How Much Water Should Patients on Hemodialysis Take

In Renal Failure, the kidneys fail the normal filtration function. Consequently, excessive fluid builds up in body burdening kidneys. Therefore, water restriction is very important for the patients with Renal Failure, especially those on hemodialysis. It is very important for the patients on hemodialysis to know how much water they should take per day.

Excessive fluid in body can be filtered out from blood by hemodialysis. As a result, the urine output decreases gradually and eventually oliguria (urine output less than 400 ml per day) develops into anuria (urine output less than 100 ml per day). If the urine output is less than 100 ml per day, they must decrease their urine intake strictly and keep the water intake less than 1000 ml. If their intake exceeds the limited amount, it will lead to serious edema and body weight again during the days off dialysis. In that case, they have to enhance dialysis to remove the excessive water in body, which may result in some clinical symptoms like hypotension, nausea and so on for the fluctuation in blood volume. If the patients' urine output is above 1500 ml per day, they can have a loose restriction on their water intake and drink as much as they want. However, at the same time they should guarantee their body weight is less than 5% dry body weight.

However, in hot water or after taking exercises, they may lose much water for sweating. In that case, they can increase the water intake properly to avoid dehydration.

If you or your loved ones are patients on hemodialysis, you should know about your urine output volume, dry body weight clearly. Meanwhile, you should prepare a weighing scale. After dialysis, you should weigh yourself and then decide how much water you should take.


The above article has introduced the water intake for the patients on hemodialysis. If you want to know more information about other aspects, like the treatment of Renal Failure, diet and so on, please email to kidney-treatment@hotmail.com .