I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: Spouses and Caregivers => Topic started by: ODAT on June 05, 2009, 09:42:28 AM
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I went to the center last night to sit with my mom. My sister was there too. Mom was slurring her words and her eyes kept closing. I asked and she said she'd been tired all day. Didn't think much of it until a bit later when her cuff inflated and read 92/56. The nurse came over later and did regular checks - didn't say anything about blood pressure, but did ask mom how she was feeling.
Then the nurse came again 30 min later and said she 'needed to adjust the cuff' because the reading was so low it couldn't be right. It was 81/41 and I knew that was not good. The nurse shouted to the other nurse across the room what it was and was told to shut it down. They were coming over asking mom how she felt. I told them she was very tired and slurring her words.
It took an extra half hour to 45 minutes more to get her at a good pressure before she could leave. They gave her fluids and said they would test her sitting and standing pressure. The social worker walked by me in the hall, because by then I had to leave since they were taking her off. She told me sitting was 113/57 and if standing was lower they would give her broth. I don't know what her standing was but apparently they had to give her broth.
When she finally came out she looked better and sounded better. She almost started crying though with all that commotion. I told her it this sometimes happened because they took too much fluid off. The nurses told me that she didn't have as much this week as last week. I thought they readjusted every week? Sounds like they were going by last week's settings.
She didn't have any cramping last night.
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Do you know what her dry weight is? I was always checking to see where they'd set the machine. They'd just keep the default and not adjust to the fact that Jenna was urinating and didn't retain much fluid from treatment to treatment. Poor mom - that's a terrible feeling when your blood pressure gets so low!
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Extreme low pressure happened to me too but I continue after they turned off the fluid reduction gizzie and gave me saline. It came right back up.
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Dry weight is her weight minus any extra fluid, so it really is a moving target. It is worse to leave too much fluid on her, but they should have shut off the UF when BP gets below 100. If she has enough time left and he BP rises then they can turn it back on. It takes a few minutes for the fluid cells to cross over into the blood stream.
NOTE: UF is Ultrafiltration which is the negative pressure against the membranes of the filter which pulls fluid from the blood.
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Late in responding, but thank you for helping me understand. I went to see mom at dialysis today. I usually can't go because I am working. I needed to check on her because she said her blood pressure has been low and they've had her stand to take her bp and ask her how she's feeling. When I got there today it was 120/84. Next bp check it was 112/68.
I was just about to leave and noticed bp being taken. 88/48! The machine beeped, nurse came over, adjusted the cuff and took it again. 90/52. Nurse asked mom how she was feeling. Mom said fine, but I know better, her eyes were very droopy and I could hear in her voice that she was weak. We talked about how too much fluid was being taken off and the nurse told me that it was normal and all's they did was stop taking fluids off and just clean the blood.
Other than this, mom's numbers have been great. Her fluid intake has been between 2.4 and 4.5 (higher on a Monday). I just don't know if it happening so much is "normal." ?
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If she is eating well, and is gaining "real" weight, and not fluid, then her weight needs to be changed. If she gains weight and they don't change her dry weight, then they will try to get her weight down, thus removing too much fluid.
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There's also some research that indicates that light on the blood peroxidizes it, causing BP to drop from a chemical reaction. Ask if you can have the lights dimmed.