As any dialysis patient will tell you, keeping your fluid gain between dialysis sessions in check is not only important to your long term health, it is a major factor in your immediate well-being.
Keeping fluid level gains as low as possible between dialysis treatments will minimize the risk of congestive heart failure, pulmonary oedema, and hypertension. Cramps, headaches and breathing difficulties are short term side-effects of fluid overload, and whilst not as dangerous as the long term effects, these should be heeded as a pointer to fluid overload in dialysis patients.
Whilst every dialysis patient has their own special method of keeping their fluid levels in check, I thought it might be pertinent to explain some of the methods that I have found (relatively) successful.
1/ Buy a bag of ice. I have a large chest freezer in my kitchen, I buy a 5kg (approx 11lb) bag of ice chips from the service (gas) station, place it in the freezer, and suck on ice chips throughout the day. Make sure the freezer is in a convenient place, so you can reach it quickly to grab a few small pieces of ice, so you can avoid the temptation to fill a glass with ice. (In which case you might as well have that mug of coffee you wanted in the first place!)
2/ Get a GOOD set of digital scales. I have a set which measures with an accuracy of 200grams (don’t we all wish we could afford the scales at the dialysis unit which measure to 50grams?!?), which is accurate enough to get a good idea of where you are at with your fluid gain. Work out the difference between your dialysis centre scales, and your home scales, so you can get an accurate reflection of your fluid gain. I weigh myself first thing when I get up in the morning (you’d be surprised how much weight you lose over a warm night!), as soon as I get home from work, and whenever I have a drink.
This method is great in two ways: 1)You never (well, rarely, anyway!) get a nasty surprise when you arrive at dialysis and jump on the scales. And 2) You don’t get the opposite surprise of getting to dialysis with only 1kg of fluid on, thinking: “Damn, I wish I’d drank more!” (I often find myself in the ridiculous situation of forcing myself to have another cup of coffee before I leave for dialysis, as there’s no bank for fluid, once you’ve had that dialysis, the opportunity to have that drink is gone forever!)
3/ Save up your drinks if you’re going to need them. If you know you are going to an event where the temptation to drink more fluid that you should will be strong, save up your drinks beforehand. For example – if you get off dialysis at lunchtime on Wednesday (meaning that you go back to dialysis on Friday Morning), and you have a function to attend on Thursday night, try to drink as little as possible between Wednesday lunchtime and Thursday evening, telling yourself that your reward will be the fact that you will be able to drink (nearly) as much as a “normal” person at the function.
4/ Keep yourself busy! Any dialysis patient will tell you that when they’re busy, they’re not thinking about drinking. It could be a gentle walk, send an email to a friend, jump on the phone, or play with your kids. It doesn’t matter, as long as it keeps your mind occupied.
5/ Frozen water. Freeze a bottle of water, containing the amount you have allowed yourself to drink that day, and drink it as it defrosts. This has the benefit of the drink being ice-cold, as well. The down-side of this is that if your bottle melts too quickly, you could find yourself at 3pm, with all your water gone!
6/ Spray bottle. Get yourself a spray bottle, and fill it with water (maybe with a little lemon juice or mint flavouring), and spray it into your mouth when you feel the urge to have a drink. Whilst this won’t completely sate your desire for fluids, it may help you wait a little longer before indulging!
7/ Mints and toothpaste. Try sucking a strong mint, or even brushing your teeth. The feeling of a clean, fresh mouth will often lessen the desire to blow your fluid limit. (This method will make you nicer to kiss, too!)
I hope that these suggestion will help you in the dialysis patient’s eternal quest to keep their fluid gain under control. But remember, life is for living too, and we, as dialysis patients more than most need to adhere to this edict. So whilst keeping your fluid gain under control is important for both your immediate and long term health, remember that if you’ve blown your fluid this time, there is always next time, so keep trying!
About the author:
About the author: Stuart Drew is a 34 year old dialysis patient from Adelaide, Australia. He has a wilfe, a son (with another on the way), and two miniature schnauzers. He is a part time web geek, and runs the website http://www.therenalunit.com- a news service for all issues relating to kidney disease and dialysis. He can be contacted at mailto:stuart@stuartdrew.com
Every year, there are always families that are embarrassed since all
their family members come down with a serious flu bug that seems to be on
unlimited repeat throughout the whole flu season. They really dont know
whats wrong with them, but they complain about it all the time.
This is very true of many people, and its sad that they do not have
the basic knowledge to prevent the flu. We often read reports that say,
Wash your hands before eating. However, how many really obey this
fundamental rule? Its so simple and basic, yet people forget this healthy
policy for themselves and their family. Once one family member gets the
flu, there is a very high possibility of spreading it to the whole family.
If you dont want to complain about the flu, you should first ask
yourself, Have I become too lazy?.
In a public place, parents often put food into their childs mouth to
make sure the child is eating well. Its love from the parents, but its
also the source of flu. If that parent has not cleaned his or her hands
with hot water and soap before eating, bacteria stays on the hands, and
that personor their childeats all that bacteria. Ingesting such germs is
the best way to catch the flu, just as surely as if you had opened the
door for the virus and said welcome to the flu bug. People often enjoy
delicious food in a buffet restaurant. Many lick their fingers after
eating on their way to making a second trip to the buffet line. If that
person has the flu, then touches those public ladles, the next person in
line uses that ladle and then licks their fingersdelicious! But what
happens? They get the flu! Isnt that right?
No one wants to be in bed with the flu or make their family unhappy.
Ask yourself: Who decides whether I get the flu or not? The answer is
simple: You do!We must remember that we always have to protect ourselves
as much as possible by any method. Moreover, we are not even for ourselves
but also the whole members of our family if we keep that simple goal in
mind. We have to prepare everything enough to face the flu seriously. At
least, we have to ask ourselves "what's flu exactly?" to make sure that we
know it well! Moreover, Is there the other option of protecting ourselves?
Think about it.
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