Dialysis. Expierences of old BLers who may require it

[Boku_]

I have a funny but bad feeling in the back of my mind that i may require dialysis for kidney problems later in life as it seems i will have a life time needing anti-psychotic medication, hammer my kidney's with heavy soft drink consumption which from what i heard is one of the worst things you can do for kidney wear and tear. ( i have recently cut down drinking soft drink but still drink more liquid than average including lots of water and moderate beer drinking, at least i don't drink wine or spirits with mixers) A doctor actually told me beer isn't any worse for your kidney's than water but of course beer is bad for your liver but the liver can repair its self where as your kidneys can only process so much liquid over a lifetime before you start to develop problems.

Ofcourse i could suffer from any number of illness in my later life but can anyone explain to me what being on dialysis is like day to day week to week. From what i've been told due to my ethnic background i have the rarest blood type and if i need a kidney transplant the chances of getting a donor is slim to none and i don't have much family that could give me a organ.

I read on-line medicine is getting better and better as time goes on and most people on dialysis need to use it 3 times a week for 8 hours at a time and it keeps them alive but the dialysis regime really takes it out of you and the quality of life isn't the best. My main two concerns is that i will not be able to work part time due to being tired and i may not be able to be active sexual. TBH i am already on a part disability pension for a schizo condition so income wouldn't be a problem but working part time and being able to have a active sex life is what keeps me going in life. I know it sound juvenile but that's just how i am, also the idea of only consuming very small amounts of liquid would be a bummer. Would i have to stop taking my medication? i would lose the plot and almost be suicidal while not functioning at all without my anti-psychotic medication.

I'm hoping this situation is a fair few years away but i know people suffering from mental illness in particular schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder have a much lower life expectancy than the general population.

Any input, experiences of dialysis or opinions are welcome. After all i may just drop dead from a heart attack out of nowhere and not suffer any pain at all.

 

[Deleted member 170540]

There seems to be evidence that consumption of cola drinks that contain phosphoric acid can increase the risk of kidney disease:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3433753/

Our analysis suggests that consumption of 2 or more cola beverages per day was associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease. We saw no increase in risk associated with consumption of noncola carbonated beverages, or with noncola caffeinated beverages.

I don't think this risk exists if you drink lemon- or orange-flavored soft drinks instead of cola.

The chain of reasoning where you take relatively benign things from your everyday life, like your soft drink intake, and seem to deduce from them with almost full certainty that something disastrous is going to happen in your body in the future, is quite strange... Could your psychological problems cause this kind of "catastrophic thinking"?

I've been on antipsychotics for the last 10 years, too, and they are necessary to prevent stress-induced mental breakdowns that I have a susceptibility for. First I was on risperidone, but that was changed to quetiapine when it turned out that the risperdal was affecting my hormone levels negatively. I've never had any kind of high blood sugar issues caused by antipsychotics (those could cause kidney damage in theory).

A pair of human kidneys filters over 100 litres of fluid every day, but almost all of this fluid is immediately absorbed back to the bloodstream from the kidney tubuli. If you drink a lot of fluids, the kidneys still filter the same amount of fluid, but less of it is reabsorbed and more urine is produced. Therefore, drinking a lot of water or sugar-containing drinks doesn't really cause any significant extra work for the kidneys.

EDIT: Some people who have schizophrenia or similar disorders, can develop so called psychogenic polydipsia, which means that they have an uncontrollable desire to drink water all the time. If this gets so bad that they drink something like over 10 litres a day, it can lead to water poisoning, which is a bad thing. If you feel a need to drink that much fluids every day, I recommend you to talk about it with your doctor.

EDIT2: And a reminder about the obvious, large amounts of soft drinks are bad for your teeth, at least if they containg real sugar and not some kind of artificial sweeteners.

 

[Boku_]

Thanks for the informative and detailed reply polymath

"A pair of human kidneys filters over 100 litres of fluid every day, but almost all of this fluid is immediately absorbed back to the bloodstream from the kidney tubuli. If you drink a lot of fluids, the kidneys still filter the same amount of fluid, but less of it is reabsorbed and more urine is produced. Therefore, drinking a lot of water or sugar-containing drinks doesn't really cause any significant extra work for the kidneys".





That's encouraging to know polymath.

"Some people who have schizophrenia or similar disorders, can develop so called psychogenic polydipsia, which means that they have an uncontrollable desire to drink water all the time. If this gets so bad that they drink something like over 10 litres a day,"


I don't think i would drink ten litres but i easily drink 2 litres while doing my evening shift at work and it is more than likely due to the anti-pyschtic's i skull bottle after bottle of tap water in the time i relax at home watching TV when my day is coming to an end that so much so it takes a good 2-3 hours going to the toilet every 30 minutes before i feel refreshed enough to feel content.

"There seems to be evidence that consumption of cola drinks that contain phosphoric acid can increase the risk of kidney disease:"

Yeah that's why i started this thread, i only just recently replaced drinking cola soft drinks with black tea and iced tea and tbh i feel all the more healthily for the change. I can't believe how many years i started the day with a couple of cans of pepsi max, YUCK. As i said in my original post at least i don't drink rum and coke or bourbon and coke.

Judging by the lack of replies there mustn't be too many Blers close to pension age but once again thanks for the reply polymath.

 

[Deleted member 170540]

You're welcome.

I hope you'll develop a taste for some beverages that don't contain phosphoric acid (or alcohol). Ice tea shouldn't be very harmful for the body.

If you feel hypochondria, or excessive fear of sickness, it would probably help if you mentioned that to the mental health worker you've been in contact with.

I know that there are some Bluelighters who are over 50 or 60 years old.