WORLD HOSPITAL DIRECTORY
Extended Reading.....
7 Tips to Keep Your Fluid Down on Dialysis

7 Tips to Keep Your Fluid Down on DialysisAs any dialysis patient will tell you, keeping your fluid gain between dialysis sessions in check is not only important to your long term health, it is a major factor in your immediate well-being.

Keeping fluid level gains as low as possible between dialysis treatments will minimize the risk of congestive heart failure, pulmonary oedema, and hypertension. Cramps, headaches and breathing difficulties are short term side-effects of fluid overload, and whilst not as dangerous as the long term effects, these should be heeded as a pointer to fluid overload in dialysis patients.

Whilst every dialysis patient has their own special method of keeping their fluid levels in check, I thought it might be pertinent to explain some of the methods that I have found (relatively) successful.

1. Buy a bag of ice. I have a large chest freezer in my kitchen, I buy a 5kg (approx 11lb) bag of ice chips from the service (gas) station, place it in the freezer, and suck on ice chips throughout the day. Make sure the freezer is in a convenient place, so you can reach it quickly to grab a few small pieces of ice, so you can avoid the temptation to fill a glass with ice. (In which case you might as well have that mug of coffee you wanted in the first place!)

2. Get a GOOD set of digital scales. I have a set which measures with an accuracy of 200grams (don't we all wish we could afford the scales at the dialysis unit which measure to 50grams?!?), which is accurate enough to get a good idea of where you are at with your fluid gain. Work out the difference between your dialysis centre scales, and your home scales, so you can get an accurate reflection of your fluid gain. I weigh myself first thing when I get up in the morning (you'd be surprised how much weight you lose over a warm night!), as soon as I get home from work, and whenever I have a drink.

This method is great in two ways: 1)You never (well, rarely, anyway!) get a nasty surprise when you arrive at dialysis and jump on the scales. And 2) You don't get the opposite surprise of getting to dialysis with only 1kg of fluid on, thinking: "Damn, I wish I'd drank more!" (I often find myself in the ridiculous situation of forcing myself to have another cup of coffee before I leave for dialysis, as there's no bank for fluid, once you've had that dialysis, the opportunity to have that drink is gone forever!)

3. Save up your drinks if you're going to need them. If you know you are going to an event where the temptation to drink more fluid that you should will be strong, save up your drinks beforehand. For example ? if you get off dialysis at lunchtime on Wednesday (meaning that you go back to dialysis on Friday Morning), and you have a function to attend on Thursday night, try to drink as little as possible between Wednesday lunchtime and Thursday evening, telling yourself that your reward will be the fact that you will be able to drink (nearly) as much as a "normal" person at the function.

4. Keep yourself busy! Any dialysis patient will tell you that when they're busy, they're not thinking about drinking. It could be a gentle walk, send an email to a friend, jump on the phone, or play with your kids. It doesn't matter, as long as it keeps your mind occupied.

5. Frozen water. Freeze a bottle of water, containing the amount you have allowed yourself to drink that day, and drink it as it defrosts. This has the benefit of the drink being ice-cold, as well. The down-side of this is that if your bottle melts too quickly, you could find yourself at 3pm, with all your water gone!

6. Spray bottle. Get yourself a spray bottle, and fill it with water (maybe with a little lemon juice or mint flavouring), and spray it into your mouth when you feel the urge to have a drink. Whilst this won't completely sate your desire for fluids, it may help you wait a little longer before indulging!

7. Mints and toothpaste. Try sucking a strong mint, or even brushing your teeth. The feeling of a clean, fresh mouth will often lessen the desire to blow your fluid limit. (This method will make you nicer to kiss, too!)

I hope that these suggestion will help you in the dialysis patient's eternal quest to keep their fluid gain under control. But remember, life is for living too, and we, as dialysis patients more than most need to adhere to this edict. So whilst keeping your fluid gain under control is important for both your immediate and long term health, remember that if you've blown your fluid this time, there is always next time, so keep trying!

About the author: Stuart Drew is a 34 year old dialysis patient from Adelaide, Australia. He has a wilfe, a son (with another on the way), and two miniature schnauzers. He is a part time web geek, and runs the website http://www.therenalunit.com - a news service for all issues relating to kidney disease and dialysis. He can be contacted at mailto:[email protected].






 
1.
Why Our Healthcare System Isnt Healthy
Why Our Healthcare System Isnt HealthyMost people are well aware that an estimated 45 million Americans currently do not have healthcare, but is the crisis simply the lack
More >>
2.
Stopping Hospital Infections
Stopping Hospital InfectionsEach year hospitals end up killing twice as many people than automobiles, some 90,000 deaths in the United States. It is not from malpractice, i
More >>
3.
Protect Yourself Against the Flu Vaccine!
Protect Yourself Against the Flu Vaccine!<br />
The vaccine industry insists that their vaccines against the flu serve as the key to a healthy winter. Although there has
More >>
4.
Chinese Medicine
Chinese MedicineChinese Medicine, over 2000 years old, is an ancient form of medicine. Consisting of acupuncture, moxibustion (moxibustion - using material made up of
More >>
5.
Medical Billing Specialist
Medical Billing SpecialistAs Pres. Bush was touring the Midwest, shortly before he was re-elected as President, and even after, he spoke of medical reform centering on
More >>
6.
Nasonex And You: Breathe Easy, Not Sneezy
Nasonex And You: Breathe EasyWhile everybody else is wandering around enjoying the spring weather, are you hiding out in your hermetically-sealed house? Do you dread the star
More >>
7.
Chronic Headaches and Pain Often Can Be Eliminated By A Special Dentist
Chronic Headaches Often Can Be Eliminated By A Special DentistDENVER ? Sometimes as Freud once said a good cigar is just a smoke. A headache, on the other hand, occas
More >>
8.
Physicians, Chiropractors and Physical Therapist Agree on a New Treatment for Low Back Pain
New Treatment for Low Back Pain<br />
One of the most prevalent and difficult health conditions to treat in the physical medicine is low back pain. The difficulty in tre
More >>
9.
Web Therapy: Enhancing Patient Communication with Web Access
Web Therapy: Enhancing Patient Communication with Web AccessAccording to Jennifer Lyons' chart, she's just a bad slip and fall who's lucky enough to be on her way to a full
More >>
10.
Increasing Patient Care and Reducing Liability in Seven Simple Steps
Increasing Patient Care and Reducing Liability in Seven Simple StepsWhen an unconscious patient arrives in the ED, every hospital agrees that timely next of kin notificat
More >>
11.
Cetyl Myristoleate Seperating Fact From Fiction
Cetyl Myristoleate Seperating Fact From FictionI am a strong believer in Cetyl Myristoleate for the treatment of arthritis. For the last three years I have been res
More >>
12.
Medical Tests: What Does a Normal Range Mean?
Medical Tests: What Does a Normal Range Mean?We have a marvelous array of medical tests available to us. Many of them-typically blood-tests-even come with results expressed
More >>
13.
CT and MRI Scans in Neurological Practice
CT and MRI Scans in Neurological Practice

Before computed tomographic (CT) scans became available in the 1970s, there was no good method for imaging the brain. The a
More >>
14.
Alcohol Rehabilitation Centers - Take An Informed Decision
Alcohol Rehabilitation Centers - Take An Informed DecisionAlcohol rehabilitation centers in the United States offer a wide range of treatment programmes for your recovery f
More >>
15.
Contact Lenses and Eye Glasses
Contact Lenses and Eye GlassesHow is Your Vision?
Notice friends getting contact lenses and pulling out eye glasses?

"What do you recommend?"

More >>
16.
Death by Fluoride
Death by FluorideA wee bit of fluoride makes teeth and dentists happy, we're told. Dr. Happy Tooth's smiley face turns into a frown when his favorite decay buster is busted
More >>
17.
10 Steps To Detoxification
10 Steps To DetoxificationTechnology. We live in a grand time of technological development. Computers, the Internet, cell phones, digital cameras and DVDs. But the human body h
More >>
18.
New Surgical Treatment Options for Hernias
New Surgical Treatment Options for HerniasHernia repair is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures worldwide. In fact, there are over 600,000 hernia repa
More >>
19.
Arthritis Pain Relief : FAQ
Arthritis Pain Relief : FAQA great place to begin taking charge of you arthritis pain relief and prevention planning is by making an appointment with your healthc
More >>
20.
A Surgical Robot Fixes Heart in Brazil
a Surgical Robot Fixes Heart in BrazilBrazilian surgeons used a multi-armed robot to repair a hole in a woman's heart in the first operation of its kind in Latin Americ
More >>
21.
Root Canal Therapy:FAQ
Root Canal Therapy:FAQOverview

A diseased or injured nerve use to mean that you were likely to lose a tooth. This is no longer the case thanks to root
More >>
22.
ADHD - Are there Treatment Options?
ADHD - Are there Treatment Options?As an ADD coach I am often asked about the treatment options available for Attention Deficit Disorder. Generally when someone says "ADD" the f
More >>
23.
7 Tips to Keep Your Fluid Down on Dialysis
7 Tips to Keep Your Fluid Down on DialysisAs any dialysis patient will tell you, keeping your fluid gain between dialysis sessions in check is not only important to your lon
More >>
24.
Testosterone Therapy in XXI Century
Testosterone Therapy in XXI CenturyNowadays many people are familiar with the appellation of "low testosterone level". What does it mean? It mean that male body p
More >>
25.
Stem Cell Research
Stem Cell ResearchHow To Buy Your Way Out Of An Early Death From An Incurable Disease.

How?... With private stem cell research, of course!?Stem cell research
More >>
1.
Maharashtra woos medical tourists
Maharashtra woos medical touristsMany people from the developed world come to India for the rejuvenation promised by yoga and ayurvedic massage, but few consider it a de
More >>
2.
Medical tourism: Need surgery, will travel
Maharashtra woos medical touristsA worldwide market

What's called medical tourism – patients going to a different country for either urgent or elective
More >>
3.
Medical Tourism is Becoming a Huge Industry in India
Diatance LearningMany types of medical treatment in India cost a fraction of what they do in the United States and other Western nations, and citizens from these c
More >>
4.
Medical tourism set to take off in a big way
Medical tourism set to take off in a big wayWith world class healthcare professionals, nursing care and treatment cost almost one-sixth of that in the developed
More >>
5.
India eyeing share in medical tourism pie
India eyeing share in medical tourism pie A NICE blend of top-class medical expertise at attractive prices is helping a growing number of Indian corporate hospitals lure forei
More >>
6.
Are we ready for medical tourism?
Are we ready for medical tourism? The private healthcare industry is quietly facilitating a revolution to enable India to emerge as a health destination. Yet there are the
More >>
7.
Is medical tourism worth the risk?
Is medical tourism worth the risk?Thousands of Britons are heading abroad for cut-price treatment. We investigate the health tourism boom and asks if the benefits o
More >>
8.
Package holiday surgery to beat NHS queue
Package holiday surgery to beat NHS queueA holiday firm is offering 'sun and surgery' package deals to India for patients tired of waiting for the NHS.

Th
More >>
9.
Choosing the right weight loss surgery abroad
Choosing the right weight loss surgery abroadThe reluctance of public healthcare systems and health insurers to fund weight loss surgery means that more and more people are
More >>
10.
The forgotten medical tourism destination
The forgotten medical tourism destinationAn article by medical tourism specialist, Ian Youngman, on one of the world’s leading destinations for medical travelers which seems
More >>
11.
Why medical tourism needs facilitators
Why medical tourism needs facilitatorsFollowing our recent article on "How can patients judge quality in medical tourism?", Caroline Ratner spoke to Mike Silford, who run
More >>
12.
How can patients judge quality in medical tourism?
How can patients judge quality in medical tourism?There's much discussion and hype around the medical tourism world about “quality”. Every hospital, clinic, healthcar
More >>
13.
The importance of social media and the web in medical tourism
The importance of social media and the web in medical tourismMore than most other industries, medical tourism agencies and international patient departments rely heavily on t
More >>
14.
Medical Tourism Destinations: Places That Top The Charts
Medical Tourism Destinations: Places That Top The ChartsMedical tourism is a popular trend among people in the US nowadays. Many Americans are moving abroad to get tr
More >>
15.
Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery Option In Malaysia
Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery Option In MalaysiaMedical Tourism Malaysia is growing at an exponential growth factor. Its enjoying medical tourist from UK, Australia, New Zealand
More >>
16.
Samitivej Medical Tourism, A Lucrative Business
Samitivej Medical Tourism, A Lucrative BusinessSamitivej Wins 2 Prestigious HMA Awards 2008 Path to Being the Largest Medical Tourism

Samitivej, a leading pri
More >>
17.
Jordan pushes medical tourism industry
Jordan pushes medical tourism industryAfter establishing itself as a popular destination for medical care among Arabs in the Middle East, Jordan is now looking to attract more
More >>
18.
Some Frequently Asked Questions about Medical Tourism
Some Frequently Asked Questions about Medical TourismWhat is the quality of care that I can expect? Most of the healthcare centers abroad such as hospitals clinics and diagnostic
More >>
19.
Infertility Treatment in India
Infertility Treatment in IndiaInfertility is the inability to conceive a child by natural means. When a couple finds it difficult to conceive naturally, medication and spe
More >>
20.
Medical Tourism Thailand
Medical Tourism ThailandThailand has been a popular holiday destination of the East which is now a popular medical tourism destination as well. The Thai medical service is on
More >>
21.
Medical Tourism India
Medical Tourism IndiaA medical tourist in India can get the best of both worlds- excellent medical service from experts in the field of medicine and a splendid experience of a
More >>
22.
Digitizing Medical Documents
Digitizing Medical DocumentsIt is a common fact that hospitals and doctors need a patient’s detailed medical history before treating them. But when you have travele
More >>
23.
Roux-en-gastric bypass in India: An Overview
Roux-en-gastric bypass in India: An OverviewRoux-en-gastric bypass in India is very economical and affordable. Low cost but quality treatment attracts many patients of a
More >>
24.
Need a dentist? Come to Croatia
Need a dentist? Come to Croatia







Croatia has decided to take an unconventional approach to tourism - with dentists taking
More >>
25.
India offers hope for those too sick to wait
India offers hope for those too sick to waitEmerging into the teeming chaos of people, cows and honking vehicles outside Bangalore airport, retired teacher John Stauffer wonde
More >>