Treating Kidney Disease
If you are diagnosed with kidney failure, there are treatment options that can replace your lost kidney function so you can live and stay healthy. Your kidney doctor will work with you to find the best treatment. No matter what treatment option you choose, you will be supported by a team that includes medical professionals, dietitians and social workers.
When choosing a treatment, remember that you can change your mind. Even after many years on one kind of treatment, you can switch to another kind that may better fit you at that point in your life. Here is a list of things to keep in mind:
- How will the treatment affect your lifestyle?
- How involved in your treatment do you want to be?
- Do you need/want to be able to keep working?
- What kind of support do you have from your family/friends?
- Do you have a partner who is willing to help you do your treatment?
- Do you have children?
- Do you need/want to travel?
Treatment Options
Dialysis is a process that cleans waste products out of your blood, removes extra fluids, and controls your body chemistry when your kidneys fail. There are two kinds of dialysis: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.
- Hemodialysis removes extra fluid and wastes from your body by constantly moving your blood through a filter. The filter, known as a dialyzer or artificial kidney, is used with a dialysis machine. Hemodialysis can be done at home or in a dialysis treatment center.
- Peritoneal dialysis (PD) also filters the blood. But, instead of using an artificial kidney, the thin membrane that lines your abdominal cavity, the peritoneum, is used. PD can be done at home.
A kidney transplant is the surgical placement of a healthy kidney into your body from a living or deceased donor. Before you receive a kidney, your blood will be “matched” with the donor to reduce the chance that your body will reject the new kidney.
