Fitness Expert replies:

Dear Wonder Walkers Member

Well done on recovering from your shunt operations and for getting out and trying to keep up your walking and exercise. This is going to be important as you now go on a new regime of dialysis.

As your body adapts to the dialysis my suggestion is that you do what you can, when you can as your energy levels will fluctuate daily. You will need to keep checking with your renal team and medical support network as to how much exercise you can do and hopefully they will also give you a good nutrition ad hydration programme. It's common not to feel hungry when you are undergoing dialysis, so it's important to keep snacking and grazing and ensure that you have good quality low-glycemic carbohydrates, not too much protein (as protein digestion and absorption increases demands on your kidneys) and good quality Omega 3 fats.

As far as your exercise goes, you need to aim for the recommended guidelines from the NZ Heart Foundation and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). This means slowly building up to be able to walk comfortably for 30 minutes on 3 days per week and then increase this to 5 days per week as your body adjusts to the dialysis. You will also benefit from doing some simple lifting exercises to gradually strengthen your muscles. Press-ups against the wall are simple to do or sitting on a chair and lifting tins of food or full bottles of water with your arms (bicep curls). Do what you can and try to increase your strength in the muscles that you need for every-day activities. You will find that if you keep doing some light strengthening exercises at least 2-3 days each week (when you aren't feeling tired), you will gradually get stronger.

Keep talking with your dialysis support team and problem-solve with them as well as they will best know your medical circumstances and should be able to offer you information on nutritional and exercise support.

Good luck.
Regards
Wendy