Living With Dialysis: How Treatment Shapes My Energy and Daily Life

As part of my 6 Months to Change My Life project, I’m experimenting with routines, energy-based planning, and sustainable habits.

Some of these experiments don’t make sense without context — specifically, how dialysis affects my energy, focus, and capacity. This post exists to explain that context so I don’t have to repeat it in every weekly post.

Dialysis isn’t just treatment hours

I undergo dialysis three times a week. Many people imagine that dialysis only affects me while I’m in the clinic — but the reality is more complicated.

Dialysis impacts me:

Before treatment: preparation, anticipation, and sometimes fatigue or discomfort
During treatment: sitting for hours, managing symptoms, staying hydrated
After treatment: physical exhaustion, brain fog, restless legs, and unpredictable energy

Because of this, each day can feel different, even when the schedule is the same.

"Dialysis doesn’t just take hours — it shapes how I experience every day".

Energy is unpredictable

Dialysis is a rhythm that I can plan around, but never fully predict. Some days I bounce back quickly, others I’m drained for most of the day.

This affects:

Physical energy: tasks feel heavier, walking or cooking may take more effort
Cognitive energy: focus, memory, and decision-making are less reliable
Mental endurance: concentration and patience can drop unexpectedly

This is why traditional planning and fixed schedules often fail for me. I can’t assume that energy will be consistent week to week.

Planning around dialysis

Over time, I’ve learned that planning needs to be flexible. My approach now looks like this:

High-energy tasks: scheduled when I know I’m likely to have more capacity — often a day before or after dialysis
Maintenance tasks: things that can be done even with moderate energy
Low-energy days: focus on recovery, basic self-care, and avoiding burnout

Energy-based planning, rather than strict time-based schedules, allows me to respect my body’s limits while still moving forward with my goals.

"The best plans are the ones that move with my energy, not against it".

Why this matters for my 6-month project

If I ignored dialysis, my weekly experiments would look like failure — not because of lack of effort, but because my body simply can’t sustain certain patterns every day.

Acknowledging dialysis helps me:

Be realistic with routines
Protect high-energy days
Build consistency in a sustainable way
Avoid burnout

It’s not an excuse — it’s context.