How Does Kidney Dialysis Help?

Kidney disease progressively damages your kidneys, gradually destroying their ability to work. Eventually, the damage reaches an advanced stage called end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

When you reach ESRD, your kidneys are working at 15% of their normal function, which is considered kidney failure. At this stage, dialysis keeps you alive.

The Deon D. Middlebrook, MDPC, team offers exceptional care at every level. We screen your risks, help you prevent kidney disease, and provide advanced treatments that slow the progressive damage.

And if you reach ESRD, we support and manage your kidney dialysis. Here, we explore what dialysis does and how it supports your health.

Dialysis benefits

Dialysis takes over for your kidneys when they can’t do their essential, life-supporting job of filtering your blood. In this role, dialysis keeps you healthy by:

1. Removing wastes and excess fluids

When you’re on dialysis, you use either a machine (outside your body) or special fluids that are injected into your abdomen to remove wastes and excess fluids from your blood.

Wastes

Your body naturally produces waste products as it metabolizes proteins and other substances. Additionally, your blood contains toxins from metabolizing alcohol and drugs. If these wastes stay in your blood, they lead to numerous serious health problems.

Fluids (controlling blood pressure)

Removing excess fluids is crucial to prevent fluid overload and maintain the appropriate blood volume. If the fluids stay in your body, blood pressure rises.

Excess fluids make your heart work harder to pump the extra blood, and your kidneys take on more stress. Even in the early stages of kidney disease, this additional stress increases kidney damage.

2. Maintaining electrolyte balance

Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electric charge when they dissolve in body fluids. Dialysis (like your kidneys) filters numerous electrolytes, ensuring their blood levels stay within a healthy range.

While all electrolytes fill life-supporting roles, four of the most vital are potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium. These minerals are essential for nerve, muscle, and heart function. 

Without dialysis, electrolyte levels get too high, causing serious problems. For example, high potassium (hyperkalemia), a frequent problem in kidney disease, causes muscle weakness and irregular heart rhythms, and can lead to a heart attack.

3. Better outcomes

Dialysis improves your quality of life and supports your overall health. It also keeps you out of the hospital, so you're able to enjoy life.

4. Extending your life

When you reach ESRD, you have one treatment option: a kidney transplant. Many people are waiting for a transplant, and few kidneys are available.

If you don’t know someone who is compatible and willing to donate, you will wait years for a transplant. Dialysis is the only treatment that can keep you alive until a new kidney is available.

Two types of dialysis

Dialysis is available in two forms, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis:

Hemodialysis

During hemodialysis, two needles are inserted into an access point in your arm and connected to tubes that go to the dialysis machine (dialyzer).

One tube carries blood into the machine, where it flows through a system of membranes and fluids (dialysate) that remove wastes, chemicals, and fluids. Then, the cleansed blood returns to your body through the second tube.

Peritoneal dialysis

If you decide to have peritoneal dialysis, a special access point is created in your tummy. You use the access to send dialysate into your abdomen. The fluid stays inside your body for 4-6 hours, then you drain it out.

Whether you want to learn your risks for kidney disease or need expert care, we’re here to help. Call Deon D. Middlebrook MDPC today or use online booking to request an appointment.