Grandpa Yang is 80 years old this year and has been on dialysis for 9 years. Even with dialysis three times a week, his skin is still dry and itchy. The old man has to take a bath in hot water for an hour every day to feel comfortable. The elderly are afraid of the trouble of taking medicine. Is there any way to suppress itching without taking medicine? What should we pay attention to in summer?
Today, we invited Director Cheng Li from the 910th Hospital of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to explain to us about itching.
Cheng Li 910th Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army
Why does itching occur?
Itching is one of the common complications of uremia patients, and it occurs for two reasons: insufficient dialysis As a result, some macromolecules or medium macromolecules are not filtered out, such as β2 microspheres; high calcium and high phosphorus, and poor control of secondary hyperparathyroidism can also cause itching. In addition, older age, dry skin, etc. can cause itching.
The aggravation of Grandpa Yang’s itching may also be related to the fact that he takes a hot bath every day, because the hot water is more irritating and may feel very comfortable when taking a bath, but the itching will rebound afterward.
How to deal with itching?
1. Full dialysis to filter creatinine and urea to a lower level p>
If you do not want to increase the number of dialysis, you can consider choosing a better dialyzer.
2. Consider the indicators of calcium, phosphorus, and parathyroid glands
If these indicators exceed the standard, and the patient is reluctant to use oral drugs, then intravenous Medications are administered to control these indicators, such as vitamin D receptor agonists. It can be injected intravenously by medical staff during dialysis. Through these enhanced dialysis intravenous drugs, calcium, phosphorus, and parathyroid hormone can be controlled at reasonable levels, which can also help patients relieve symptoms.
3. Avoid hot baths, preferably warm baths
Keeping the skin moist can help relieve itching. You can choose calamine lotion or some moisturizing products acceptable to the elderly, or moisturizing skin care products to keep the skin moist, such as the commonly used tea oil, which has a high oil content and can keep the skin moist.
4. The dermatology department of the hospital can also carry out related treatments
For example, medium-wave ultraviolet phototherapy can also achieve certain effects.
Special reminder in summer:
Although taking a cold shower in summer can make people feel cooler, it is not recommended for healthy people or patients with chronic kidney disease cold shower. On the one hand, taking a cold shower may lead to a cold; on the other hand, for patients with cardiovascular disease, taking a cold shower may lead to myocardial infarction.
What should the family members do when they have itching?
Be sure to help the elderly trim their nails to prevent mechanical damage caused by the scratching process. Failure to pay attention to these damages may even lead to secondary infection, which in turn will aggravate the itching.
If the elderly have difficulty adapting to warm water bathing in a short period of time, they can first use anti-allergic drugs, and then slowly transition to warm water bathing, light wave therapy and other treatments.
Finally, Director Cheng Li pointed out that with the popularization of full dialysis in recent years, there are fewer and fewer patients with severe itching. The healing effect extends life.