Arterial site pain

[kamalshah20]

Hi all,

For the last week or so, I've been having pain in my arterial site towards the end of my 7 hour session - after around five or five and half hours. I wasn't able to sleep because of this pain. Last night however, the pain was quite severe within about 3 hours of starting dialysis. I injected some lignocaine into the area and then also took an IV painkiller - Trammadol. I was able to go on for another hour. After this the pain returned. I closed dialysis.

The area is quite sore. Last nigh, while cannulating, I did not get the correct spot and had to push and pull before the needle went in. I am not sure if the pain was due to that.

The question I had is do the buttonhole sites need to be changed after some time? Has anyone experienced similar pain? Do you think I should change the arterial sites? I have a pair of buttonhole sites and alternate each pair every other day. Both my arterial sites have ben paining and it has been a struggle during the cannulation almost all days.

Thanks
Kamal
http://kamaldshah.com

[kitkatz]

Sometimes the buttonholes have to be abandoned for a time. Maybe your fistula has changed in some way and you need to start again.

[kamalshah20]

Thanks for your response Kitkatz. Do you think I should do step ladder with sharps for a while or just establish new buttonholes?

Thanks
Kamal
http://kamaldshah.com

[kitkatz]

That would be up to you and your center or neph.   I had a friend who just could not establish button holes, so now they are back to laddering. You might just need some time to let the fistula mature a little more before going back to buttonholes. Good luck.

[Treasure]

I"m glad to see this topic. I have needle pain all the time now. I think the reason why I have been having so much lately is that they stopped rotating my sites. Someone got the brilliant idea to try and establish buttonholes on me-- when clearly, that is not possible. We have tried six different times in the past 4 years-- it can't be done-- no matter how we stick to the procedure to properly establishing them.

The pain has been so bad that I've been considering another transplant. Now that's saying something. hehehe

[lola]

Otto has been having the same thing, he also had to go back to using sharps. The center wants to start a "new" buttonhole but he would need to go there for about a week or 2 and since he can't stand them he is just using sharps.....