Patients find a way to side step recovery time by switching to nocturnal dialysi

Patients find a way to side step recovery time by switching to nocturnal dialysis

Beverly Taylor FOX6 Reporter

7:05 PM CDT, July 26, 2010

WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE -

Esperanza Giles understands how wonderful it is to be able to spend a day out with friends. In 2008, she began dialysis 4 hours a day, 3 times a week. When she began the treatment, she kept it a secret and just disappeared. She says she was too exhausted and too sick to do anything.

All of that changed in June of 2009, when Esperanza went to Fresenius Medical Care Milwaukee. There, she began a nighttime dialysis treatment. Each session took 8 hours and she attended 3 days a week. Dr. Cohen, who works at Fresenius Medical Care Milwaukee, says shorter the shorter a dialysis treatment, the longer the body needs to recover. With the hours more than doubled during nighttime treatment, Dr. Cohen says more filtration occurs and more waste product can be removed at a slower pace.

Aside from the treatment, which is obviously beneficial, patients can sleep during their treatment under continuous nursing care. If patients would prefer to stay awake during dialysis, each station has its own tv with headphones.
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Typically, nocturnal dialysis is covered by both medicare and private insurance.

For more information about nocturnal hemo-dialysis, how it works, and the pros and cons, please visit the Fresenius Ultracare website.

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