Causes of Headache for Patients on Hemodialysis

Hemodialysis is an important substitutive for patients with Renal Failure. Although it plays an important role in prolonging patients’ life, it can cause a series of serious complications. Headache as one of its complications is caused by the following factors.

1. Imbalance syndrome

Imbalance syndrome mainly occurs among patients who just begin dialysis with 3.4%~20% of incidence. If the patients can manage dialysis more properly, they can decline the incidence of imbalance syndrome. The patients can improve the sodium concentration in dialysis such as increasing the sodium concentration in dialysis fluid. If the patients can take effective preventive measures, they will be able to decline the incidence of headache.

2. High blood pressure

During dialysis, sometimes high blood pressure can cause high blood pressure. The patients can take some blood pressure medicines to deal with this problem with their doctors’ guidance. If the patients keep persistent high blood pressure during dialysis and cause serious headache, the patients should stop dialysis. In the later dialysis, the patients can change their dialysis form into hemofiltration or hemofiltration dialysis.

3. Cerebral hemorrhage

The patients on dialysis often are accompanied with high blood pressure and cerebral arteriosclerosis. The sudden increasing blood pressure, over using of anticoagulant and trauma can cause cerebral hemorrhage. For patients with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), the cerebral aneurysm rupturing also can cause cerebral hemorrhage. These factors are important causes of headache for patients on dialysis.


In addition, hemolysis, acetate intolerance and so on also can cause headache. As there various causes of headache for patients on dialysis, it is very important for patients to clear out the specific causes of their headache so as to find the correct solution.