My Mother was just put on Dialysis after her Quad bypass. She is depressed about the whole thing. But the kidney doct is now saying that she is able to do the PD. My question is, Is it normal for her attitude will go back to what it used to be? Is being on PD a step in the right direction in getting “BETTER”? She has a really bad habbit of drinking alot of water. she is saying that her mouth is very dry. I know with being on Hemodialysis that she shouldnt be drinking alot of water, but what about being on PD. Can she drink more Fluids?
I have to thank everyone and anyone who will reply to this post. All the info her and i are getting is very overwhelming. I want to thank everyone who gives me any support.
As a social worker who has worked with hundreds of people with kidney failure, I know that depression is very common when someone learns he/she has kidney failure and needs a treatment to live. Your mom may want to review some information on coping with kidney disease. Module 5 of Kidney School (www.kidneyschool.org) focuses on this topic. I used to tell patients that being depressed was a good sign. They often looked at me like I was crazy when I said this. However, when you’re depressed, your mind is telling you that it thinks you’re strong enough to deal with your feelings instead of denying them. I also told people that having kidney failure is like losing a loved one. It can take months to a year or longer to learn how to cope with it. Depression can be treated with medicines and/or talking about your fears, goals, hopes, and dreams. Every dialysis clinic has a social worker who has training to help patients (and their families) cope with kidney failure and treatment.
We tell patients that having a positive attitude, learning as much as you can about your illness and treatment, and taking an active role in your care (like doing home PD) can help you do well and live a long time on dialysis. In case your mother doesn’t know it, some of the first patients that started on dialysis in the 1960s are still alive today.
PD is a great treatment that allows a lot of freedom and flexibility, including the ability to travel on dialysis with relative ease. You can read about how PD is done from our home page under “types of home dialysis.” Briefly, CAPD is done 4 times a day manually and CCPD uses a machine to do “exchanges” when you sleep. You might want to show your mother the comparison chart you will find there. Read some of the profiles of patients that they have shared with us about their experience with PD.
The PD diet is less limited than the hemodialysis one, but your mother will still need to be careful with the amount of fluid that she drinks. She should talk with her doctor or nurse about her thirst. She’s could be eating more salt than she realizes or taking some medicine that is making this worse. If she has diabetes, keeping her blood sugar under control can help control thirst. Every dialysis clinic has a registered dietitian who is knowledgeable about the kidney disease diet and how to deal with other conditions on this diet. There are a number of tips for controlling thirst. Patients have shared some on the Life Options website at www.lifeoptions.org/stories/stories.php.
I strongly encourage your mother to talk with other patients either through this message board or in person. There are also a number of online support groups for people with kidney disease. One of the most active ones is called Dialysis Support http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/dialysis_support/. Is dialysis a hassle…no one will deny this. But your mother can live a good life with it.
Dear Daughter full of love, Water is so Beautiful, Water is Life. I know how hard it is to slow down, but your mother needs to slow down. She might need to watch her salt intake. Salt makes us very thirsty. PD means no more needles, no more trips to the clinic. Less food restrictions, but we still have to watch our fluids.(Not as much, but let`s go wild) I do believe you both will prefere PD.Tell your mother to think of happier times, and tell her you love her everyday.
My husband went through renal failure three years ago, but life has been good. He was very active and he thought his life was over. As we looked into PD things looked up for him. The depression lasted for months and even now it comes and goes. You will learn as time goes by the depression is far and in between. Over the last year he has had a couple of days that bothered him, but those days situations came up for the first time. Your mom will love the freedom that comes along with PD. I am sure you have been through the weeks of hemo, befor the PD began. I used to watch the hemo drain the life out of my husband. By the time they finished he felt worse than when he began. Then he started PD in 2002. The differance in him was to great to see. We are able to go out of town and enjoy ourselves. And for your water question. Your mom needs to watch her water intake, but if her mouth is dry, have her suck on a hard candy or ice cube. It worked for my husband. Now that he has been on PD for a while, he is able to eat a lot more then when he was on hemo. The fluid is still watched, but nothing like on hemo. Your mom will be able to live almost a normal life. Good luck
I just realized that it has been a couple of months since you posted that your mother was having a hard time with the in-center hemodialysis fluid limit. She was depressed and had just been offered PD. Is she still on in-center hemodialysis or did she start on PD? How are she and you doing now?