I hope this will help you!!! (Kidney Failure in general)

Member Name: chickiepoo

Product:	Kidney Failure in general
Date:	31/05/07 (720 review reads)
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Disadvantages: see review

Well luckily I have never had kidney failure, but I have done a work placement in the renal ward, which is for kidney dialysis patients, so hopefully my review will help those prepare for what will happen if they do ever have kidney failure.

When is Kidney Dialysis used?
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Kidney Dialysis is used usually when between 10-20% of your kidney is still working. This is called End Stage Renal Failure.

Why is it used?
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It is used when your kidneys are not fully functional; it does some of the work that your own kidney would do. Although it can not do as much as your own kidney. You need dialysis, as without it all the wastes in your body would build up.

How long is Dialysis used for?
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This depends on the patient, each person is an individual, and some people’s kidneys are working more than others. Usually they are on Dialysis for between 3-4 hours a day each visit and they visit the unit around 3 times a week.

There are two different types of access to use the Dialysis; here I will explain how each one works.

The Fistula access
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Why is this needed?
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A Fistula is the easiest access for the patient, and it also gets the blood circulating faster.


How does it work?
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A fistula is basically a pump; it circulates the blood around the veins faster. If you actually put your hand where the Fistula is you can feel the flow of the blood and feel it pumping around the body.

How is it put into place?
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The patient is still awake while the fistula is put into place. They are taken into the operating theatre, and a small incision is made across their arm. Then a vein and an artery are joined together, which makes the blood flow very fast.

Access through a neckline
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Why is this access used?
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This access is usually used as a temporary access. As it takes 6 weeks before a Fistula can be used. It is only used as a permanent access if a fistula does not work for you, which in some cases this can happen.

Why is this different to Fistula access?
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There are no needles to be inserted every time you visit the unit. Instead you have two tubes that are inserted into your neck that are left in. These must be kept sterile at all times, or you will have a risk of getting an infection.

How is it inserted?
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2 tubes are inserted into your blood vessels, just under the collar bone.

Now there are requirements to the diet that you eat so here is a bit more information on that.

What diet is needed for a Dialysis patient?
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There is no specific food that you can not eat, but you do need to check on the amounts of Protein, Phosphate, Potassium, Sodium, Fluids and Vitamins that the food you are eating contains. So food like salt, chocolate and processed foods is the foods that you really need to stay away from.

Why do they need a specific diet?
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Most of the waste products and extra fluids in your blood come from what you eat, if you control your diet in the early stages of renal disease, it may slow the progression of kidney failure.

What happens if they don’t stick to the diet?
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If a patient will not stick to their arranged diet, by the dietitian, then they will have too much waste and fluids that the dialysis machine will not be able to get rid of. They are only machines and they do not work as well as a human kidney.

There are two different types of dialysis here I will explain them.

Peritoneal dialysis
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What is this?
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This is a dialysis machine that is used at home. A small plastic tube is permanently inserted into your abdomen. This is called a PD catheter.

How does it work?
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Dialysis fluid flows into the peritoneal cavity, through the PD catheter, about 6 inches of the tube remains outside your abdomen, so that the bags can be attached containing the dialysis fluid. Then the access fluid and waste products are drawn from the blood into the dialysis fluid,

Haemodialysis
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What is it?
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This is a dialysis machine that is used in hospital, and is set up by trained nurses.

How does it work?
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The dialysis machine carries your blood around the machine through clear tubes; your blood is withdrawn by one tube, cleaned through a filter and returned back to your body through the second tube.

Kidney transplants
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Why is this needed?
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You can not stay on a dialysis machine forever. It does not do the same amount of work as your own kidney. So you will always have more waste and fluids in your body than you should have.

When is it needed?
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This is needed as soon as you have been diagnosed with kidney failure. Unfortunately the waiting lists are huge, so you need to stay on dialysis until a suitable donor is found.

My summary
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I really hope that this helps anyone who will have to go through this. When I went to the renal unit, I really expected everyone to be sad and feeling sorry for themselves. Well what a shock I got, people do learn to live with having to go through dialysis, and it just becomes a way of life for them.

Some people there had made very good friends with others and even looked forward to going to the unit, (the ones that don’t normally get out much). They never seemed in any pain or felt ill; they just sat back relaxed, watched television, or chatted. They were all so high spirited. So just remember to keep your spirits up, and hopefully a donor will be found as soon as possible for those that need it.

Sorry for rambling on and adding a lot of questions, but I really do hope to help someone with this review. So take care all and look after yourselves xxx

Summary: This is the part after kidney failure and i hope this prepares you for whats to come