Will be starting PD - what are the reds, greens, yellows I hear you talking abou

[lynnrlpd1]

Can someone explain - I assume it is the bags but what are the differences.

[drgirlfriend]

Welcome to pd! This is the bestest place to get info! Yes, the different "colored" bags are different strengths of dialysate: yellow is the "weakest", green is in the middle, red is the "strongest". The color reference is to the hardware connected to the bag and on the box. The manual pd folks can explain this better. It's been a while since the boyfriend was doing manual exchanges.

[JLM]

It is the strength of the solution.  yellow = 1.5%   green = 2.5%  red = 4.25%  As you start your training everything will be explained.  Then your nurses will test you as to how much you remember.  By the time your training is done all of this will be second nature to you.  And, of course, you can find helpful answers here.

[jbeany]

Who color coded these?  You would think green would be the lowest, wouldn't you?  Don't these people have stoplights in their neighborhoods?

The % is percent of dextrose in the fluid.  Red takes off more fluid, but is worse for diabetics, since the sugar raises their blood glucose levels.  It's harder for diabetics to do PD because of their blood glucose issues.  They have to work harder at controlling their fluid intake so they don't have to use the solution with the most sugar in it. 

[MaryD]

In Australia we don't have orange bags at home and I have only heard of one person doing an orange bag and that was in hospital.  I was told that the use of orange bags 'to lose weight' is not a good idea as it shortens the useful life of your peritoneum.  The bag strengths are actually a prescription and shouldn't be varied too much.

[tito]

You judge which bags to use by weighing yourself and determining how much fluid you should take off compared to your dry weight or ideal weight. For example, if you are a few pounds above dry weight, you might choose to use two green bags. If at dry weight, use two yellow bags, etc. You will get a feel for this by seeing your UF or total fluid taken off on your machine in the morning. For me, two green bags will take off 1000-1200 ml of fluid. You don't want to use too many red bags. And when ordering boxes of fluid, you will need to keep an inventory of assorted colors to be able to do what I have described.

I'm three years into PD and doing this is second nature now.