I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: gothiclovemonkey on March 11, 2012, 03:11:37 PM
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I dont understand why I cant have the self controll over my fluid intake. I feel like I do wonderfully, I feel so thirsty because of the lack of fluid, how can I possibly be over doing it?? 10 KILOS from my dry weight!!!??!?!
I really wonder if I am sleep drinking... I am so dang confused. I avoid salt as much as I can. I know processed foods are salty but sheesh
I am also frustrated that my doctor wont allow me to try PD again, I really do believe that would help me so much, but I cant convince him otherwise.
Im really upset that I have all this fluid on me and nothing is helping. I cant seem to keep of the wet weight! I have way more than 10 kilos but my doctor thinks im just gaining weight... who knows...
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how much do you gain in between sessions?
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TEN KILOS! here lately is seems anyway!
Would it be totally unsafe for me to drink absolutely nothing between treatments>
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If you are thirsty all the time, and gain ten kilos, than you would probably faint or something. Do you use small cups (like 100 mills, or 50 mills (double espresso size)? Maybe have a half litre bottle with your favourit cold drink in the fridge for use in 1 day, and than you can drink 4 coffee-cups of coffee or tea or milk or whatever as well in that day. How much can you take off in one session?
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i usually take off 5 kilos per session
Thats just it, I have maybe 2 or 3 cups of coffee and one cup of water for meds a day, and thats it, usually. Now i will say on fridays, when i have date night, i am a lil more lax and ill have a pop with dinner, sometimes a water too depending on what we eat... but the rest of the time i only have the coffee and one water for meds!
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How big is "a cup" of coffee or "a cup" of water? Can you measure the cups you're using? Do you have smaller cups?
I tend to drink 1 mug of coffee in the morning (6-8 oz), 1 small glass of water a couple hours later (about 8 oz), a can of soda or another glass of water (12 oz or 8 oz), and then 1 or 2 more small glasses of water at night (2 x 8 oz).
If you think you're sleep-drinking, maybe you can set things up to find that out. Weigh yourself just before you go to sleep and just after you wake up. If there's a big increase, that might be your problem.
Alternatively, take note of the liquid level in all the things you could be drinking (filtered water jug, juice bottles, whatever you have; and number of soda cans, water bottles, etc.) and smear something on the handles of all the faucets so you can see if it's smudged in the morning - or see if it's on your hands.
Are you gaining more and more between each session? 10 kilos between sessions is a HUGE amount, but it sounds like that's where you are above your dry weight, and you're actually only gaining 5 kilos each time, which sounds reasonable for someone who doesn't restrict drinking at all. It's a mystery.
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heavens. 10kg is a massive amount. Is the calculation correct????? Were you comparing weights, or the staff?
My only suggestion apart from the other comments here is to take your weight at home on scales at a regular basis, a few times a day, when you go to sleep, when you wake up etc and keep a chart. It does not matter if the scale doesn't match the unit's one but to keep track of what the scales say your CHANGE is, so when you get off D weigh at home ASAP, note it down, then a new weight etc, and take a table to see your changes. Also take your "home weight" prior to going to D and weighing there - compare the charted change with what D thinks your change is. It may give some clues.
Also if you track your changes like this, you may identify more closely sources of weight gain. eg if you put on a lot between sleep and wake that's a good clue. Or, after dinner, or after your coffee (also remember coffee will atually dehydrate, and also don't forget that coffee contains K). I always limited coffee to one a day max while on D. Water is much better (but boring) to drink.
just a few thoughts.
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Goth, have you tried chewing gum. My husband is always thirsty and he says chewing gums helps or ice cubes instead of a drink but then you have to be careful about dehydration/.
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Its a standard coffee cup, i think 8oz...
I didnt know coffee had K in it, my dietician never mentioned that to me, and Ive talked to her about my fluid, mentioned that all I dirink is coffee and water, the occational pop.
Im definitely going to get a scale and try these suggestions, thank you!
I admit I havent ever really followed any type of regimine really... I mean, I avoid the high K and stuff like that, but for the longest time I still urinated, so the fluid wasnt a huge deal. But I have noticed lately that I am not going hardly at all on most days, so that could be a big part of this...
The problem with water, I can gulp a huge glass and not be satisfied, which is why i chose coffee because I sip it, same with pop, i cant gulp it down! I have limited self control when it comes to water... but im going to try getting the shot glass idea...
Ive even tried just getting a 24 oz bottle and only letting myself have that for all day and one cup of coffee in the morning maybe ill try that again.
With the exception of the last week in march, I think I might have to limit our date night, because that may also be part of my problem.
Ive been on d for 5 yeas, but until recently i havent really struggled as much. Then again, it *might* be that im actually trying to be compliant, where as 3 years ago I just didnt care at all...
I had been sucking jolly ranchers like crazy too, but my doctor seems to think thats a terrible idea...so ive stopped that. It helped me with my thirst, I tried sugar free but they make me thirsty and they do not last nearly as long as the jolly rancher. And I do chew gum, but id slowed down on that as well because i was making my inside of my mouth raw from biting myself LOL im smooth.
Ill figure this out, I just need to really pay more attention to what im eating, i think its what im eating rather than what im drinking... maybe... idk!
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Or, after dinner, or after your coffee (also remember coffee will atually dehydrate, and also don't forget that coffee contains K). I always limited coffee to one a day max while on D. Water is much better (but boring) to drink.
Coffee doesn't dehydrate.
The caffeine in coffee will make a healthy person urinate more, but it won't cancel out the amount of fluid in the coffee. It won't dehydrate someone who doesn't pee. If it did, I'd be drinking coffee all the time!
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Coffee doesn't dehydrate.
The caffeine in coffee will make a healthy person urinate more, but it won't cancel out the amount of fluid in the coffee. It won't dehydrate someone who doesn't pee. If it did, I'd be drinking coffee all the time!
mea culpa. you're right - I meant diuretic....
and so it sounds like yeah drink coffee and pea. I tried the same thing with green tea - I think the caffeine is a real issue though.
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would it be totally unsafe for me to not have anything for a a few days? No drinks no foods between treatments? I mean, i know its not the healthiest idea, but if i had maybe a protien bar and absolutely nothing else, would that be ok? or dangerous?
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Wow, I just got off dialysis, and thought I was bad. The nurse was going to take off 4.4 that I put on during the weekend. I got to 3.7 before I started to cramp. I've been steadily gaining weight for a month now. I've been walking three miles a day trying to burn it off, but I guess I'll just have to cut back on the calories.
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Hey i'm not even on dialysis yet and don't have to watch my fluids but.............
NO one has mentioned the food thing. Lots of foods from what i'm learning are considered fluids even rice from what I heard on the Facebook IHD
Just my 2 cents
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isnt that insane! rice... i mean, its common sense really but its not something that you would think!
and what cracks me up, the other day I had ONE cup of coffee, and thats it between treatments, and we had homemade noodles, absolutely no salt, I didnt know how in the heck i gained nearly 2 kilos between treatments, but now i think i know! The noodles ... how silly!
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I really know nothing about this... it's only what I've been getting from people posting but........... Originally I understood it was only things that turned liquid at room temp that is considered fluids. On the Facebook page I've read both that rice is and isn't considered liquid LOL
I guess I'll find out soon :rofl; :rofl;
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I guess I've incorporated food into my "fluid" weight accounting. I think about it more in terms of gaining weight (not the usual definition of "gaining weight" = "putting on fat", but just taking in anything that adds to your total weight). Anything you swallow is in your system, so if you eat a pound of food, you've just gained a pound, and that won't come out until you poop it out.
And poop doesn't even carry much water, usually. If you eat a cup of rice, that's 100 ml of water. The same for a cup of cauliflower. It can add up over 2 or 3 days.
You're not constipated, are you? :o That could mean you're absorbing more water from your food, and holding onto more food-weight.
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I always thought that myself, that food weight may also be an issue... but no im not constipated. usually quite the opposite LOL
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Any liquid counts. Ten kilos is monstorous. You should be carking.
Rules:
1. Be honest with yourself. Then get a dependable scale and weigh naked just after dialysis. Ignore their scale for now. Then the morning before dialysis, weigh again, naked. Strike an average between the two. This is your hypothetical “balanced dry weight”. Experiment but take control of the amounts they remove. You can do it and it is your body. Argue with then if they resist. Remember, your dry weight will change.
2. I am told that the dialysis machine filters with the water outtake and independently filters in another way. Do not worry if they take only a single kilo. Time on the machine counts.
3. You may have a salt problem. You are going to have to skip the processed meats. Learn to cook raw foods. Watch your nutrition report card. Learn what it means.
Work at it.
gerald
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Gerald what's a "nutrition report card"? I wish i had one now to see how i'm doing
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May I ask why your doctor won't let you do PD? I wanted to do PD after my 2nd failed transplant, but due to scar tissue it just wasn't meant to be. I now am doing home hemo and love it. I would be very pushy to do PD if thats what I wanted to do. Unless you are medically unable to, then you should do PD if that is what you want.
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At the time they do the blood draw, they are also testing for nutritional values. There should be a nutritionist on staff. That person produces a card that demonstrates how you are doing in the critical categories. Demand a copy. Treat your dietary report card and blood test results as if they were life and death.
If you are testing at home, be sure they are doing the comprehensive blood and dietary testing. You are entitled to a copy of everything.
gl
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my report card looks excellent except the fluid gain, and well this month my pth and phos was a lil higher than it usually is but I knew that would be because I was eating cheese and nuts instead of meat.
I cant do PD because my dr is... a meany head LOL
I tried pd a few years ago, and it was amazing but somehow the tubing got pulled? and i couldnt drain. I ended up with loads of fluid on my abdo. like 54 lbs of fluid ...
so i went to ER, and the er i went to didnt really knoiw what was up, assumed it was infections, admitted me. The blood test said No Infection... But while i was in there they needed to do some surgery on my arm, and also replace the cath for PD. By the time all this was done, I ended up GETTING AN INFECTION! (from the hospital!) So he decided to take it out, saying we cna try again some other time...
I do have alot of scar tissue but it seemed to work fine for me reguardless.
I just didnt tape it down enough, because after a month of taping it heaviily i was attempting to give the skin a break because adhesives dont like me!
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Gerald would you please tell me what the different things are they test for in nutritional testing if you wouldn't mind?
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River;
Units reported:
Albumin, Calcium, Phosphorous, Potassium, Urea Reduction Ratio (Kt/V), Hemoglobin, Triglycerides, Cholesterol.
gl
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River, about the blood measures:
From http://www.edren.org/pages/edreninfo/blood-tests-in-kidney-disease.php
(the layout is better there and they have pictures, but the text reads as follows):
This page describes some blood tests that are commonly used in patients with kidney diseases, or to measure kidney function in people who may have kidney disease.
How well are my kidneys working?
Creatinine (Creat) Urea
Creatinine clearance (CrCl) Glomerular filtration rate (GFR and eGFR)
Minerals the kidneys normally put out
Sodium (Na) Potassium (K)
Calcium (Ca) Phosphate (PO4)
Other blood tests
Haemoglobin (Hb) White cell count (wbc)
Platelets (plats)
Albumin (Alb) Parathyroid hormone (PTH)
Is my dialysis good enough?
Urea reduction ratio (URR) Kt/V
Drug levels
Ciclosporin (cyclosporine, CyA) Tacrolimus (Tacro)
Sirolimus
Tests for how well are my kidneys working?
Creatinine - Creatinine is the best routine blood test for measuring how well kidneys are working. It is a waste product produced by muscles and put out through the kidneys. This means that 'normal' levels depend on how much muscle you have, and this can cause some problems in spotting kidney disease.
Creatinine comes from muscle. The little girl has normal kidney function and a creatinine level less than 60. The body-builder has normal kidney function and a creatinine of 120. For the girl, a creatinine of 120 would be very poor kidney function. Cartoon by Beth Shortt, copyright EdREN. Contact renal@ed.ac.uk if you would like to use this figure.
Because of the problem of differing amounts of muscle in different people, most labs now also report an estimated GFR (eGFR) with creatinine measurements, and this can be very useful - see below.
Big changes in creatinine are likely to be important, whatever the creatinine level. However different labs may give significantly different results for the same creatinine sample, because there are different ways of doing the test.
Normal blood creatinine is 60-120 micromol/litre (0.7-1.4mg/dl) - but see the cartoon above for a caution about this that applies particularly to small, disabled, or elderly people. In many people, 'normal' creatinine can sometimes conceal 50% loss of kidney function.
Urea - Urea is a small molecule that is produced in the liver from protein that you have eaten. It is normally put out by the kidneys, so blood levels rise as kidneys fail. However other things change the level of urea in your blood too, so that it is not a simple guide to kidney function. Here are some of the things:
Blood loss
Fluid - if you are short of fluid (e.g. drinking very little), your kidneys keep more urea in the blood
How much protein you have eaten
Liver disease can stop urea being produced normally
Urea is still a very useful test when used together with creatinine. It can also be used to measure how well dialysis is working to clear waste products (see Is my dialysis good enough?).
Normal blood urea is 3.5-6.5 mmol/litre (20-30mg/dl)
Creatinine clearance - You can get round many of the problems of blood creatinine measurements by collecting urine for 24 hours and measuring how much creatinine is in the urine at the same time as finding out how much is in the blood. This is called creatinine clearance. If any urine produced during the 24 hours is not collected the result will not be accurate.
Normal creatinine clearance is about 100ml/minute
Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and estimated GFR (eGFR)
GFR is a test of how much the kidneys are filtering. It is normally about 100 mls/minute. This means that the kidneys are removing all the creatinine found in 100mls of blood every minute - almost 150 litres per day! Most of this is absorbed back into the body, so that only 1-2% of the filtrate appears as urine. Creatinine clearance (see above) gives quite a good measure of GFR, but requires a 24 hour urine collection for measurement. Two other ways of measuring GFR are:
eGFR - Using blood tests, age, sex, and sometimes other information to estimate the GFR from the MDRD equation (eGFR). This isn't as good as measuring it, but is much simpler as it requires just one blood test. It is being used increasingly to spot kidney disease earlier than previously, and earlier than would be possible using just creatinine measurements (see above)
Measured GFR - Injecting a tiny amount of a radioactive substance and measuring how quickly it disappears from the blood, or appears in the urine, is used to calculate GFR.
Knowing your GFR is very useful. It can give you an approximate % kidney function, and be used to show your CKD stage - more info about low GFR and CKD stages.
If you are interested in calculating your own eGFR, you can try these links. You need to know your creatinine.
Calculator from the Renal Association. Links to information about CKD stages.
Calculator from Nephron.com. Click on correct units for creatinine - umol/l in Europe
Normal GFR is about 100ml/minute/1.73m2. eGFR provides a rough estimate of the percentage function of your kidneys
Normal kidneys filter 150 litres per day. That's 100 mls per minute. It also adds up to 33 Imperial gallons, 40 US gallons per day. Cartoon by Beth Shortt, copyright EdREN. Contact renal@ed.ac.uk if you would like to use this figure.
Tests of other things the kidney puts out
Sodium (Na) - Sodium comes from salt, which is sodium chloride. Although there is often too much of it in your body when your kidneys don't work properly, its level in the blood does not change much. This is probably because sodium makes you thirsty, so you drink more until the level is normal again. Having too much sodium in the body causes high blood pressure, oedema (swelling), and eventually severe problems such as heart failure and fluid on the lungs (pulmonary oedema). Removing sodium is an important part of dialysis treatment. Diuretic drugs (e.g. furosemide) increase the sodium put out by the kidney. Most people with kidney disease need to keep down the amount of salt in their food. In the western world we have a tendency to add salt to food or in prepation of food using salt, therefore we take too much salt which may increase blood pressureby as much as 10/5, for example140/85 to 130/80.
Normal blood sodium levels are 135 - 145 mmol/litre
Up to top
Potassium (K) - Potassium comes from food, especially fruit, vegetables and nuts. Extra potassium you eat is normally put out in urine, so its levels in blood may rise in kidney failure. Blood potassium is normally precisely controlled and important. High levels can be very dangerous as they can cause serious heart rhythm abnormalities, including cardiac arrest, even before you have any other symptoms from it.
Normal blood potassium levels are 3.5 - 5.0 mmol/litre
How high is dangerous?
There isn't a simple danger level, but levels above 5.5 usually cause concern, and levels much above 6.0 may be dangerous. Levels above 7.0 are certainly dangerous.
Diet is the most important way of controlling potassium levels in renal failure. More info.
Potassium is lowered by dialysis, but in patients treated by haemodialysis it rises between treatments, so it is important to be careful what you eat.
Some medicines make blood potassium higher. This is more of a problem when kidneys don't work properly.
Sometimes high potassium levels may not be accurate, for instance because of delays in getting the sample to the lab.
Treatments for dangerously high potassium may include giving sugar (glucose) and insulin, and some other measures. If it is very high and kidney function is poor, dialysis may also be necessary.
Calcium (Ca) - The body's calcium is mostly in bones, but in kidney failure there are problems with calcium and bones. Low levels of calcium may lead to thinning of bones, very low levels lead to weakness, tingling, and other problems. High levels cause sickness. It is measured regularly in patients with kidney diseases because:
Blood calcium may be low in renal failure, without treatment.
Special types of vitamin D (calcitriol, alfacalcidol) are given to prevent renal bone disease and to raise blood calcium.
Medicines (phosphate binders) given to keep blood phosphate low may also raise blood calcium.
After years of kidney failure, parathyroid hormone levels often rise, causing high blood calcium levels - see parathyroid hormone (PTH).
More information about renal bone disease
Normal blood calcium levels are 2.3 - 2.5 mmol/litre (8.4-10.4 mg/dl).
Changes in blood proteins (albumin) may change these normal ranges though.
Phosphate (PO4) - Phosphate levels are high in kidney failure. If not controlled, this causes
bone disease to be worse
itching
calcium deposits to form in blood vessels and in other parts of the body - these may cause serious disease.
More information about renal bone disease
Normal blood phosphate levels are 0.9 - 1.3 mmol/litre (2.5-4.3mg/dl).
In renal failure the aim is to keep levels at or below 1.8 by controlling the amount of phosphate in diet and by using phosphate binding drugs.
More information about control of phosphate by diet and drugs
Parathyroid hormone (PTH) - Parathyroid hormone is measured from time to time in patients with kidney diseases to prevent renal bone disease (renal osteodystrophy; read more information about renal bone disease). After years of kidney failure, PTH levels often rise, causing calcium to be removed from bone and blood calcium levels to be high. Normal levels of PTH are different when measured in different labs. In kidney disease it may not be best to keep PTH levels completely normal - some guidelines suggest just keeping it less than 2 or 3 times the normal level at 150-300 mg/L. This is best done by controlling blood phosphate levels (see above) or by taking vitamin D supplements such as altacalcidol. If PTH levels cannot be controlled by these measures alone then parathyroid glands may need to be removed in an operation called parahyrodiectomy. There are 4 parathyroid glands, all located in the neck, behind the thyroid gland.
Other blood tests
Haemoglobin (Hb) - The stuff in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Too little is anaemia.
Normal haemoglobin levels are approximately 110-180 grams/litre in men and 115-165 g/l in women. (Many labs use grams/decilitre, g/dl, for which normal values are 11-18 rather than 110-180)
Erythropoietin (EPO) and other treatments aim to get dialysis patients close to normal (usually over 110 g/l)
White blood cell count (wbc) - White blood cells fight infection. Levels are often high during infections, but may be made low by some drugs, such as those used to lower the immune system (e.g., azathiaprine, mycophenolate) and sometimes also by infections. If the numbers are very low there is an increased risk of serious infection. Different kinds of white blood cell are added together to get the wbc. Neutrophils are the type that is most important for fighting common infections, and they are particularly likely to be affected by drugs.
Normal wbc is approximately 4-11 thousand million per litre
Platelets (plats) - Platelets are needed to form blood clots. If the numbers are very low (below 50) the risk of serious bleeding increases. Patients with kidney disease quite often have slightly low platelet counts, but other diseases, and drugs, may also cause low platelet counts.
Normal platelet count is approximately 150-350 thousand million per litre.
Albumin (Alb) - Albumin is a blood protein. It usually makes up more than half of the protein in blood. Low levels can contribute to ankle swelling. Some things that may cause low levels include:
Leakage into urine - heavy leakage is called nephrotic syndrome
Poor diet and starvation
Infections or other causes of inflammation
Liver disease
Normal albumin levels are 35-45g/litre.
In dialysis patients it has been found that low albumin levels can be a marker for not doing well on dialysis. Unfortunately different methods used to measure albumin mean that different labs can get quite different results for the same samples from patients with kidney diseases.
Is my dialysis good enough?
Either of two tests may be used to measure how much haemodialysis you get. These tests aren't the only things that's important though. It is also important to have long enough dialysis to get fluid balance right, and to correct some other chemicals, such as Phosphate.
Urea Reduction Ratio (URR) - This is a measure of how much waste products such as urea have been reduced by one haemodialysis treatment. It is used to check that enough haemodialysis is being given. If it is too low more than once, you should find out why.
URR should usually be over 70% if you are dialysed three times each week and have little or no remaining kidney function.
Kt/V - This is a more complicated test of how good dialysis is. URR is a simpler test. Kt/V includes more than just the change in urea. If it is too low more than once, you should find out why.
Kt/V should be over 1.2 for each dialysis if you are dialysed three times each week and have little or no remaining kidney function.
Drug levels
Ciclosporin, Tacrolimus and Sirolimus are drugs that are used to prevent your immune system from rejecting your transplant. They all need blood tests to make sure that you are taking enough, but not too much. Too much may cause serious side effects, while too little may not prevent rejection. The exact levels you are aiming for depend on a number of things, for instance:
How long ago your transplant was
The other medicines you are taking
The risk of rejection in your own case
- so we have not given a target range here. If you want to know, you should ask your transplant team what your target levels are.
Further information
Dialysis patients will be interested to see the NKF information 'Know your numbers':
For dialysis patients
For transplant patients
Quite good, but wrong units for Europe, and for dialysis patients only
Nephron.com - dialysis report card
Acknowledgements: The authors of this page were Neil Turner, IA Ihmoda & Bryan Conway . It was first published in June 2004 and reviewed in May 2010 by Heather Kerr. The date is was last modified is shown in the footer.
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Thanks Gerald for the answer, I thought you meant something different. I've been having those tests since I first found out I have this kidney disease and keep a excel spread sheet with my lab results.
I was thinking when you said nutrients you meant like vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals that aren't on the renal panel stuff.
the only vitamin i have checked is Vitamin D which is quite low, last time it was at 18 which is better then the first time it was tested at 12.9
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Good work, natty. I've bookmarked that site and have decide to do a thorough review of my condition, using that as my standard. I dips me lid to ya!
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hi Natalya
I was thrown off by Gerald's use of the term "Nutritional testing" I know about the renal panel since that's what I get done every time I see my Neph doctor.
Thanks for the reply
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GL's suggestion to weigh naked got me thinking (no NOT what you are all imagining!!!! :rofl;) ... I mean that when you weigh at D sessions you should always wear roughly equivalent clothes. So when I started I decided to have a set "outfit" I would wear of roughly jeans and a shirt, socks shoes etc but I would remove keys coins etc from my pockets and obviously jackets or whatever for when it was cold - the idea that clothing or extras wouldn't make the amounts push out and that weights would essentially be consistent in that regard.
I think GL's suggestion pretty much mirrors what I said re keeping tabs on your own changes between sessions yourself, so you can get more of an idea what's going on.
Also yes the not obvious fluids, as in stuff that can retain fluids like rice, noodles etc can really up your amount if you're not careful and you do have to account for them all - ice cream, jelly, stuff in fruit (eg: watermellon), soups, etc.
Also consider foods with salt that help push water back into the system, as in you retain more internally.
I would *NOT* stop drinking or eating between treatments - that would not be smart. Your body requires intake of water and nutrients from food and drink - the problem is you retain too much..but you still need it. dehydrating your body/kidneys can lead to more damage, not to mention weakness etc.
It's great you made the noodles with no salt and stuff so you're absolutely doing the right thing to try and keep tabs on that stuff.. I guess try and think about everything you eat that could contain hidden fluids, and extra salts... so
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Gulping water and thirst never satisfied? Sounds as if you have a blood sugar problem -- too high!
As a life-long diabetic, I've learned that when I am excessively thirsty, it means my blood glucose levels are too high. The water is to "thin down" the blood, which can get syrupy thick.
Check your labs for the A1C score. Should be around 7 (at least that's my goal). Might be different if you're actively on dialysis. Or ask a diabetic friend to test a drop of your blood with their strips/meter.
gary
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Ive been tested for diabetes and dont have it, but i doooo eat alot of jolly ranchers, so its possible it gets high sometimes. when i was younger i always had a low blood sugar. I think the water issue, i LOVE ice water and once i start i cant stop, no control over it, its like those chips that says 'once u pop u cant stop' LOL i hate chips, but water is like that! i need to invent a straw that only lets u have sips of water for a few mins between sips haha like an I.V. drip or something
my brother says im a medical anomaly lol nothing ever makes sense with my body.
well yesterday i was 7 over, instead of 10... so im slowly doing something right, although im not sure what.
this week wil lbe a challenge as im going on vacation, this weekend, but after i get back i WILL be doing everything in my absolute power to figure this out. And while im on vacation, im taking a water bottle, i think its 20 some ounces, and thats what ill drink.
what type of scale is best? i looked at htem, and there are so many different kinds!
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Get a digital scale that can be set to kilograms and is accurate to the tenth of a kilogram. If you can, get one that can also be calibrated, so you can match it up with the "official" dialysis scale. Calibrate it when you're wearing what you wear to dialysis, then weigh in various stages of undress and make notes of the differences.
For example, I know that without my shoes, my scale reads 1 kg less. With pajamas on, it read 1.3 kg lower. Naked, it reads 1.7 kg lower. I put that on a Post-It note on the wall in front of my scale, so when I weigh myself when I wake up, or any other time during the day, I can tell where I am in relation to my dialysis weight.
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Thanks Restorer - I use a similar crude method of monitoring weight, but yours is definitely more refined (and scientific!)
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I have a slightly different tack on the scales.
I didn't bother to try and sync my home scale (digital, accurate to 0.2kg) to the hospital one, though I did note that it was out by 0.4 or something as a matter of course, but for me what was more impiortant was the CHANGE in my weight between sessions. It didn't matter so much if hospital scale said 78.4 and my scale said 79. As long as I noted that it was 79 after D when I got home (and I always tried to do that weight ASAP without eating or drinking anything) then over the next day or two between treatments, regular weights - 79.3 79.9 80.4 etc would give me the change from that initial reading. Given the calculation of fluid to remove is basically worked out based on the change in weight between treatments anyway. It's more important that the scales are reasonably accurate in their readings.
Anyway here's a thought along with weighing yourself - get a diary.. make it a intake and output (ugh) diary.
in it, note when you eat (and what), and what you drink (and approx how much - eg a glass might be 200ml, or a mug 250ml, a shot 30ml etc... and you can easily enough convert oz to ml - even most US cans of soda I notice give a ml value with the ounces). and well when you output.. keep a log of that too.
I know.. annoying and complex and all, but if you keep a log of what you eat and drink (and output even) it may help to find sources of extra fluid.
It may even be a good idea to take such a diary to your dietician and/or neph.
just a couple of thoughts.