Run problem...

[ddawson77]

I had a problem with my treatment yesterday and I was wondering if anyone else has had this happen, and also is it something I should worry about???

Yesterday when I arrived at the clinic it seemed like they were behind, and were rushing to get caught up.  I stuck myself and the nurse was getting me hooked up.  She hooked up the line the takes blood from me and started the machine without the line the puts the blood back in me hooked up.  She said it was something new that the clinic is doing.  She let it run for a few seconds at a low speed, then did the reuse check, it was clear then she continued to connect the other line.  After that she complained of there being lots of air in the system.  The air detection alarm was going off on the machine.  I asked what the problem was and she said sometimes there can be air pockets in the dialyzer, but told me not to  worry about it because their are safeguards to protect against it getting into the patient.

The alarms stopped and she walked away, not more then a minute later I started getting really warm, started sweatting my chest got tight, and my heart was racing.  One of the other nurses was close and I called her and told her something was wrong.  They put me on oxygen, stopped the machine then the new nurse took me off the machine torn it down.

Then I started to cough and my legs became itchy.  I told them and they gave me some benadryl and some Tylenol.  That continued for about 20 minutes then things started to calm down.  About an hour after the whole thing began they had the machine ready to go and hooked me up and everything went smooth after that.

I asked the nurse what she thought happened.  She said that sometimes all of the cleaning chemical does not come out of the dialyzer and she thinks I was reacting to that.  I told her that the nurse before was complaining about air in the dialyzer, and she said she is sure that is what happened then.

My questions are, has this ever happened to anyone else before, and should I be worried about anything??  I feel fine today, but still that stuff can't be good for you??

[Rerun]

I know how you feel.  It bothers me when they say there is "air" in the system and they just keep muting the alarm and keep going.  Aren't ALARMS there for a reason.  It is so scary when we don't know enough to see if an error has been made.  I would be very disturbed if I were you but what can you do?  Unfortunately nothing.  You do have the power to say STOP.  I don't like what is going on and I want the machine set up again with a fresh dialyzor.  It is your treatment and your body.  It is just hard to say that when you have 2 nurses who stick up for each other like glue.

VERY Frustrating to say the least.   

[twirl]

hasn't happened to me yet and I hope it never does -
sounds wrong to me   I mean something at dialysis was crazy.

[monrein]

Sounds very odd indeed to me.

[willowtreewren]

Neither scenario (air or cleaning solution) sounds good. I would definitely stay on top of things. 

Starting the machine with only one line hooked up also sounds strange, to say the least. 

The last thing you want is to be