I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: Amanda From OZ on August 08, 2007, 08:08:04 AM
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OK well it all started on Monday i dialyzed as normal, got off went to the gym and did my normal thing. On Tuesday i had my day off and went to uni and the gym but felt very strange the whole day, very nauseated and a tingly sensation down my back. Anyhow i ignored it and tried to forget about ti because i had an assignment due on Wednesday that i had to hand in the morning, which meant i would be getting on the machine later than normal.
Anyway i woke up Wednesday morning feeling very weird, but i couldn't put my finger on it! but i new it wouldn't be safe to drive to uni if i was feeling so off and weak, so i called my boyfriend to take me to UNI, the drive took about 30 minutes, on the way there i started feeling very nauseated and this heavy feeling in my muscles, i tried to ignore it but after a few minutes it was getting worse. I started vomitting and i could no longer move my arms and legs, and had chest pain, i new straight away i was in big trouble, luckily my uni Is about 10 minutes from the dialysis center and hospital, my first option was to drive there and see what they could do.... by the time we got there i couldn't walk,, my bf had to carry me into the center where they said i had severe hyperglycemia, they gave me insulin and glucose to control my potassium level short term until i got onto dialysis. They then put my needles in for me (as my arms were still pretty numb) so i could go home and dialyse without having to worry or waste time cannulating, at the same time my father was at home setting up my machine so i could get on asap. Well luckily i got on dialysis OK and i did 7 hours and my potassium has finally come down. What happend today was really scary and i just hope no one else has to feel that crappy again. If anyone ever had any of them symptoms please don;t be as silly as me and wait that long.
Thanks for listening.
Amanda
:grouphug;
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Oh gosh, Amanda. I am so glad you had your boyfriend and dad there to take care of you. That is so scary. Any idea what caused it? How are you feeling today, better, worn out? :grouphug;
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Thanks Myssanne, i am still kinda out of it, and my muscles feel a lot better but still kinda weak. We don't know what exactly caused it maybe i didnt dialysis well on monday because the machine clotted a bit, or maybe i had just to much potassium that i didnt keep track on ... i'm not to sure, i just hope it does not happen again, it was so scary. :thumbdown;
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Manda May - sweetie - I am so glad you are okay!
:cuddle; Take care!
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I can imagine!! Are you going to be able to take it easy today? You said you had a paper due for Uni, will the teacher let you hand it in late, due to illness? Shoo, girl!! Don't SCARE us like that!
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Mans you take care of yourself hope your feeling better soon :cuddle;
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You better take better care of yourself girl or I'm gonna, gonna be real sad. :boxing; How's Rose been?
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The symptoms described are a classic, textbook case of hyperglycemic hyperkalemia. When blood sugar goes extremely high in diabetes -- which is more likely to happen to diabetics on dialysis, since the clearance of excess sugar from the body by the kidneys is either reduced or entirely absent -- it causs potassium to be pumped out of the cells of the body and deposited in the blood. The excess potassium in the blood then prevents the electrochemical processes which govern muscle functioning to operate, so the patient often cannot walk or move the limbs, and the limbs feel very tired. The way to treat these symptoms is to perform dialysis to take the excess potassium out of the blood, and also to give rapidly acting insulin to reduece the blood sugar. If this conditioin gets too severe and lasts too long, it can interfere with the functioning of the heart muscle, with fatal consequences. Vomiting is nature's way of trying to deal with the problem by getting at least some of the excess potassium out of the body.
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I'm glad you are feeling better today Amanda, that must have been scary. It was scary just reading what you wrote.
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Sheesh Amanda, dont make me come down there!!!! Glad you are feeling better :thumbup;
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Aye yi yi girlfriend, take care of yourself, i am glad you are feeling better and tell Dad and your boyfriend thanks from all of us for taking care of our young, innocent, very quiet, shy and extremely bashful one............. :rofl; I CRACK MYSELF UP!!! You know i loves ya chookie ;)
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Scary.... glad your doing better!
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Hey Amanda Glad that you are feeling better , take care
Charee :cuddle;
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Amanda, be careful girl. I'm very glad you are ok. That is a very scary thing to experience.
You were very smart in having your boyfriend drive you. Hope you are feeling better now.
RobertO
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Thanks everyone for your concern and well wishes. I'm on dialysis again today for another few hours to get rid of any extra nasty potassium.
My nurse called me this morning and she said that everyone handles different amounts of potassium and she said that if i would of gone to class she doesn't think i would of made it. :o
My potassium was 6.8, which was obviously high enough to kill me.
Thank god for family, friends, patty (my nurse), and IHD!! :cuddle;
Amanda
xxoo
PS- Rose is doing really well now, other than being a TOTAL bridezilla :boxing; (the wedding is 3 weeks away). she has been working overtime because a few people at her work got the sack. But overall she's doing great. Thanks.
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So happy you are doing better....scary stuff!!
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Yes, that definitely qualifies as a terrible and scary day! Glad you're better and now know how to recognize the symptoms before they get so bad.
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Oh my god! That's really scary!
Just don't now do what I did after my one and only hospitalisation due to high K+
I spent the next two years on dialysis fretting over every little symptom, both real and imagined, thinking that I was about to keel over due to hyperkalemia.
Even now with a transplant I'm still a little paranoid.
I'm so glad you survived your ordeal, take it easy for a couple of days, notwithstanding the physical effects of what you've been through, the immense emotional stress you have been through will really take it out of you.
(Doesn't it just suck sitting on dialysis waiting for your potassium to come down? I was climbing the walls for five hours!)
Again, I'm so glad you lived to come in here and tell us about it! :yahoo;
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OMG Amanda that must have been scary! I am so glad you are o.k. :cuddle;
What did you eat to get the levels so high? It wasn't more bugs was it? :P
Take care of yourself xxxx
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Just caught onto this thread, am always thinkin of you girlie, you look after yourself or you will be gettin a few of these :boxing;
Take Care Tamara xxx ooo :cuddle; :beer1; :cuddle; :grouphug;
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Only just saw this and am so glad that the worse is over! Girl, you just take care of yourself. Please.
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WOW! That is scary! I am so glad you are feeling better. I'm also glad you shared this with us, it helps us know symptoms.
Again, glad you are feeling better!!!
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Glad your doing better, that must have been really frightening.
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I was found to have hyper kaelimia on the day I started dialysis back in 1999. It was diagnosed as part of blood work that was done the day before.
Now the interesting thing is that the doc told me that my potassium level was so high that I was hours from death if it had not been brought down. I want to say it was in the neighborhood of 7.5 In my case an insulin drip and oral kaexylate was used to treat it.
I did feel lousy but that was because my creatnine and BUN were sky high and my body was chock full of toxins. I had none of the symptoms Amanda reports, no muscle weakness, no inability to carry out normal tasks, in fact I drove myself to urgent care that morning.
Amanda, you were likely very close to a cardiac incident. Thank god you were treated in time and are better now.
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If those symptoms ever occur again, just keep in mind that hyperglycemic diabetics can reduce their excess potassium to some degree just by taking some additonal, rapid-acting insulin. This is a good safety measure to protect you until you can get to dialysis.
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Glad to hear that scary incident is over. Hopefully it never happens again but if it does now you know the symptoms. Watch the potassium!!! Don't scare us again. Don't want to lose somebody so young!! :2thumbsup;
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Amanda I am so happy to hear that you are doing better. I would have been so sad if something terrible had of happened to you. Just sharing your experience has helped me more than you will ever know. I have been having crazy high blood sugar lately. I will have to keep my blood sugar my top priority as I think this is the scariest dialysis story I have heard yet.
Love ya kiddo! :cuddle;
Earlinda
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your heart is to big to be bothered by a little potassium get better soon....Boxman
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Aw your guys are all so cute! luv you all! :cuddle; Thanks for all the kind words and good advice.
My legs still feel a bit funny, but maybe thats from the gym? hmm i hope so. You are all right i am very lucky i didn't carck it (Aussie slang) ;D , and if any of you ever experience those things make sure you go asap to the hospital, and not wait as long as i did!
A few of you talked about the insulin and glucose that is used to lower blood sugar, they apparently used some of that on Wednesday when this happend, but it made me feel very strange, cold sweet and shakey. (i think they used to much insulin).
Jeff you said your potassium was 7.5.. holy moly... and you drove yourself to the hospital?? i couldn't of done that. But i guess what the nurse said was right, when she said that everyone can handle different amounts of potassium before showing symptoms. She told me that she "new" someone who had a cardiac arrest with a potassium of 6.2.
I get a bit freaked out thinking about what could of happend, but oh well i came out of it okay, thats the main thing.
Amanda
xxoo
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Hey Amanda,
Just caught up with this (haven't been on for a bit) and wow scary... at least now you will know when you feel weird like that to not let it go or ignore it... Am so glad you are recovering well and your bf was there to take care of you - imagine you'd made it to uni and been in a class or something?!! That would have been bad.
Glad to hear you are better! *hugs*
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Thanks everyone for your concern and well wishes. I'm on dialysis again today for another few hours to get rid of any extra nasty potassium.
My nurse called me this morning and she said that everyone handles different amounts of potassium and she said that if i would of gone to class she doesn't think i would of made it. :o
My potassium was 6.8, which was obviously high enough to kill me.
Amanda
xxoo
Are you a diabetic? Do you normally take insulin?
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just found this, i've been at my mother's since the 30th. her connection is still the phone line, gotta get her off that! and every time i use her computer she hovers. haven't been on much. anyway....................SO VERY GLAD YOU'RE BETTER...take care of yourself, we need you. your boyfriend is aces.
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Thanks again for the nice messages. :cuddle;
Zach i am not a diabetic. And the i've only had insulin twice, due to high potassium.
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Wow, I'm glad you're ok. That's really scary. I'd been feeling weird for the past week: my arms were weak and tired, my chest felt tight, and when I first got up in the morning I would have trouble walking. I have a cold and have been anemic so I attributed it all to that. Luckily they drew my regular labs last week because they found that my potassium was 6.7. It must have been something I was eating because I felt that way for a week or two even with dialysis. After they found out it was that high, I felt better after one treatment because I watched what I ate extremely closely. I still don't know what it was that was causing it though.
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Hi Amanda - Just wanted to share two meds that work really well for reducing hyperkalemia quickly. I have had problems with high potassium (from CKD and Addison's) for 16 years. I have had so may high potassiums that when a new doc calls me paniced because it is 6.5 I tell them don't worry my highest one was 7.4. I don't know what type of kidney disease you have, but there is a type that I have called RTA Type 4, here is a link for it:
http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/tubularacidosis/
I have had kidney disease my whole life and just finally got an amzing nephro who diagnosed the RTA, Type 4. Anyways, I take sodium bicarbonate 650mg 1 or 2 a day. Ever since I started doing the bicarb, my potassium has been in check. Amazing after a dozens of hospital trips, outpatient I.V.'s and I.C.U. stays for hyperkalemia. The strange thing is I used to lose all my motor function in the low 6's and ever time my level would get higher - my symptoms would decrease. Like my body would adjust to higher potassium levels. I used to get blurry vision and a funny battery taste in my mouth. I got so used to having them that I would walk into my docs office amd ask for labs because I know my potassium was high. Now if I do have a high potassium I don't even know it. Dangerous.
Anyways, before I got diagnosed with the RTA Type 4 and went on the bicarb I used to take kayexalate (pre-mixed) orally to reduce the potassium. It tastes like cherry flavored cement. It actually works in the colon by exchanging a sodium ion for a potassium ion. It can be taken orally or by retention enema. I hated the taste of it, so I eventually started doing the retention enema. That method was reccommended by an I.C.U. nurse I knew. Also, if you do it by retention enema, it is sooooo very important to do a water rinse afterwards. This is becuase it can cause necrosis of the colon. No doctor ever told me that. I found out from the nurse, oh and it says it in the fine print on the med insert.
So, there you go. If you can take either med, sodium bicarbonate or kayexalayte, they both work remarkedly fast. I have actually been sent to E.R. and had to wait in the waiting room and just pounded my bicarb and then they hook up and i.v. with isotonic saline and more bicarb. Then they run my labs and my potassium will be nearly normal like 4.5 down from 6.5 in a period of hours. I will tell you, it is a roller coaster ride when your electrolytes change so quickly. It is, for me, totally exhausting.
Sory so long. Hope you feel better, and if it happens again I hope this info will be helpful.
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One more thing Amanda, I remember a long time ago when I was at 7.2 they put the glucose in me. I guess they put too much because I ended up in anaphalactic shock. That's when the doc switched to the kayexalate. Like I said, now I am on the bicarb due to the RTA, Type 4. And it has been all clear.
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Luckily they drew my regular labs last week because they found that my potassium was 6.7. It must have been something I was eating because I felt that way for a week or two even with dialysis. After they found out it was that high, I felt better after one treatment because I watched what I ate extremely closely. I still don't know what it was that was causing it though.
lc - here is a great book I use. It lists the potassium content of 300 varieties of fruits, vegies, legumes. It is very, very useful. I found I had a lot of misonceptions due to docs before I started using the book. Also, side note star fruit is considered toxic to kidney patients. Yes, toxic. I loved that fruit so much when I lived in Hawaii. Had to stop eating it.
Book Name: Dr. Richter's Fresh Produce Guide
Author: Henry Richter, MD
ISBN # 0-9703139-0-X