Just add Water....

[RonZone]

Interesting article on the benefit (or lack of proven overall GFR benefit) for drinking a lot of water for kidney disease pre-dialysis:

jasn.asnjournals.org/conten...

Personally I do not drink that much water (just normal when thirsty) at this point (eGFR 9.2) because I fear that once I start dialysis (PD) and will be told to greatly limit my intake of fluid, I will be so used to drinking lots of water that drastic reduction will be very difficult to do. Anyone experienced going from drinking a ton of water, to no water after starting dialysis?

[GeordieJanice]

I used to drink 2 litres of water plus teas/coffees per day so when I started dialysis it was a massive shock to my system when I was told my maximum fluid intake for the day was 750mls. I did my best to stick to it but after several weeks of dialysis and talking to others on the ward it became apparent I was the only one sticking to this limit! The nurse then said I could up my limit to 1,150mls and that total was my 750mls limit plus the average amount of fluid I peed in a day which is 400mls. I've done obvious things like cut out soup and cereals (with milk) and I only allow myself 1 small hot drink a day. I also cut out salt and alcohol as I found it made me thirstier. I eat fruit when I'm thirsty as I find this helps. I do also allow myself to go above this limit when I'm feeling very thirsty but obviously I know this is not good for me but sometimes it's just impossible to stick to the limit. Good luck.

[RonZone in reply to GeordieJanice]

I sorta knew this was not going to be a popular topic when I posted it as everyone pre-dialysis always talks about drinking tons of water to help the kidneys flush things out of their system, but I was wondering how it would be going from drinking so much to suddenly drinking so little. You have given me that very important information. Maybe drinking a ton of water a day might have helped me stave of dialysis a few more months. Guess I'll never know, though since my CKD is caused by all the cysts growing on my kidneys (which I'm not sure drinking water would slow down). But I think I would rather start cutting back a bit now (a couple months ahead of dialysis) rather than cold turkey like you had to do. Wish others would chime in on this, but I guess you and I are the only ones discussing this topic here, for pre-dialysis stage 5 folks like me.