Food Restrictions for Dialysis Patients

2014-03-16 03:06

Though dialysis takes away wastes and toxins from your body, it can not work 24 h like your own kidneys. Between the dialysis sessions, wastes and toxins will build up in your blood and lead to many symptoms, such as nausea and skin itch. Restricting your diet is helpful for cutting down on the amount of wastes. Here is some suggestions about food restrictions for dialysis patients. Hope it can help you.

Increase the intake of protein

No matter the hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis take away part of your protein, so it is recommended to increase the protein intake to 1.2 g/kg per day. And high quality protein is better, for it not only provides essential amino acids that your body needs, but also produces less wastes. In such case, milk, egg white, fish, lean meat and other animal protein is preferred.

Lower fluid intake

Fluid restriction is also necessary, because too much fluid intake between dialysis sessions may cause high blood pressure and shortness of breath. When these fluid is taken away from your body, you will suffer from low blood pressure, muscle cramping, nausea, etc. How much fluid you can drink should depend on weight gain between treatments, urine output, and swelling.

Sodium, potassium and phosphorus restrictions

You should also restrict foods that contain high amounts of sodium, phosphorus and potassium.

Because phosphorus is not cleared well through dialysis and can cause complications to your health, such as skin itch, weak bones, etc. Too much sodium causes your body to retain fluid and raises your blood pressure. And too much potassium can cause muscle weakness and heart failure.

But for peritoneal dialysis patients, there is not as much as restrictions in sodium and potassium, because peritoneal dialysis is performed daily.

The diet restriction for patients is different, and therefore, a dietitian will work with each patient to come up with a dialysis diet that is tailored to your needs. We are medical staff in kidney disease hospital China. If you need any help, please contact us.

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