Home dialysis Print
There are several different ways of carrying out dialysis at home.  The one you choose will really depend on your individual circumstances and medical condition.

Home dialysis patients usually perform their own dialysis treatment with a partner and they learn a great deal about how to effectively treat their own kidney failure.  It is possible to schedule your treatments around work and family commitments and you have the flexibility to perform an extra treatment if you need to.  This gives you more control.

The choices are

1. Nocturnal ( dialysis at home at night 3 - 6 times a week)

In nocturnal home hemodialysis you and a partner train for a few weeks and learn to deliver your own dialysis treatments at home, 3–6 nights a week. You start the treatment, go to sleep, and get off of the machine in the morning when you wake up. Your blood moves through the dialyzer very slowly. This gives wastes and fluid much more time to move into your bloodstream where they can be removed. Nocturnal home hemodialysis removes more water and waste products than any other type of dialysis.

You'll need a chair and machine and somewhere to store your equipment.  This will be dialyzers, dialysate, disinfectant, syringes, needles, medications, blood tubes, water test kits, etc.—depending on the machine.

The benefits are:
  • Your days free, so life is more "normal" and convenient
  • You receive 2–5 times as much dialysis
  • It's slower and easier so less of an afront on your heart
  • Most people feel better, with more energy, libido, and appetite
  • It's less restrictive - easier diet, fewer drugs
  • You need fewer trips to the clinic
  • Survival rate is imrpoved and may be about the same as deceased donor transplant (3 times better than standard in-center HD).
2. Daily home dialysis (short treatments between 2 - 3 hours at a time, 5 - 6 days a week)

3. Home dialysis - conventional haemo dialysis, 3 times a week

4. Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) - this you do yourelf with no machine

A continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis (CCPD) - uses an automated cycler, at night