esrd and dialysis?

[Bada_Bing]

With many of the symtoms of esrd do you feel better when dialysis is started?

[Danally]

With many of the symtoms of esrd do you feel better when dialysis is started?

My dad feels much better since he started dialysis.

[Ang]

little  bit  more  energy,doing  day  to  day  things,  but   still  can't  chase  after  my  little  girl   for  more  than  5  minutes  before  being  puffed  out.

[jbeany]

That's a trick question, bada.  The first couple of months, I felt far worse than I did before I started.  At the end of 3 months, I finally started to feel almost as good as I had before I started.  Now at 7 months, I feel quite a bit better than I did before dialysis, at least on the days I'm not actually doing dialysis.  I have a lot more energy now, and I don't wear out nearly as fast as I used to.  I rarely throw up anymore, and my total exhaustion "walking under water" days have mostly disappeared.  On dialysis days, though, I still don't like to do much after clinic except take a nap.  I am capable of running a few errands after, but it's generally not a great idea.

[rimbo74]

I'm less itchy doing PD dialysis but I still would say I don't feel that great.  I can function normally.  Epogen shots and iron probably help the most so I'm not always worn out.  Still get nauseated feeling.  You do take less medicines once when you start dialysis.

[keefer51]

After the first week or so i did. I waited a long time before going on. Since this was my second time i waited till my creatine was 10.0. It's been three years now and to tell you the truth i don't feel any difference.

[kitkatz]

UMMMM. How to answer this question?? Hmmmm.

Okay before I started dialysis I was tired and falling alseep practically on my feet.

Eight and half year later...
I am getting up tired and going to bed tired.

At least I am not the other thing....

[Joe Paul]

It takes time, but once they get your blood work right, you may start to feel better. BUT, when you get to feeling better, no doubt you will gain some body weight and then you may go through the low blood pressures due to dry weights being too low. There are good days and bad.

[tweetykiss]

Now I am confused.....   How does one know if they have symptoms of needing dialysis?

[angela515]

Well, it's different for every person. Some people get no symptoms at all. For instance... in 1999, everything was going great, then one day I got pnemonia from swimming in the ocean at 1 am and it was freezing cold, so I went to the ER to get that taken care of, next thing I know, they come back in the room saying I need to be admitted and prepped for OR cause I need to start dialysis right away.  However in 2004, I felt tired, I felt icky, from toins building up, I felt just plain crappy and always tired... always weak... sick, vomitting... not hungry, and those were all sings my creatnine was creeping up again.

[stauffenberg]

Whether you feel better on dialysis or just before starting it depends on how gradually your renal failure develops and how bad you let things get before beginning treatment.  In my case, I was perfectly fine one week and on dialysis the next, as the result of a sudden auto-immune disease, so I had a direct comparison of normal life with dialysis life, so I felt much worse on dialysis.  For most patients who slide gradually into dialysis, before treatment they are exhausted, itchy, and nauseous, and after treatment they are just exhausted.  A major loss in quality of life with treatment is the dialysis process itself, which takes a huge amount of time and is a major inconvenience.

[del]

It takes a while to get body weight and blood levels staightened out but after that you should start to feel better.  How you fel depends a lot on the clearance you are getting.  More dialysis you get better the clearance.