Save Your Veins

Taking good care of your veins now will help you be able to accept dialysis treatment in the future. Your health care provider will need to be able to reach your access to dialyze you.

Keeping your access ( how your dialysis enters your blood stream) as usable as possible will help you receive treatment more easily.

Your access is a means of getting into the blood stream in hemodialysis, or into the peritoneal cavity in peritoneal dialysis.

For hemodialysis, the most common accesses are a fistula, graft, or subclavian catheter.

In peritoneal dialysis,  the access is a catheter into the abdominal cavity. 

How to Save Your Veins for Dialysis

There are some things you can do that will help your health care team.

• Avoid needle-sticks of any kind (including blood draws) in your non-dominant arm. This is the arm that will most likely be used for your fistula or graft. If you are right-handed, your left arm is your non-dominant arm.

• If you need a catheter or emergency care, ask your health care team to avoid using your sub-clavian artery/vein.

• If you have a fistula or graft, do not have your blood pressure cuff placed on that arm. Use your other arm whenever possible.

• Eat as healthily as possible. Exercise at whatever level your doctor recommends. Overall good life-style choices have a positive impact on your dialysis treatment.

• Ask questions. Become informed. Educating yourself about dialysis and your access is a great way to help your treatment team (and your kidneys!)

If you have questions or concerns about dialysis, talk to your healthcare provider.