I need your input! Question about FATIGUE on dialysis days

[Neo]

I do nocturnal dialysis so i dialyize Monday,Wednesday , and Friday nights.. The thing is I am so exhausted and irritable on Tuesday, Thursday,and Saturday( Basically the days that I have just got off the machine. But on Monday, wed, Friday, and Sunday and Monday I feel great. But im in college and I would like to be able to go to school on tuesday and thursdays. Is there anything out there that can help my energy levels besides EPO. My blood counts are fine and my protein is fine. DO you all feel the same after your treatments? I mean this feeling lasts all day after i get off teh machine. So let me know if you have any advice thanks.....

[stauffenberg]

Your symptoms could be due to hypovolemia from having had too much fluid removed during dialysis.  Make sure your dry weight is accurately determined.  When you say that your blood count is fine, do you mean that it is 'fine' by dialysis patient standards or normal human standards?  Because EPO can only be safely used to bring most dialysis patients up to a level which is, by normal standards, severely anemic, nephrologists will tell you your blood count is fine when it is in fact dreadful in terms of what your body needs for normal, energetic functioning.  Normal male hemogloblin is around 140 to 170, while dialysis patients have a level around 110 to 120, so they are always exhausted compared to healthy folk.

[George Jung]

Neo -

I am not on nocturnal but I do hemo 3 days a week and feel exactly as you described after my treatments.  I have to sleep it off for a number of hours and have something to eat and drink in order to feel decent.  I have found that being active when I am able to do so helps with the times I am not.  I still feel the same to an extent but the duration of that feeling is not so long.  When I feel good, I feel great (as of late).  Even with relatively good control of my gains in between treatments I still am pretty much worthless after a four hour session.

If you can do home treatments where you dialyze daily that would probably be a significant help, maybe PD also if that is an option.

[angela515]

George said what I was going to say, so my advice is, what George said.

[jbeany]

I had the same problem on in-center, 3 time a week.  I was wiped right out the rest of the day.  I'm on home hemo with a NxStage now, and don't get the fatigue at all.

If switching your form of dialysis isn't a practical option right now, can you switch to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday in the meantime?  It would keep you from being wiped out on class days, at least.

[fluffy]

maybe your blood pressure is a little low?

[brenda]

Hi Neo, I just want to ask if you are doing nocturnal why only 3 night's a week? I am starting nocturnal training in a week and will be dialyzing 6 night a week. That is the standard here anyway. The idea of nocturnal (besides convenience) is to keep your body at a more steady level. This is supposed to help with the rollercoaster our bodies go through with just 3 days a week.

[Neo]

Well nocturnal over here is only 3 days a week but they run me 8 hours each time and they run the machine at only 250 blood flow so my clearance levels are much better than when I was on day dialysis 3 times a week..But yea its only 3 times a week I have no say in getting more days than that.To the other question my doc tries to keep my blood count around 14 but it is usually 12 to 13 so that might contribute to my fatigue i was just wondering if theres any vitamins or supplements or anything anyoine does to get some energy or am I just stuck.

[Neo]

By the way I have a good amount of knowledge about my disease4 and im in school right now to become a physician assistant, so i do know about teh blood counts normal level but i just cant seem to put my finger on why i am so exhausted and then feel great a day later. Just frustrating. Im sure you all understand being frustrated..LoL

[KICKSTART]

I do PD and can say its just as bad ..good days ..bad days .. i just think its all part of kidney failure ! I have days full of energy .. nothing changes, then the next day i dont want to get out of bed ! Sorry no magic answer !

[okarol]

Jenna was in-center 3 days a week. Since she was still urinating she didn't have much fluid to take off, but the machine has a default program that automatically would take off more than she needed. If she didn't insist that they manually reset it - too much fluid would be taken and she would feel awful that whole day. I would have to give her gatorade and she would sleep for hours and hours. I hope you can get some answers and feel better soon!

[st789]

Yes, sleep and fatigued while on dialysis.

[kitkatz]

May I direct you to this thread?
http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=466.0

[Russ]

I had the same problem on in-center, 3 time a week.  I was wiped right out the rest of the day.  I'm on home hemo with a NxStage now, and don't get the fatigue at all.

If switching your form of dialysis isn't a practical option right now, can you switch to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday in the meantime?  It would keep you from being wiped out on class days, at least.

NxStage made all the difference for me too.  When I was in-center, I did nothing but sleep after treatment.  Now I'm doing 6 tx per week on NxStage and everything is on a much more even keel.

[del]

Neo do you go to a center for the noturnal or do you have a machine at home.  My husband does 5 nights a week at home and he has loads of energy. His hemoglobin is normally 120 -130 without any EPO.  If you are keeping yourself too dry it will make you tired and miserable too.  Do you slep well when you are hooked to the machine??

[donnyecarr1]

I do PD and can say its just as bad ..good days ..bad days .. i just think its all part of kidney failure ! I have days full of energy .. nothing changes, then the next day i dont want to get out of bed ! Sorry no magic answer !

My dad has been on PD for a month now, and he seems okay in the morning once he gets settled but is dragging by mid-afternoon sometimes throughout.  Do  you feel light-headed after PD?

[angela515]

Does your dad do CCPD or CAPD?

I did CCPD... I was full of energy (90% more so than on hemo) for most of the day and tired by bedtime.. but depends what I did that day cause I got kids and sometimes they wore me out faster than other days.

[keefer51]

Neo, when i was on dialysis the first time i worked. I don't know how i did it but i did. That was 14 years ago. I am now 52 and on hemo in center MWF. I changed to the early shift and at first i felt better afterwards. Now however i am back to feeling lousy. Not only do i have to deal with pain in my arm but i need to sleep little naps after the treatments. The next day i am better. My best day is Sunday. There is nothing i can think of to make me feel better. No matter how much fluid they take off i feel wasted.