I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
November 26, 2024, 04:45:54 AM

Login with username, password and session length
Search:     Advanced search
532606 Posts in 33561 Topics by 12678 Members
Latest Member: astrobridge
* Home Help Search Login Register
+  I Hate Dialysis Message Board
|-+  Dialysis Discussion
| |-+  Dialysis: News Articles
| | |-+  7 tips to keep your fluid down on dialysis
0 Members and 4 Guests are viewing this topic. « previous next »
Pages: [1] Go Down Print
Author Topic: 7 tips to keep your fluid down on dialysis  (Read 3467 times)
okarol
Administrator
Member for Life
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Female
Posts: 100933


Photo is Jenna - after Disneyland - 1988

WWW
« on: October 30, 2009, 03:25:25 PM »


7 tips to keep your fluid down on dialysis

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 is a part time web geek, and runs the website therenalunit.com - a news service for all issues relating to kidney disease and dialysis. He can be contacted at stuart@stuartdrew.com
Author: Stuart Drew

http://sensicastsystems.com/121609-7-tips-to-keep-your-fluid-down-on-dialysis.html
Logged


Admin for IHateDialysis 2008 - 2014, retired.
Jenna is our daughter, bad bladder damaged her kidneys.
Was on in-center hemodialysis 2003-2007.
7 yr transplant lost due to rejection.
She did PD Sept. 2013 - July 2017
Found a swap living donor using social media, friends, family.
New kidney in a paired donation swap July 26, 2017.
Her story ---> https://www.facebook.com/WantedKidneyDonor
Please watch her video: http://youtu.be/D9ZuVJ_s80Y
Living Donors Rock! http://www.livingdonorsonline.org -
News video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-7KvgQDWpU
Zach
Elite Member
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 4820


"Still crazy after all these years."

« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2009, 04:04:10 PM »

Another way to control your thirst is to lower your sodium intake.
Processed foods are the some of the worst high-sodium culprits.

8)
Logged

Uninterrupted in-center (self-care) hemodialysis since 1982 -- 34 YEARS on March 3, 2016 !!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No transplant.  Not yet, anyway.  Only decided to be listed on 11/9/06. Inactive at the moment.  ;)
I make films.

Just the facts: 70.0 kgs. (about 154 lbs.)
Treatment: Tue-Thur-Sat   5.5 hours, 2x/wk, 6 hours, 1x/wk
Dialysate flow (Qd)=600;  Blood pump speed(Qb)=315
Fresenius Optiflux-180 filter--without reuse
Fresenius 2008T dialysis machine
My KDOQI Nutrition (+/ -):  2,450 Calories, 84 grams Protein/day.

"Living a life, not an apology."
Rerun
Member for Life
******
Offline Offline

Gender: Female
Posts: 12242


Going through life tied to a chair!

« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2009, 07:55:21 PM »

Another way to control your thirst is to lower your sodium intake.
Processed foods are the some of the worst high-sodium culprits.

8)

Good point Zach!             8)
Logged

Wallyz
Sr. Member
****
Offline Offline

Posts: 991


« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2009, 12:31:12 AM »

Avoid Pho. (Vietnamese Noodle soup)  This is the thing that absolutely kills me any time I even share some.
Logged
murf
Full Member
***
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 318


« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2009, 01:21:48 AM »

I love cracked ice. I like to put an ice cube in my mouth and feel it cracking into pieces. Spit out the bits into a glass and suck on the little parts. Last a long time. BTW: how to crack ice: As the ice tray is starting to freeze, twist the tray to let air bubbles in, I do this a couple of times.
Logged

Started Hemodialysis Anzac Day 2005
Patiently waiting for a transplant
Started PD New Year 2010
Taken off transpalnt list, Jan 211
RightSide
Elite Member
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 1117


« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2009, 03:56:26 PM »

Another way to control your thirst is to lower your sodium intake.
Processed foods are the some of the worst high-sodium culprits.

8)
Yep.

I have lowered my sodium intake to 800 mg per day.  At that level, I just don't feel thirsty much of the time.  And fluid retention is nil.

Ultra-low sodium. That's the key.

Logged
Zach
Elite Member
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 4820


"Still crazy after all these years."

« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2009, 09:57:34 AM »


Yep.

I have lowered my sodium intake to 800 mg per day.  At that level, I just don't feel thirsty much of the time.  And fluid retention is nil.

Ultra-low sodium. That's the key.

:beer1;
Logged

Uninterrupted in-center (self-care) hemodialysis since 1982 -- 34 YEARS on March 3, 2016 !!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No transplant.  Not yet, anyway.  Only decided to be listed on 11/9/06. Inactive at the moment.  ;)
I make films.

Just the facts: 70.0 kgs. (about 154 lbs.)
Treatment: Tue-Thur-Sat   5.5 hours, 2x/wk, 6 hours, 1x/wk
Dialysate flow (Qd)=600;  Blood pump speed(Qb)=315
Fresenius Optiflux-180 filter--without reuse
Fresenius 2008T dialysis machine
My KDOQI Nutrition (+/ -):  2,450 Calories, 84 grams Protein/day.

"Living a life, not an apology."
YLGuy
Elite Member
*****
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 4901

« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2009, 01:02:38 PM »

Avoid Pho. (Vietnamese Noodle soup)  This is the thing that absolutely kills me any time I even share some.
I LOVE Pho and there are a ton of Pho restaurants around me.  I have not had any since my kidney failure.  Great! Now I have a craving.   :rofl;
Logged
Pages: [1] Go Up Print 
« previous next »
 

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP SMF 2.0.17 | SMF © 2019, Simple Machines | Terms and Policies Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!