysis done to feel better.
