I Hate Dialysis Message Board

Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: Mike3723 on August 12, 2010, 01:06:03 AM

Title: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Mike3723 on August 12, 2010, 01:06:03 AM
Hey guys i live in Jersey im 23 im the youngest in my unit seems like there is not too many young ppl like myself on dialysis around where i live soo hopefully there some on here who knows whats it is like.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: karen547 on August 12, 2010, 03:53:46 AM
I'm 25 and the youngest at my unit too! It has its good and bad points
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Hubbs on August 12, 2010, 05:36:02 AM
Dont come to Florida, nothing but heat old ppl and crime.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Mike3723 on August 12, 2010, 08:07:13 AM
haha well atleast there is somebody else out there.... and ive been to orlando did like 3 weeks at a center down there and i fully understand what ur saying hhahaha
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: lou on August 12, 2010, 08:58:16 AM
Hey Mike I'm 29 and just had my first transplant. Before that i was on dialysis and even though i did pd at home, every time i went into hospital i noticed i was the only one there without grey hair!!  ;) Hope your doing ok. Jersey looks beautiful...i am in Exeter, UK so not too far away from you!!
Lou x x
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Mike3723 on August 12, 2010, 10:28:04 AM
Hey Lou yes all is well here.... i know what u mean though about being the youngest its good in some factors like all the nurses wants to take extra care of me and stuff like that just stinks that there no one else around my way to hangout with or anything. But what u going to do right lol. Thats pretty cool ur from the UK always wanted to travel there and see what it is like. I hope everything goes well with ur transplant STAY HEALTHY!!!
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: GoingThere on August 12, 2010, 11:15:57 AM
Hi Mike!

I'm 34 and I'm also the youngest in my unit. The closest to me with age is a woman, who is 60+. Well, I must say, I get extra attention from nurses, like 2 snacks:).

Take care,

Uros
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Riki on August 12, 2010, 11:16:32 AM
Hey Mike.. where in NJ are you??  my best friend lives in Newark, so I go down about once a year to visit.  I usually go to a centre in Manhattan,and there was a few younger people there.. I'm in my 30s.. I think some of them were around my age, but I didn't really talk to anyone while I was there
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Mike3723 on August 12, 2010, 12:23:58 PM
Riki i live in  south jersey i goto the washington twp center newark prolly about a hour ride for me.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: romanyscarlett on August 12, 2010, 04:38:16 PM
I actually like it that the majority of patients are elderly. It means there are less youngsters going through this.

There are quite a few young people at my unit. I'm 25 but I'm not the youngest, there's a 23 year old girl who comes in at the same time as me. There is also another girl but I don't know how old she is. I think she's in her late 20s but she could be early thirties and just look young.

There are two guys who are in their late 20s/early 30s at my unit too although they have an earlier slot than me.

That's just on Mon/Wed/Fri, I have no idea about the age group of Tue/Thurs/Sat but I'm assuming there are a few more young people on those days!
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: sullidog on August 12, 2010, 04:46:16 PM
I'm 27, and was the youngest in my unit until this new girl came a few months ago who I think is 23.
Troy
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Mike3723 on August 12, 2010, 04:58:06 PM
man where you guys are there is a pretty good amount not so much here
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: karen547 on August 12, 2010, 05:52:15 PM
I'm from Rochester NY
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Mike3723 on August 12, 2010, 06:52:45 PM
ohh ok karen i been to NY a few times took the triain me an a couple friends i like it up there a lot
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Riki on August 12, 2010, 07:44:56 PM
I actually like it that the majority of patients are elderly. It means there are less youngsters going through this.

Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean there aren't any.  I was in a children's hospital until I turned 18, and they had a separate unit for the kids.  There were 6 chairs, I think, and run times were shorter, about 3 hours.  They tried to get as many as they could on PD, because it means a more normal life for kids than HD, but there's always a few that PD doesn't work for, so this small unit was put into the children's hospital for them.

I started PD when I was 12.  I'm now on HD and I"m 32.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: RichardMEL on August 12, 2010, 09:52:52 PM
I'm as young as the girl I feel. The last one I touched was 35...  :rofl; :rofl; :rofl; :rofl; :rofl;

In my unit though I am definitely the youngest. I'm sort of with Romany in that this is GOOD - my heart is heavy whenever a young person comes in needing D. I mean it is sad when ANY new patients come along, but let's face it if someone's 80, they've had a full life. If they're 18.. it's all ahead of them, and I get quite down just thinking about that. We've not had any youngsters lately - which I think is good - but it is a little lonely for me because I usually sit with men around me that are 70+ ......

Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Jess21 on August 12, 2010, 10:34:26 PM
Hey Mike, I'm 23 I received my kidney transplant when I was 22.  I was the youngest at the 3 different clinics I went to...one had a guy close to my age (a few years older).
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: -Lady Noir- on August 13, 2010, 03:11:21 AM
My partner was 24 when he started dialysis, and is now 26  ;D
We have the same thing here, everyone at the unit is older... alot older  :lol;
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: gothiclovemonkey on August 13, 2010, 07:45:16 AM
im 26, the youngest and both the clinics ive been too. I always give the staff hell hehe joke around with them, ask them silly question.... infact...somewhat innappropriate questions sometimes... one involving protien heh.... gosh im terrible! (altho i still believe it was a good and interesting question...one i still dont have a great answer for darn it!)
Or when they told me heprin was horse or pork i said what if i was vegan???? lol
or wearing silly things in to treatment...like my dorthy costume (which i wont ever do again, short skirts and recliners + cramps do not mix! and women, do not wear platform heals to treatment, tis not a good idea!)
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: BigSky on August 13, 2010, 01:25:32 PM
Not too sure there all that many young people on dialysis.

They have a printout in our unit of how it compares to national stats in a variety of areas.

Anyway the average age in our unit is something like 62. 
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Zach on August 13, 2010, 03:13:09 PM
I was 23 when I started hemodialysis ... but that was a long time ago.
 :beer1;
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Riki on August 13, 2010, 04:30:40 PM
I'm not the youngest in the unit.  There's 2 younger than me. One is 25, and the other is 28 or 29
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: pamster42000 on August 13, 2010, 05:35:52 PM
My daughter started dialysis at age 9...there was one younger than her, a young boy about 6. He died a year later and Sarah survived until she was 25. I hate to sound rude but why would you want another YOUNG peson on dialysis... Have you ever attended a summer camp for children on dialysis ....you will see there is alot of young people  who need dialysis to survive......ok getting of my high horse I can see where it would be nice to have a person your own age sitting beside you so you could have a  discussion which both of you could relate to...but bring a friend along instead........
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: VictoriaG on August 13, 2010, 05:52:45 PM
don't you love it when people give you that sad face and say oh you're so young. :)
it's scary because of course i want my husband (who is 34) to live to be 70+ but i means a long long battle for us. however supposedly because he is young and "healthy"????? he is a better transplant candidate. healthy for someone in his condition i suppose.
there are people in their 40s + in his center, and a guy in his 20s and a girl who is 25, has had kidney disease since she was born and now had NO kidneys. and she's a ray of sunshine, no lie.  ;D
but it is hard not really having too many people in your exact boat to chat with. especially since im 22 when im there it makes it even harder.
but again it is a good thing there are alot of older people on dialysis and not so many young people. because it sucks!!!  :lol;


 :welcomesign;
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Riki on August 13, 2010, 08:07:55 PM
Pamster.. I was 12 when I started dialysis.  There were lots younger than me, but I was in a children's hospital on a nephrology ward. A lot wer transplanted, and we never heard from them again.  Some of the died, and some, like me, just kept coming back because of complications.  There were 2 repeats like myself who were close to my age that I got close to.  They were both on HD, while I was on PD (I'm on HD now, btw).  One of them started when she was 9 years old, the other when he was 6 months old.  He actually spent the first 12-13 years of his life in the hospital, because he lived too far away to travel for dialysis.  He is now 30, she is 29.  Both are still on HD.

At least around here, you won't see anyone younger than 20 in the regular dialysis units.  They will stay in the unit at the children's hospital

I have said this before, and I will say it again, the information for coping with kidney disease is all aimed at those 45-70.  There is nothing for those of us who are much younger than the average.  For that reason, many think that kidney failure is an old person's problem, which is definately not the case.  Younger people on dialysis hope to see younger people with them on dialysis, so that they have someone to talk to about it that has a better undestanding. In my unit, I have more in common with the nurses than I do most of my fellow patients. It has nothing to do with wishing someone else will get sick, and more to do with wanting to have someone we can relate to, and who relates to us
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: jdwills83 on August 13, 2010, 11:03:48 PM
im 27 and im not the youngest in my clinic... I think there is a guy there who is 24.  ANYWAYS, sucks to be young and on dialysis...but there are a few here....
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: topazbeauty on August 14, 2010, 12:02:50 AM
I was 22 when I started last year, and I had my transplant earlier this year. I actually kind of liked being one of the young ones. I liked that as I was going through the acceptance process to get a transplant that it got others deciding to try. I tried to keep a happy uplifting adittude at the unit and you could tell how much it meant to the other patients there. Try to make something good out of it. I would make a goal to meet one person each week. And whenever we had a new patient (no matter what age) I would introduce myself and try to help them along. Being young sucks, but use it to your advantage to raise the moral of the people around you.

It's not too bad. Believe it or not, I actually go back to visit after my transplant to see people and talk to them for a treatment.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: carson on August 14, 2010, 02:56:41 PM
I was 14 when I started PD, had a transplant that lasted until I was 30, then back on PD until I was 41, now I'm on HD  and at 43 I'm one of the youngest in the clinic....it's always been that way
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: brandi1leigh on August 14, 2010, 08:55:45 PM
I'm 34. There's only one guy who's younger than me (I think--I haven't actually asked how old he is). I agree that all the literature is aimed at those much older! The financial coordinator and the social worker at my clinic don't know how to deal with me. In fact, the doctor doesn't seem to know how to deal with me. The questions I have are different than a lot of of the other patients. For example, will I ever feel like going back to work? Right now I'm on disability, but pretty soon I won't be able to live on that. Since almost all of the other patients are retired, I'm in a weird position.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: gothiclovemonkey on August 14, 2010, 09:15:50 PM
the social worker at my clinic couldnt even help me figure out how to find child care for the times i was on treatments lol it was really bad because im too on disability, and cant afford child care on my own...
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Riki on August 14, 2010, 09:39:24 PM
This is why the world thinks that kidney disease and kidney failure is an old person's disease, because there is so little information to help those of us who are younger.  It's obviously not an old person's disease, since so many of us were diagnosed and even dialyzed as children.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: RichardMEL on August 14, 2010, 11:46:21 PM
I totally want to be in your unit when you wear a short skirt on the recliner!!!!!  >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: gothiclovemonkey on August 15, 2010, 07:23:05 AM
lol
i bet im not the only one that gives the staff trouble ;)
its fun you guys should try it. makes everyones life a bit more insteresting and fun! hehe
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: KICKSTART on August 15, 2010, 08:59:22 AM
Dont talk to me about giving staff trouble .! hehe . Im sure im the youngest on my unit , i think the rest are OAP'S . My age ? well my mental age is far different from my physical age !  :rofl;
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Zach on August 15, 2010, 09:27:59 AM

 My age ? well my mental age is far different from my physical age !  :rofl;

:beer1;
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Dianejt on August 15, 2010, 09:53:13 AM
  My age ? well my mental age is far different from my physical age !  :rofl;
Yeah mentally I'm 19, although somedays I feel 80 or my body does. Really I'm 54.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Riki on August 15, 2010, 01:54:04 PM
Yep... Chronologically, I'm 32... but I"m sure my body is in it's 80s, but mentally, I'm 12..
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Beth35 on August 15, 2010, 04:11:21 PM
I'm in Jersey.  I live in Central Jersey near the Princeton/Trenton area.  I first started dialysis when I was 20.  It was hard not knowing anyone that was young and dealing with the same issues.  All of the folks next to me were really old and you can't really relate to older folks.  I understand that you would like someone your age to relate to.  Not like you are wishing someone to be on dialysis at a young age, but looking to find someone who you can relate to.  I wish I had that when I was younger. 

I got a transplant when I was 25 and it has lasted about 12 years.  I am still handing onto it as long as I can but my kidney is failing me again.  I just had my second fistula surgery and I should be starting dialysis again now at 36.

So if you ever want to talk about it, you have another Jersey person here!
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: gothiclovemonkey on August 15, 2010, 06:33:20 PM
Im 26, my body feels older, and my brain.... well... heh... my 6 year old tonight told me.. "No no No mommy, do not play with ur food!"
If that tells u anything ;)
what is OAP? (as a guess... old BEEP people?)
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: RichardMEL on August 15, 2010, 07:45:33 PM
I have fun in my unit sometimes. I bring them mango hand wash from the body shop which they love. On Saturday I was naughty and brought extra "medicine" for myself (a hip flask full of vodka) because my crappy football team was playing, and they got their backsides handed to them as I knew they would. I needed to calm down. Hey, it worked my BP stayed in the perfect range and my pulse was normal... this is what a depressant does for you. Alas when I was leaving one of my exit sites started to bleed. I joked that the "medicine" had thinned my blood a bit and that's why it didn't clot very well (yes I know that makes no sense.. hey I was "medicated"  :rofl;).

The staff despite telling me it was against hospital rules blah blah blah had a laugh and let me be.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Stoday on August 15, 2010, 07:59:52 PM
what is OAP?

Old Age Pensioner.

OAP is a term of abuse in the UK, equivalent to coffin dodger; wrinkley etc.  :laugh:
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: KICKSTART on August 16, 2010, 06:12:09 AM
Aww come on its not a term of abuse, its what people over 60 are called here !
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Stoday on August 16, 2010, 03:02:44 PM
Well, a very weak term of abuse. I don't like being called an OAP even though I am one and I avoid looking in a mirror in case I see one...
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: FindingNeverland on August 16, 2010, 06:23:42 PM
I'm 27, when I did PD nine years ago I was 17. I don't think I'm the youngest to go to my clinic but anyone who remotely looks my age is always leaving when I see them. I'm actually older than two of our techs, I find it kind of funny.
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: -Lady Noir- on August 16, 2010, 06:52:51 PM
what is OAP?

Old Age Pensioner.

OAP is a term of abuse in the UK, equivalent to coffin dodger; wrinkley etc.  :laugh:

 :rofl;
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: Riki on August 16, 2010, 07:41:04 PM
I have fun in my unit sometimes. I bring them mango hand wash from the body shop which they love. On Saturday I was naughty and brought extra "medicine" for myself (a hip flask full of vodka) because my crappy football team was playing, and they got their backsides handed to them as I knew they would. I needed to calm down. Hey, it worked my BP stayed in the perfect range and my pulse was normal... this is what a depressant does for you. Alas when I was leaving one of my exit sites started to bleed. I joked that the "medicine" had thinned my blood a bit and that's why it didn't clot very well (yes I know that makes no sense.. hey I was "medicated"  :rofl;).

The staff despite telling me it was against hospital rules blah blah blah had a laugh and let me be.

My nurses would have expected me to share
Title: Re: Where is all the YOUNG CROWD !!!
Post by: murf on August 16, 2010, 08:23:56 PM
I get a little sad whenever I see younger people at the center. I am of a reasonable age and think I've had a pretty good life. But I do feel for youngsters. It is the age where they should be out clubbing, chasing the opposite sex, drinking with their mates. Not a time to be stuck in a hospital with a tube stuck out their arm. I'm on the transplant list but would happily give it up to a younger person.