I had been dialysing five times a week at the beginning of the year. This dropped to three times a year as the weight of the problems I was facing got the better of me. Worse, the more frequent longer breaks between treatments lead to larger fluid gains which placed an unnecessary load on my heart. No problems yet but touch wood. I could have gone back to dialysing five times a week but my blood started clotting badly, mainly in the venous bubble chamber but also in the dialyzer. I was losing so much blood from clotting that I required weekly iron infusions. So on one hand I would get better results from dialysing five times a week but on the other hand I would become more anaemic as I clotted with each treatment.
Fortunately my anticoagulant agent could be changed. I am intolerant to Heparin so had been using Clexane. My specialist changed me over to Fragmin which unlike Clexane is not administered as a bolus at the beginning of dialysis but rather through the same regime as Heparin; progressively throughout the treatment via the Heparin pump. This has given me great results: the dialyzer is so clean that I joked with my renal nurses that I could recycle it, and the venous bubble chamber is always perfectly free of clotting or "collars". With a reduced loss of blood after each treatment I am feeling better. Now I am at the stage of going back to five treatments a week.
The main thing I learnt through this year? Talk. Always talk. Tell the nurses if you are blue. Tell them about problems. Also tell them about things that work. I just find talking to my renal support team is absolutely critical to getting the most out of my dialysis experience. Don't be scared that the question you have may be stupid; they will be glad to answer it, if they can. Even though my renal team only provided support for my dialysis needs they helped me through a difficult year in my life. Thanks to them. And I hope you will start talking with your team as well.
I am sorry to hear that you have had such a troubled year Maurice.
ReplyDeleteHi there, Mal. Saw your comment on another blog and, decided to give yours a visit... Hope you're doing well! :)
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