Time between dialysis

[Pod99966]

Does anyone know the recommended time between treatments? I'll ask my RN tomorrow, I was just wondering if anybody on here knew.

[PrimeTimer]

Are you asking "how frequently" a person can dialyze and/or how many hours should pass by in-between treatments? My husband does hhd 5 days a week. He was told not to do it more than 3 days in a row so that his heart and fistula can be given a rest. We were also told not to go more than 1 day at a time without treatment (in other words, he can't have 2 days in a row off). As far as how many hours in-between treatments a patient should wait, I am not sure. Hopefully someone with more experience will be coming along to answer. 

[Pod99966]

Yes, I'm interested in knowing the shortest time before the next treatment. I dialyze 6 days a week. my wife works morning and evening shifts so I do dialysis in the morning some days and in the evening other days. My concern is when I do an evening treatment, and the next day I need to do a morning treatment.

[Simon Dog]

I have the same situation and was told a minimum of 12 hours.   I do mornings when I can but when the wife's schedule forces an evening, I generally stay on evenings until I have the next "off" day and can reset to mornings.

[obsidianom]

The big issue would tend to be potassium I beleive. Too much dialysis with a low potassium bath could drop the potassium too low. The problem is you would need to actually check your pre and post levels utilizing different times between dialyisis sessions. That might be difficult. To be safe I would guess 12 hours would be ok for most but if you run low potassium after treatment then you may need longer or go to a higher potassium bath. We use sak 304 which is the highest bath at 2 potassium rather than 1 as in some of the other saks. We have gone 6 days per week at times with no issue and as quick a turn around as 13 hours .  We have gone more then 3 days in a row but 3 days is a good idea before a day off.  I think 6 days may have benefits but it can stress the fistula.
I advise never going 2 days off in a row on Nxstage. It just doesnt work well with the system and fluid can build up and cause problems.

[Simon Dog]

I advise never going 2 days off in a row on Nxstage. It just doesnt work well with the system and fluid can build up and cause problems.

I did it once due to a non-dialysis medical treatment and didn't have any big problems (the NPO for my procedure probably helped keep the fluid build up low).   But, I would never do it by choice.

[cassandra]

I agree with Obsi that low Potassium levels can be a big problem, so if you're. on a very short 'break' you could eat 'extra Potassium, like fruit, or crisp, or nuts (with binders). I've done 'long breaks' as well, but had to 'pretend' to be back on in-center concerning diet etc. i also carry Sack 302 (1K), and Sack 304(2k) for when the 'short break' is predictable.