How Long On Hospice With End Stage Kidney Disease

There are approximately 400,000 people in the United States are being diagnosed with renal failure each year and about 100,000 dialysis patients will die each years. We know that dialysis can not cure the disease and it can bring many side effects and complications and make the patients very painful and discomforts though it can sustain the patient’s life. Therefore many dialysis patients decide to stop dialysis. In such case, hospice services can be provided for those end stage renal disease patients without dialysis.

Hospice is one form of palliative care which can help make patients to feel more comfortable during their last days. Usually patients on hospice after they stop dialysis can live another several months or days. They can end their life peacefully and comfortably with dignity without suffering much pains or discomforts.

When patients withdraw from dialysis, they will develop many symptoms which might be life-threatening due to rapid buildup of metabolic wastes and toxins and internal imbalances and disorders. Hospice can help relieve the pains, control symptoms and complications such as joint pain, abdominal pain, difficulty in swallowing and digestion, muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting, etc so as to make patients suffer less.

Nearly every kidney disease hospital provide hospice service, therefore you can consult your nephrologist if you want to know more about it. It can be done in the hospital, at hospice facilities or at the patient’s home according to the patients and their families’ will.

At present, there are only less than 50% patients on end stage renal disease choose hospice after they stopped dialysis treatment. It is your right to determine your final life, you can choose hospice or you can choose to continue dialysis so as to maintain life and positively seek more effective treatments. If patients still have some urine output, there is still chance to improve kidney functions with the combination of Micro-Chinese Medicine Osmotherapy and immunotherapy. They can help repair renal damages and improve kidney functions. In the early stage of the treatment, patients may not completely get rid of dialysis because it takes sometime to recover the lost kidney functions. But they can help reduce the side effects of dialysis and gradually reduce the frequency of dialysis and make patients feel hopeful.