Dialysis Fatigue

I went to dialysis this morning for my treatment. I go to dialysis 3 times a week: on tuesdays, thursdays, and saturdays. Each treatment session is 4 hours long. What dialysis does is it removes the excess fluid and wastes from the body/blood that the kidney cannot do due to the fact that the kidneys have failed. I’ve been on dialysis since late 2004.

I might be inclined to say that my biggest complaint about dialysis is the fact that I have to go at all, but that seems to be a fact of life right now. Next to that, my biggest complaint about dialysis is the fact that it absolutely takes EVERYTHING out of me by the time it’s over. I’m so incredibly exhausted after dialysis that all I want to do after it’s all over is quickly eat something and take a nap.

I’m sure the fact that I suffer from chronic anemia doesn’t help the situation, but it’s a real pain feeling so tired after dialysis. As a 25 year old female, I’d really like to be more active in many different aspects of life, such as work, school, social activities, etc. Many of these things have to and have taken a back burner due to the fact that I simply don’t have the energy to do many of these things. I know that it’s important to take care of your health above all other things, but it’s pretty frustrating nonetheless.

I wonder if there are other people out there on dialysis, and if they feel as fatigued as I do. How do you cope? How do you maintain a somewhat “normal” life?