Nocturnal Home Hemo?

[skyedogrocks]

Hi - Trying to get some info on home hemo.  Reading about the information is ok, but i want to hear from a persoonal point of view.  Here are some qeustions:

How many of you do nocturnal hemo? 
Do you need to do anything different to your home? 
Are you afraid of the needles coming out? 
Is there a certain way you need to sleep?

Rob is still doing nxstage, but we really feel nocturnal would be the best bet for him.  I asked his nxstage nurse and she doesn't know much about nocturnal hemo, which i find somewhat annoying.   

Any thoughts, suggestions would be helpful!  Thanks friends!

[brenda]

Sorry I don't start training until Sept 4th but they have been her to my house to do the electrical, can't move my lines until they switch machines. It does involve a lot more supplies and there is a special way to tape the needle down so it's almost impossible to move. You only use a single needle. Depending on where you would put the new machine would determine how much they would need to do. (water, electrical, etc). My machine will be going from my downstairs to my upstairs into my bedroom. I am a little worried about the sleeping myself cause I have a left upper fistula, I sleep on my right side with a body pillow with my arm over it, so I'm hoping that works. That's about all I know to this point.

[babi68]

I've been doing nocturnal for about one month now and I find it pretty easy to do. Firstly I needed to get plumbing done so the waste from the machine could go down the sewage. The RO may take some time to get used to. I find it sounds like someone in the shower and sometimes seems to hiss, but after a week my husband and I have found we sleep better with it going as it seems to hide the fact that we snore..I have been told it could take up to 6 weeks to get used to it.. As for the needles I tape them up really well. Here we are given a little device which is used for bed wetting and we simply tape it to our arm, that way if my needles leak, it will alarm and wake me up. Just use lots of tape and it should be fine. With sleeping I only sleep on one side or my back. I suppose you could turn the other way but may find the tubing isn't long enough.  I find putting a pillow under my arm helps alot as it is difficult for me to hold it there all night. Also I use 2, 5 litre bottles of Part A and Part B (BICARB) for the 8 hours. I wash them out after treatment with a little bleach. What we are told to do is buy 2x10 litre bottle of water (don't drink it in one go though, well you can but not hubby), and you can fill the 10 litre bottle with solutions and that way you don't have to change the bottles through the night. I now sleep all the way through the night and find myself not waiting to finish as I did with PD. About 1/4 of my garage is taken up with supplies and I have a set of draws with supplies that I grab everynight. Once you get into a routine it is really easy. It was the best decision I have made about my treatment and it is slower so you tend not to feel drained. I am now off all BP meds, can eat what I want and my numbers are so much better. Good luck with it all and let us know how you guys go.Take care. Liz

[del]

Hubby has been on nocturnal for 10 months now.  Basically the same as babi.  They gave us 6 bottles that bicarb comes in.  We have to mix a bicarb each night.  They supply the bicarb powder and we have to mix it with 8 litres of ro water. WE have to clean the bottles with Javex before they are used again.  I usually clean 4 or 5 at a time.  Have to let them soak in javex solution for at least 30 mins.   acid is shpped to us premixed. If your line is long enough you can sleep in any position you want.Hubby has been in every position possible!!  We use the wet sensors on the arm as well. We also have moisture sensors that we put on the floor by the ro and the dialysis machine.  When you do the taping properly I don't think there is any way the nedles can come out.  Hubby really likes it .  He has all the days to himself.  Does better cleaning phos and potassium out than short daily.  Took him a few months before he got a really good nights sleep.  Had to learn to trust the machine.  Hubby does 5 nights 7 hrs a night. He breaks it up 3 nights on one off 2 nights on 1 off then 3 nights again!!  Blood work is fantastic. Can eat and drink whatever he wants!!

Here's a pic of the setup we have in the bedroom.

[angela515]

Thanks for sharing that picture. Well, made me not want to do that type of dialysis, lol. It's great to see it though to understand what all it intales though.

[del]

Angela we have done pd and this is just as easy. Just takes a little getting used too. Just wish the machines were smaller!!

[angela515]

Yeah... I think that's what turned me off, was how big it is... but, loving how it lets him eat and drink what he wants.

[tamara]

I've got only the dialysis machine in the room, the filturing units are on the outside of the house.
Still a nuisance but not as much equipment as that