A sad story came up today about a woman in her earlier 40s who needs ten million naira for kidney transplant after so many series of dialysis, i was touched about the whole story and it took my mind back to what dialysis is all about.

What is dialysis?

This is a procedure that performs the duty of a kidney when it can no more do its job which often happens when the kidney is infected and has failed.
Kidney has the duty of detoxify the system but when it has failed to do so dialysis helps to clean the body system by removing excess fluid, waste products and toxins in the blood.

This procedure do not cost little money, here in Nigeria a section of dialysis cost 300,000 naira and in some cases it has to be done twice a week or once a week.

There are two major type of dialysis, the hemodialysis and the peritoneal dialysis.
Firstly lets discuss the hemodialysis.
Hemodialysis
This is a common dialysis done with a dialysis machine or a hemodialyzer, in this procedure the patient blood is pumped out into the hemodialysis machine through the arm, then this blood will pass through the dialyzer, dialyzer is like a filter that acts like an artificial kidney , it contains semipermeable membrane that will now remove the toxins and eccess fluid from the blood.
After this procedure the blood will be clean and will be transfused back to the body through the access point that was created.
Hemodialysis is done three times a week and last for 3-4hrs, this procedure can only be done in a specialized hospital, thats its the major reason why its very expensive.

This is not an easy thing to do, and people who face this condition are not finding it funny

Peritoneal Dialysis
This procedure involves the lining of human abdomen known as peritoneum, it will be used as a natural filter for the body.
During this procedure a catheter will be inserted in the abdomen and a dialysis solution which contians concentration of minerals and electrolytes will be injected into the peritoneum through the catheter, this sterile solution will stay in there for an aloted period of time.
During this aloted time the waste in the body system will gather inside the dialysis solution, when the time is dew the solution will be replaced with a new one.
This procedure is performed by a specialist with a machine known as cycler

After medical consultation a nephrologist will determine which dialysis is good for a patient considering the medical condition of the patient and many other factors involved.

Positive effects of dialysis

Yes there are some positive effects of dialysis which includes It helps is removing waste, fluid and also maintenance of
chemical balance in the body, it also helps in preventing the buildup of harmful substances in the blood.
It also helps to balance the Electrolyte of the body like the calcium, potassium, phosphate and other electrolytes.
It helps to regulate the body fluid thereby reducing inflammation and edema in the body.

Negative effects of dialysis

Patient undergoing dialysis faces so many health issues like physical and emotional stress, they also experience cramps in their muscles that are as a result of changes in the electrolytes and fluids level in the system.
More often they experience low blood pressure that might result to fainting, dizziness and tiredness.

It is very important to follow all directions given by the nephrologist to avoid serious side effects.

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Does dialysis cure kidney disease?

No

Dialysis is just a measure to manage and sustain the life of the patient while the patient relations works on getting a donor and getting the money that is involved, because transplant is the only longtime treatment for kidney disease.

Precautions

Let's try our best to live a healthy life to avoid development of kidney or renal failure.
Avoid smoking and to much alcohol, avoid eating junks, eat healthy and take a lots of water.

Watch the medications you take and never fail to go to the hospital if anything goes wrong in your system.
The question now is, what does it look like to have a kidney transplant? If you wish to know visit my page tomorrow.
Thank you all.

Reference