Muscle Cramps in Dialysis: Causes, Treatment and Prevention

Muscle cramps can be a very common dialysis problem, and there is no doubt that it affects the quality of life to a certain degree. If you are interested in this topic, you are suggested to learn about causes, treatment and prevention for muscle cramps in dialysis.

Causes of muscle cramps in dialysis

-Remove too much water out of body, thus reducing blood volume and resulting in blood pressure decline.

-Decline in the concentration of serum sodium ion and the use of dialysate with low sodium ion or calcium ion cause the change in electrolyte.

-Acid-base balance disorder

-The loss of carnitine in long-term dialysis treatment.

Treatment for muscle cramps in dialysis

-Vein injection of 100-200ml of 0.9% saline solution to correct the lack of microcirculation perfusion; supply calcium ion, like intravenous injection of 10% calcium gluconate to relieve muscle cramps caused by low calcium.

-Patients on long-term of dialysis should supply carnitine, like intravenous injection of Levocarnitine.

-Local hot compress and massage to relieve pain.

Prevention for muscle cramps in dialysis

-Make sure the setpoint of dry weight is correct to avoid removing excessive water.

-Make sure whether the concentration of calcium and sodium in dialyzate is too low.

-Correct the calcium and phosphate metabolic abnormalities.

Now you must have a general understanding about muscle cramps in dialysis treatment. As a matter of fact, in addition to muscle cramps, there are many other dialysis problems such as itching skin, fever, nausea and vomiting, leg pain, chest pain, sleep problems, etc. These dialysis problems have become one of causes why more and more patients want to stop dialysis. If you still have any questions about dialysis or you have the interest in treatments for reducing dialysis times, welcome to email to kidneyhospitalabroad@hotmail.com, within 48 hours, our experts will reply you.