Itchy Skin and Dialysis | Omega-3 Can Relieve Itchy Skin Caused By Dialysis and Kidney Failure
If you’re in the later stages of kidney disease on dialysis something you may deal with is you can’t stop itching. You are constantly scratching, itching, itching, itching you just can’t stop itching and it’s a symptom of kidney disease generally in the later stages if you’re on dialysis. This video is about itchy skin and dialysis, and what you can do about it.
It’s caused by a few different ways but we’re going to talk about a simple thing you can do to help improve it.
When I was on dialysis sometimes I would itch so bad I would be bleeding from the scratching because you just can’t get the relief. Now there’s a couple different reasons if you have this problem. Pruritus is the term. You can have uremic pruritus where you have a lot of toxin buildup in your body. Your phosphorus can be high that could be another reason.
So there’s things you can do for that. One simple thing that just came out not long ago that can help which I’m going to reference here is omega-3 fatty acids so this is from the Hemodialysis International Journal February, 2022: Pruritus Reduce Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Hemodialysis Patients Across Over Randomized Clinical Trials.
What they found was that people on dialysis so they have the latest stage of kidney disease they gave them 3000 milligrams a day of omega-3 and it really helped their itching. It really helps support healthier skin. It helps support a variety of things from your cholesterol, to different inflammation marks in your body, to cardiovascular issues. It mentioned that that it can help cardiovascular issues. So so much that can be done with omega-3 fatty acids 3000 milligrams a day.
If you don’t hit that mark you’re probably not going to get any benefit from it so really it’s important. Whatever you’re buying make sure you’re getting at least 3000. Here they use a thousand milligram pill and they’re talking about the whole amount of the omega-3s. They’re not talking about the individual parts, this is the whole amount. You’ll generally see that right on the bottle or it’s listed on the back.
You can do more than 3000 but at least 3000. If you’re itching like crazy you want to try this. Ask your doctor, check your phosphorus, take a look at that too, and probiotics may be beneficial if you have uremic pruritus which is too much toxin build up. Take a look at our probiotic videos, we have fiber videos all good things that can help stop that itching.
