I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: NickL on September 14, 2006, 06:49:51 AM
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I am bringing this up as a new topic only because I asked a question which was - how many of us would like to get dialyzed every other day as opposed to three times a week. I explained that this would amount to 2 extra tx within a 4 week period. I asked not to think about the logistics of the scheduling. From the responses I received it seems that all responses said they would like to get dialyzed every other day - but there was concern about the scheduling of such an endeveour and to my surprise concern about whether the government could pay for this.
My answer to these concerns are that any graduate with a business management degree or any one who has run his/her own business could create a scheduling of this in a matter of hours. As far as the number of seats available - well that doesn't change only the number of treatments for each patient - which in turn would create more jobs. Also people would probably need less time on the machine in the long run which would mean less stress in the unit. Then looking again at the long run (because we are all here for the long run) there would be less long term dialysis health problems which happen to be much more expensive to the government then 2 extra txs a month.
Whether the government can afford to pay for this is like asking what is the price of your life. I did not want to bring politics into this equation - just a sense of what is best for us - the dialysis patients, which I thought was the purpose of this site. The three times a week tx was hard fought for by dialysis patients many years ago, and it was meant to keep people alive until they received a transplant. That was back when the "list" was a 1-2 year wait. Now, depending where you live, it can be up to a ten year wait. I believe it's time to update the thinking here - it's time to question the reasoning behind dialysis. Every other day tx brings what is known as a steady state to the body. That steady state means less variation in your clinical numbers - your blood values, which in turn means less toxin build up, less calcium/phosphorous build up, less fluid ,potassium.sodium and every other thing that hurts us buildup - which in turn means a better quality of life for us - the dialysis patient - but of course we could forgo these benefits for ourselves another couple of years for the price of another war plane.
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I used to be on every second day, and it really isnt a great deal different to 3x a week. Although I do think it should be introduced into the in centres. As it is they sit there unused on a sunday, when Im sure there are plently of people who wouldnt mind dialysing on a sunday. It would be sort of hard to organise though, considering the current shifts of mon/wed/fri and tue/thurs/sat. As each week you would be changing the day you Dx on, I would think it could get a bit confusing for some.
It would be a good start if they could at least offer more than 4 hour treatments, however most people seem to not want to do any longer than 4 hours. Personally I dont care, if I know Im getting more Dx, I will gladly sit there for 6 hours.
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I was with you there until your last statement. Listen buddy. If we didn't have "war planes" we wouldn't need to worry about dialysis, because the terrorists probably wouldn't see a need. Either that, or they wouldn use it as a form of torture. If you get my meaning.
Now, back on topic. I would go for every other day, but I agree with Amber. Most people couldn't keep track. CRAP - there are people who don't know they are even at dialysis let alone what day it is. And the people in charge of them aren't in much better mental state.
But, yes, I would go for every other day. That weekend just screws me up.
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One reason why I dont go in centre as I just dont cope with the 2 days off. I usually ended up in emergency with high potassium even though I stuck to the diet to the number. Thankfully if I need a short break I can go to home training Dx and usually get 4 days a week. But if I want a long break (more than a month or so), I have to go back in centre. I think it stinks that in-centre patients have to go the weekend without dialysis, its just so shitty.
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Maybe patients should organize to change the status quo.