Dialysis is a common treatment to replace injured kidney and help kidney discharge extra wastes and toxins from the body. Meanwhile dialysis patients are running high risk for various adverse effects. Is breathlessness common in patients who are on dialysis?

According to clinical practices, most dialysis patients indeed suffer from breath problems such as breathlessness, long and deep breath, etc. Well then, how does shortness of breath occur in dialysis patients?

As we all know, our kidney is an important organ which is endowed with numerous functions. One of important functions is to regulate fluid and keep electrolyte balance in the body. However, for people in the advanced stage kidney disease, the extra fluid is easy to build up in the bod due to severe drop of kidney function. It is dangerous if the excessive fluid can not discharge from the body timely. Although dialysis can remove excess fluid and wastes out of the body, it is not as effective as healthy kidneys. The accumulation of water will cause swelling and increase blood pressure, which makes the heat work harder. What’s more, if too much fluids build up in the lungs (also called pulmonary edema), it is difficult for patients to breath. Consequently, shortness of breath become a commonly seen condition during or after dialysis.

In addition, low blood pressure also contribute to causing breathless for dialysis patients. Almost kidney failure patients do have increased blood pressure which need to take hypotensive drugs. However, dialysis itself can lower blood pressure effectively, so it is important to adjust the dose of hypotensive drugs before dialysis.

To be frank, aside from breathlessness, side effects of dialysis include headache, anemia, nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, muscle cramps and so on. Therefore, we can say that dialysis is not an ideal treatment to treat Kidney Failure. Wanna alternative treatment to dialysis? Please contact us: leave a message below or attach your test report to renal-disease@hotmail.com