Don't you love swimming in a cool, blue pool? Splashing
around in that clear water, floating like a lily pad, swimming like
a shark. But imagine if the water wasn't clear or clean. What
if it was filled with leaves, dirt, hair, and drowned bugs? Yeeech!
You'd be one unhappy shark.
You'd probably want to clean it out before diving
in. And you'd want to make sure the pool has a filter
that removes the dirt, leaves, and other uninvited guests.
The Kidneys and What They Do
That's kind of what your
kidneys
do for you. Your kidneys are fist-sized organs, shaped like beans.
They're below your ribs, toward the back.
When waste that's left over from breaking down food and your
body's other activities naturally builds up in your blood, your
kidneys act like a filter to clean waste from your blood. Then they
mix the waste with a little water. That's what urine is - body
waste mixed in water. The urine goes to your bladder, which
you empty when you pee. Goodbye, waste!
In addition to removing wastes from your bloodstream, the
kidneys also make and regulate
hormones
and other chemicals in your body. When the kidneys aren't
working correctly, your body can develop several problems,
including:
- joint problems
- body aches and pains
- fatigue
- bone problems
- itchy skin
- sleep problems
-
anemia
(say: uh-
nee
-mee-uh), a problem in which the number of red blood cells
or hemoglobin in the blood is too low
What Is Dialysis?
When someone's kidneys can no longer do their job and
can't get better, a person has chronic
kidney disease
. A doctor might say the kidneys are failing. This means they are
not working well and the person may need help. The person may be
losing weight or feeling tired and sick.
A medical treatment called dialysis (say: dye-
al
-ih-sis) can take over the job of filtering your blood. Through
dialysis, a person is hooked up to an artificial filtering system
that removes waste from the blood. Not that many
people younger than 19 receive dialysis - about 2,300
young people in the United States do.
How Does Dialysis Work?
There are two dialysis methods: hemodialysis and peritoneal
dialysis.
Hemodialysis
(say:
hee
-mo-dye-
al
-ih-sis) uses a filtering machine to remove waste and extra fluid
from your blood. In the second type, called
peritoneal
(say: per-uh-tuh-
nee
-ul)
dialysis
, the actual filtering is done by the lining of the person's
belly! Kids who need dialysis are most likely to get this type.
With hemodialysis, the person's blood travels through tubes
to the machine - called a dialyzer (say:
dye
-uh-lye-zer) - which removes extra fluids and waste. Once the blood
is cleaned, the machine sends it back to the person through another
tube. This process typically takes about 4 hours and has to be
done three times each week in a dialysis clinic. Some clinics
will train people so that they can perform their treatments at
home.
The most commonly used type of peritoneal dialysis for kids,
called continuous cyclic dialysis, uses a machine to put a
cleansing solution called dialysate (say: dye-
al
-ih-sate) in the person's belly, usually eight to 12 times
each night. As blood flows naturally through the blood vessels in
the belly, extra fluid and waste products in the blood seep out
into the dialysate in the belly. Meanwhile, the dialysate cleanses
the blood and rebalances the blood's chemistry. After about an
hour, the machine drains the dialysate from the belly.
Some kids can sleep through dialysis. Others might find it
uncomfortable and inconvenient, so a different type of peritoneal
dialysis might be used. The good news is that afterward, body fluid
levels are balanced and waste is gone.
Other Options
In some cases, a kid can get a new kidney. This is called a
transplant, which means receiving an organ from another
person's body. This operation can be a big help to kids with
kidney disease because after the surgery they may no longer need
dialysis treatments.
But kids who need dialysis can benefit from improving
technology. Improvements to dialysis machines mean that the
machines are smaller and that receiving dialysis is getting easier.
This makes it easier for kids with kidney failure to do everyday
things and enjoy activities, just like other kids. One doctor puts
it this way to kids who need dialysis: Dialysis is
part
of your life, but it isn't your life or who you are.
Reviewed by:
Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: February 2008
Originally reviewed by:
Laszlo Hopp, MD
Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice,
diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
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