Type 1 diabetics on peritoneal dialysis

[Aarti]

Please share your experiences. I need to convince my family to adopt this.

[mogee]

When I was choosing the form of dialysis when my kidneys were failing, my nephrologist discouraged me from choosing peritoneal dialysis because I had a family history of type 2 diabetes.  She explained that the dextrose solution used to remove excess fluid could aggravate diabetes.  On the other hand I've known many diabetics who do PD.

[jbeany]

What does your doc think?  I'm type 1, and my doc was adamant that I shouldn't do it.  He was worried my blood sugar control would be totally gone, and that I would gain a lot of weight.  I was already overweight for getting on the transplant list, and he was worried it would make it even harder.  I went with hemo, partly because of him, partly because of conversations with another diabetic D patient who had gained nearly 50 pounds in under a year.

Of course, if you need to gain weight, it might be a good thing.  If you are using a pump system, the control might not be as much as an issue as it was for me.  (My insurance wouldn't pay for a pump.) 

If you are determined to try it, you can always switch to hemo if it isn't working.  Maybe you could sell your family on a trial run of 3 or 4 months?