What will happen if you skip dialysis sessions and your medications, is it ok to shorten the time of your session?
The answer is, it’s not worth the further complications. Before we go through this, let’s first understand the kidney’s function and why we need to do dialysis sessions.
Kidneys are organs shaped like two beans, each one is about 10-12cms long, they lie below the rib cage on each side of the spine, deep in the abdomen.
Some of the most important functions of the kidneys are: They remove waste and excess fluids from the body, level out the blood pressure, and produce an active form of vitamin D that promotes strong healthy bones.
They also adjust the amount of electrolytes in our body, like potassium and sodium (salt). Moreover, kidneys are responsible for producing hormones that stimulate our body to generate red blood cells.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD), involves a gradual loss of the kidney function. In case of advanced chronic kidney disease levels of fluid, electrolytes and wastes are builded up in your body and can cause dangerous complications.
So, the patient will need to do hemodialysis treatment sessions to remove the excess wastes and fluid from the blood (performs the work of healthy kidneys).
A monthly lab test is realized to check the electrolytes, Hemoglobin and KT/V (test that indicates the amount of blood cleared from urea) to ensure the quality of dialysis.
When you have enough dialysis session treatment, your overall health will be better and you will have more energy to do the regular activities in your day.
If you don’t get the right amount of dialysis, the excess wastes and fluid in the blood would be accumulated in the body, and will make you feel ill and go through further complications.
Moreover, recent studies have shown that receiving adequate dialysis treatment can help you live longer and decrease the rate of mortality.
When you skip or shorten the time of dialysis session your blood is not cleaned enough, and there is still a high amount of waste products and fluids, that will cause some symptoms like:
Moreover, when you skip dialysis sessions, an extra fluid will need to be removed at your next session. This may make your next dialysis harder and can cause cramping, headaches, low blood pressure, or nausea as the healthcare team tries to remove the excess waste and fluid from your body.
Of course, everyone has a scheduling conflict that causes them to miss an appointment for a dialysis session, but that will cause serious complications that lead to poor quality of life and increased the rate of mortality and morbidity.
Increasing the potassium level in the blood will affect the heart function and might cause arrhythmia and cardiac arrest.
