The Water Intake for Dialysis Patients2012-12-19 16:59
Dialysis is a common treatment, especially for Renal Failure patients. There are many things dialysis patients should notice, like the water Intake. Here we will talk about the water intake for dialysis patients, hoping it could be helpful during your dialysis time.
During Renal Failure, the amount of urine produced drops. The urine output usually completely stops once patients have been on dialysis for more than 6 months. Taking too much water causes swelling over the body, increases blood pressure and would make the heart work harder resulting in heart failure. Too much water intake can make lungs difficult for the patient to breathe. So the water intake for dialysis patients seems to be very important.
Water restriction may vary for each individual patient on dialysis. The recommended daily amount of water intake is based on the amount of urine produced in a 24-hour period, amount of fluid retention as obvious from the swelling, amount of weight gained between dialysis treatments, whether the patient has an underlying heart failure, the level of daily salt intake. The commonly prescribed amount of sodium per day for haemodialysis patients is between 1000 and 1200 mg. Most nephrologists will expect dialysis patients to limit their daily fluid intake to 1000-1500 ml (33-50 ounces). For example, if your kidney function is very limited, your physician will recommend 1,200 mL per day, which is the equivalent to 40 oz. or 5 cups. If your kidneys are functioning better, you may be permitted to drink 2,000 mL, which equals 67 oz. or 8 1/3 cups.
Dialysis should not be a long plan for the future. Just like what we mentioned above, after six months, there will no urine, which means no kidney function. In that case, kidney transplant will be the last choice for Renal Failure patients. Dialysis can not treat the kidney damage, but can only maintain patients’ lives to some extent. However, the good news is now more and more dialysis patients decide to stop dialysis because they find dialysis can no longer maintain their life or they can not bear the complications of dialysis any more. We have to say that dialysis patients must be sure they can be treated by a real treatment which can repair kidney damage and enhance kidney function after stopping dialysis. Remember that urine stands for hopes and we will always be here providing you more information about treatments for Renal Failure.