What is a dry weight?

Emily commented on my last blog asking what a dry weight was. So here is where I try and explain it. It took me a while to work out what it was when I first started dialysis!

Your dry weight is your weight after a dialysis session when all of the extra fluid in your body has been removed when there is no excess fluid in the lungs or in the tissues. Most dialysis patients don’t pass urine so fluid builds up in between each dialysis session so this is why renal patients have to have a fluid restriction. If you let too much fluid build up between sessions, it is harder to get down to your proper dry weight.

If you are way above your dry weight, fluid will make its way to your lungs or the tissues in the body especially in the ankles and this will also cause your blood pressure to rise.

If you are under your dry weight you may experience cramps/dizziness/sickness on the dialysis machine towards the end of the session. Low blood pressure is also an indication of being under your dry weight.

It is hard to regulate your dry weight as people’s weight changes all the time especially when you are relatively young like me. It’s hard to know whether weight gain is due to fluid or actual fat gained.

So last night I took the fluid off to my new dry weight of 66.5kg I removed 2.1ltrs and didn’t experience any cramps or dizziness which was great however it took me way over half an hour to get any blood pressure at all! So we’ll just have to wait and see how I get on over the next few weeks!

I’m busy doing uni work all day today as I have deadlines looming but am going to catch up with a friend later on tonight down the pub so that should take my mind of it!

Anyway I hope this post has helped Emily and anyone else who was confused about what my dry weight was!!!

Have a lovely weekend! x