Our son also on dialysis

[JVT90]

Almost 2 weeks ago I rushed our son to the hospital with difficult breathing. Turned out to be pneumonia, diabetic ketoacidosis and they're saying acute kidney injury. He's progressing well. Has had 6 or 7 dialysis treatments. They say it could be temporary. Wondering if any of you have heard of anyone getting to stop dialysis once they start. Kidney function to improve that much? His dad(my husband) has been on dialysis for 2 1/2 years.

[Charlie B53]

Welcome to IHD!

There have been many patients that have suffered 'shock' and their kidneys then failed.  There are many types of shock.  A number of these the kidneys MAY, not always, but may, recover with the proper treatment, diet, and a reasonable amount of physical activity.

Intense physical activity can be a stressor so this is why I say 'reasonable'.  A daily walk, even jogging, but not too extreme.

The fact that Dad is on dialysis makes me wonder if there isn't any inherited possibilities for kidney decline.  That should clue the Dr into what tests may be done just to make sure.

A Kidney Friendly Diet is recommended, reducing the demand for the kidneys allowing them to rest and recover.

Keep your fingers crossed, Hope and Pray are always a good idea.

Take Care,

Charlie B53

[Michael Murphy]

Yes it happens, generally most kidney dialysis patients have a slow decline into ESRD and start dialysis.  However their are those who have their kidneys shut down due to a sudden illness or accident.  The damaged kidneys need time to heal and they are put on dialysis to give the kidneys time to heal.  The reason you will hear dialysis is for ever unless a transplant is a majority of dialysis patients are told it’s forever because of how they got on dialysis.  It shocks most patients that someone recovers and leaves dialysis, but the reason for dialysis is the determining factor.  I hope your son is among the lucky people and his time on dialysis is short. Good luck.

[kickingandscreaming]

I lost my ability to produce urine after 2 hospitalizations.  Months later, I am now producing a respectable amount of urine.  So it seems I might have had AKI (acute kidney injury) on top of ESRD, and I seem to be recovering from the AKI part.  Hope that's true for your son as well.

[JVT90]

Thank you all for your responses and the well wishes. He produces a lot of urine, which I was hoping was a good sign. They placed a chest catheter today in anticipation of him being released soon.

[Thesunwillshinetomorrow]

JVT90

You certainly have your hands full....I just responded to a post you posted in June about your husbands difficulty adjusting to dialysis....and now I see you have your son dialyzing too....Thinking of you.

[Michael Murphy]

I am glad he is doing better, I don’t mind the old being on dialysis but it’s the kids that make me sad.  However if your son keeps improving he hopefully will join the ranks of people who have improved and graduated off dialysis.  I would also talk to your sons nephrologist about things to avoid during the healing process like dehydration.

[UkrainianTracksuit]

Hi there,

Prior to my time on HD, I had 2 AKI's while in Stage 3 and Stage 4 of kidney disease. Both were caused by flu or pneumonia. The second time, I had a short stint on dialysis before my function "naturally" tanked and I ended up on HD. The good news is that I managed to recover some function to be off of dialysis before the natural progression of the disease.

In the beginning, I did the standard 3x/week for 4 hours and then the nephrologist would reduce the dialysis prescription. Such as, down to 2x/week and then 1x/week. During this time, the pump speed was slowed as to not clean the blood completely (like a good HD session) and the nephrologist followed my blood tests to see if my kidneys were bounding back/picking up the slack. When my numbers hit a good point, they did a major set of labs and a 24 hr urine. With those results, my kidneys showed that they recovered to the function prior to the original shock. It took months but it happened.

The first time it happened, I didn't require dialysis. However, my function went significantly down and returned to over 20-some % after a few weeks. But, those were the days of Stage 3 where I had more wiggle room.

Good luck to your son and I wish him a complete recovery!

[kristina]

Almost 2 weeks ago I rushed our son to the hospital with difficult breathing. Turned out to be pneumonia, diabetic ketoacidosis and they're saying acute kidney injury. He's progressing well. Has had 6 or 7 dialysis treatments. They say it could be temporary. Wondering if any of you have heard of anyone getting to stop dialysis once they start. Kidney function to improve that much? His dad(my husband) has been on dialysis for 2 1/2 years.

Hello JVT90,
My kidneys first failed in the early 1970's when I was found in a deep coma with kidney failure and uremia and the ambulance transported me straight to the nearest hospital, where doctors kept a close eye on me until I came out of the coma and fortunately I was not put on dialysis. I found out much later that at that time doctors thought that once you are on dialysis that is it and so they put me on all sorts of drips etc and waited until I finally came out of the coma and from then on they waited to give my kidneys a chance to recover a little kidney function again.
Fortunately their gamble paid off and my kidneys started to slowly recover a little function again and I feel fortunate that I could keep this little kidney function going until 3 years, two months and a few days ago (yes, of course, I am counting and hoping for a transplant a.s.a.p, since I have been put on the waiting list).
Hopefully your son recovers soon and hopefully some of his kidney function returns as well and I wish him, your husband and you the very best of luck!
Best wishes from Kristina.

[JVT90]

Thank you all for your responses. Our son has recovered so much, it's a blessing. His kidney function returned and he's improving. He has the same kidney doctor as my husband and she told him it's with much delight that she's able to say "Drink all you want". 

[Michael Murphy]

I glad he was one of the lucky ones to graduate, I hope he enjoys a long life free of Dialysys.

[cassandra]