If you stop dialysis do you slowly see the deterioration of your health?

[JennyQ]

or do you just suddenly die?  If your blood pressure is 127/83 and you feel great after 14 days off of dialysis?  There doesnt seem to be any information out there that discusses what happens after one stops dialysis, yet does need dialysis.  And what happens if you stop dialysis and you don't need dialysis.  On that one you would just feel normal and function normally.  Have doctors ever taken a patient off dialysis to see how they function???  I mean sometimes there must be borderline situations where the doctor could call it one way or the other.

Would appreciate feedback on this one.

[kickingandscreaming]

This might help: http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=32633.0

[JennyQ]

Thank you.  My wife is young.  Thirties.  But this did help.

[Michael Murphy]

Dialysis sucks, but it sucks worse in the beginning.  It usually gets better in my case after the first year.  As fistula mature, fluid control becomes automatic, you learn to listen to your body in the end it becomes easier. That being said Dialysys still sucks.  However the facts in my case is that I spend about 18 hours a week at Dialysys and about 6 hours a week napping afterwards.  That still leaves 144 hours a week to have a life.  If you are doing research check out the Implantable Artificial Kidney projects currently moving to testing.  Dialysys is becoming a bridge to the future.

[Charlie B53]

We are all slightly different.  There residual function of your kidney can make a huge difference in how you feel and how long you will last if you were to stop treatment.

Individual diet and the amount of fluid intake will also have a huge impact in this length of time before you begin to feel the negative effects of missing treatment.

Best case, a patient could last many weeks, possibly months without treatment. Worse case, possibly only days.

For me, Dialysis works well.  I have learned I have the self-control to limit my fluid intake such that even on my Monday morning treatment I usually weigh in only ONE liter/Kilo over my dry weight.  Usually.  I can fall off the wagon, and I have.  Like when the Wife wants to go eat Chinese.   Or the local grocery has the Egg Nog I love on sale.  Gladly, neither of these happen very often.

Learning a more responsible diet is good, but difficult.  We tend to eat what we have always ate.  Change isn't always easy.  Making those small changes are seen in our lab results.  The numbers show slight improvements.  Keep with those small changes.   As the months go by you will notice it becomes easier, and you are not feeling near the sickness that you used to feel.

Dialysis works, but we have to do our part and help take care of our self.

[Riki]

It takes practice.  As already said, dialysis sucks.  It sucks worse when you are young.  I was 26 when I started this time around, and since I will be 40 in May, I have spent my 30s on dialysis.  You figure a lot out as you go, what works and what doesn't work for you.  It's a very hands-on learning kind of thing.  For me, it'll be 27 years living with kidney disease in February, and 14 years on dialysis in May.  I spend 12 to 15 hours a week in the dialysis unit, I go to school every day.  Some work full time jobs, some choose not to work because they don't have the energy.  You figure it out for you.  it is rough at first, but it all gets better as you go along

[Simon Dog]

Best case, a patient could last many weeks, possibly months without treatment. Worse case, possibly only days.

This depends on your perspective.   I think a quick kill is the best case, since the only reason I would be off of D (other than transplant) would be if I decided it was time to die and I was too chicken to commit suicide.

I have tentatively set by "discontinue D" date at a few months after my 86th birthday