Anyone here on dialysis?

[mceuph]

I recently was diagnosed with kidney failure. Have been doing peroteneal dialysis for a week now. Doing well, not looking for sympathy, but am having s hard time getting my sound back. Chops feel fine, but my lungs feel like they've lost half their power, which was a strong suit of mine. I've done a lot of research and teaching of breathing exercises over the years, and it's very frustrating. If anyone has dealt with this and has words of experienced advice, please email me.

Thanks

[Lars Trawen]

I've been a professional designer of hemo dialysis equipment for many years.
However I have a good idea of the reason to your problem.
A good singer or wind player uses his (her) stomach to increase the breathing to a maximum.
The peritoneal dialysis means that you fill the cavaties in your stomach with a salt solution.
Since your stomach already is occupied by this salt solution you can't optimize your breathing to the size you had previously.
Your available air volume is decreased to your lungs only.
If you later on is switching to hemo dialysis I'm sure you will notice a significal improvement.
Your doctor can explain this much better than me.
Good luck,
Lars

[mceuph]

Thank you Lars, that makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the help.

[tofu]

My mom lost both kidneys and was on dialysis for years - 3.5 hours for 3 days a week. It took several months for her body to adjust. She was elderly so it may be a much quicker adjustment for you. I really can't offer any wind instrument advice as she was a conservatory trained pianist and we all know you don't need no wind to play the piano!

Wish you the best in getting back to form.

[mceuph]

Thank you Tofu for the kind words. It sounds like your mom was on hemodialysis, which is a bit different from perotineal dialyisis, which I'm fortunate to have. I plug into a small machine at home every night while I sleep. It's quite a bit gentler on the body than the hemo version. But you're definitely correct about an adjustment period. Guess I just need to be patient (not my forte..)