Side Effects of Fluid Loss in Dialysis

Our kidneys are main filtering organs of our body which will filter various metabolic waste substances and excessive fluid in the form of urine. If people develop end-stage kidney failure, their body retains too much fluid which can make people swell up and short of breath. Dialysis is an artificial filter which helps to discharge the accumulated water and relive the symptoms. However, a rapid-rate or fast loss of fluid during dialysis can also cause some side effects. Make sure you know how to prevent the side effects help to prevent the condition from getting worse.

What are the side effects of fluid loss during dialysis?

Low blood pressure. During dialysis, if too much fluid is removed from the blood, patients may experience low blood pressure. It causes pressure to drop, and the patients can experience nausea and dizziness. It is necessary to let your dialysis team member know about those issues.

Generally, medications for high blood pressure should not be taken before dialysis, unless your health care doctor suggests to do so. This can help to prevent your blood pressure from dropping too fast. Watching the fluid intake may prevent low blood pressure during the treatment. If patents drink more than recommended they will need to have more fluid removed which can cause nausea and dizziness.

In addition, if fluid is taken out of the body during hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, your muscle will react by cramping. So the patients often experience muscle cramps especially in legs which make them uncomfortable or sometimes painful. The patients themselves should alert a health care team member as soon as a muscle cramp happens so as to hey help in alleviating the discomfort. A doctor may recommend some remedies if the symptom makes them uncomfortable.

How to prevent the side effects of fluid loss during dialysis?

Patients on dialysis have special diet and fluid intake to consider at all times. By following dietary and fluid limits, the patients can lessen the extreme changes that occur during the treatment. Those restrictions are based on your body size, urine output and lab results.

Since the kidneys are not able to move all, or in some cases, any of the fluid, the dialysis treatment must remove two to three days of accumulated fluid from the body in a very short period of time. During dialysis, the fluid shift will cause the mentioned low blood pressure and muscle cramps which can be very severe.

In view of long-term, excessive weight gains or fluid overload can cause heart to lose the ability to pump blood effectively; when this happens, the body will have more difficulty in maintaining blood pressure and tolerating dialysis to decrease the life expectancy in the patients. The key to successful dialysis treatment, thereby, is to follow you’re an expert doctor’s advice and regularly check the plan to stay within the limits. If you find the difficulty in managing fluid loss of dialysis, you may consult us directly.