Your hemodialysis treatments only replace a small part (less than 5 to 10%) of the normal function of your kidneys. This is far below the 100% of normal kidney function.
If you don’t get enough of the dialysis treatment(s), you may experience fluid overload and your blood holds on to more of the body’s waste products, increasing the chance that you'll feel sick. If you're being under-dialyzed, you can expect to have many of the symptoms of uremia and fluid overload:
- feeling weak and tired all the time
- loss of real weight, poor appetite, nausea
- short of breath
- high blood pressure between dialysis treatments
- blood pressure drop during dialysis
- don’t tolerate exercise
- ammonia taste in mouth
- yellow skin
- skin is more itchy
- inflammation of the heart
- higher risk for infection and problems with bleeding
Most people who are well-dialyzed will:
- feel good overall
- have a good appetite with a normal weight
- feel like they don’t need dialysis when the treatment day arrives
- notice their yellow skin is fading or is gone
Your health—and your very life—depend on you getting the right amount of dialysis. It is important you stay on dialysis for your prescribed time. It’s easy to think that coming off a few minutes early won’t matter. Chances are that asking to come off early happens more than once. Shortening your dialysis time will harm your body over time because you're being under-dialyzed.
When you have a serious kidney problem and are on dialysis, dialysis helps to do the work of your kidneys to keep you alive. If you miss a treatment or aren’t on dialysis as long as you should be, it may have a serious impact on your health. It can add stress to your already weakened body, which can shorten your life. This is why the dialysis staff encourages you to stay on dialysis for your full run or remind you to arrive on time if you’re often late—it’s for your well-being. It’s also important that you follow your dialysis treatment plan while your doctor is trying to decide if a kidney transplant is a good treatment option for you, or if you are already on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. If you find it hard to keep your dialysis appointments, ask your healthcare team if home dialysis is a good option for you.
People who are well dialyzed should be able to look forward to doing many of the things that they planned to do before they had kidney disease.
Time Lost When You Shorten Your Treatment
The chart below shows how many hours you lose each year when you stop a dialysis treatment early. Every minute of dialysis counts.
Dialysis Time Lost with Shortened Treatments
|
Minutes Shortened
Per Treatment |
Minutes Shortened
Per Week |
Minutes Shortened
Per Month |
Minutes Shortened
Per Year | |
Hours Lost
Per Year |
| 1 | 3 | 13 | 156 | → | 2.6 hours |
| 3 | 9 | 39 | 468 | → | 7.8 hours |
| 5 | 15 | 65 | 780 | → | 13 hours |
| 10 | 30 | 130 | 1,560 | → | 26 hours |
| 15 | 45 | 195 | 2,340 | → | 39 hours |
| 20 | 60 | 260 | 3,120 | → | 52 hours |
| 25 | 75 | 325 | 3,900 | → | 65 hours |
| 30 | 90 | 390 | 4,680 | → | 78 hours |
Adapted with permission from the Southern California Renal Disease Council, Inc. ESRD Network 18.
