I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: Home Dialysis - NxStage Users => Topic started by: Lastname_Redacted on June 03, 2014, 11:14:31 AM
-
I'm new here, and my doctor has recommended that I use the nxstage for home Hemo when I restart dialysis. If you use a machine like the nxstage, how do you take injectable meds like iron or aranesp? Are there ports in the tubing or do you have to stick yourself separately?
-
You do a seperate injection . I give my wife a sub Q injection of EPO weekly. It works BETTER subQ than IV.
-
EPO is about 1/3 more effective sub-Q than IV (sources vary on the 1/3 figure; some will quote other values). When I was in clinic, there was a time when I maxed out the EPO dose, so the next step was for my doc to change the orders from "via machine" to "subq".
The FMC clinic I use has a policy that no injectables other than heparin may be self-administered in a home hemo setting except via sub-Q.
The clinic also has a policy that iron IVs must be administered in-clinic. Even the RN who handles my case is not authorized to give an iron IV in a patient's house.
There is a NxStage line set with a heparin port you can connect a separate heparin pump to, however, these don't seem to be in common use.
-
Okay, I'm slow today. What is subQ?
-
Okay, I'm slow today. What is subQ?
Subcutaneous injection, as in injected into the subcutaneous tissue. Other options are intra muscular (I don't think this is an option for EPO); IV (intravenous) push and IV drip.
-
Administration of iron can have adverse side effects, thus the stricter policy.
-
When I was using NxStage for home hemo in 2012/2013, I gave myself weekly EPO injections subcutaneously (aka, "grab the flab and jab"). I still had to get iron infusions on occasion at the center when I went in for my monthly clinic visits. I would not want to do iron infusions myself, as others said, too much risk.
I'm new here, and my doctor has recommended that I use the nxstage for home Hemo when I restart dialysis. If you use a machine like the nxstage, how do you take injectable meds like iron or aranesp? Are there ports in the tubing or do you have to stick yourself separately?