According to this article published on Healio.com, patients with kidney disease are at an increased risk for mental health issues. In 2010, the percentage of patients on dialysis who were clinically depressed was 20%, now it's up to 40% - that's doubled in 10 years. We know that the COVID-19 crisis of 2020 heightened this issue because of the increased isolation for dialysis patients and the greater risk for infection.
One of the suggestions put forward to improve the mental wellness of dialysis patients is to allow them to choose their treatment.
Dori Schatell, MS, from the Medical Education Institute, states “There are seven ways to do dialysis, plus transplant, plus conservative management, depending on who you are, and at what stage of life and what your goals are. One of those may be a better fit than the others. But 85% of people are still ending up doing standard in-center hemodialysis, which is the harshest treatment with the most side effects, the poorest quality of life and the worst survival.”
The Carlisle-Williams Foundation is a strong advocate for dialysis choice. The founder was originally put on hemodialysis (HD) in the hospital within hours of being diagnosed with ESRD. That is the standard and, in my opinion, the right choice of action. However, and this is where I applaud my nephrologist and dialysis team, I was informed of peritoneal dialysis (PD) and my nephrologist was a strong advocate of choice and thought it was the best option for me. Consider that I was working full-time and trying to fit HD into that schedule while dealing with the after-effects of an HD treatment. For me, PD was the absolute best choice allowing me to live as normal a life as possible with much better results from daily dialysis than 3x/week treatment. I didn't get the cramps and I didn't throw up as I did on HD. Simply having a choice made me feel empowered over something which is a huge boost in mental wellness.
For me, it was the feeling of loss of control over your life that created most of the angst, sadness, anxiety and semi-depression that came with dialysis. Driving to and from treatment; coordinating everything with my job - it was a lot of stress and on top of it all, I was physically ill a lot. Having the choice to do dialysis differently was a game changer for me.
I strongly recommend talking with your nephrologist - who is the one to help decide the best treatment for you - and exploring the many different options. I have only mentioned 2 in this blog - but, as stated by Schatell, there are 7 options that are available. Explore these. There is an easy tool that allows you to research what would work best for your lifestyle, goals and personal choices. Check it out here - My Life, My Dialysis Choice.
You can read this article in it's entirety by clicking on this link.