dialysis chair or bed or?????

[tyefly]

 Ok   I know that many of you dialysis at home and was wondering what you sit in lay... I am starting to shop for that place to be for hours at a time....   recyliners.....  clothe...leather....plastic,,,,,  beds that fold up....  sleep number bed.....   Can you give me some direction..... chair makers....models that work ....  anything.... I dont want to go out and buy something that looks nice and its doesnt work.... I dont have a recyliner... I do have a rocking chair that sometimes I use when i watch tv  so that I can rock and stay awake.....other than that   I am one of those types of poeple who never sit long.....   dont they still make those chairs or beds that you can put the coins in and the vibrate.... I use to love those when I was a kid...... anyway    any input would be great...

[jbeany]

I just used a small lazy-boy recliner.  It was one I already had, and it was quite comfortable.  The biggest thing is the need to be able to put your feet up if your blood pressure drops.

I don't know if you can buy a "magic fingers" bed or not!   

[Savemeimdtba]

Are you doing hemo at home?  I'm not sure a vibrating chair would be a good idea with needles... eek!  Otherwise.. I'd suggest a recliner, that way you can either sit up or lay down.  I'm one of those people who doesn't like to be confined to a bed / or made to lay down for long periods of time. 

[petey]

In Marvin's home hemo "clinic" (spare bedroom that we converted to a mini-clinic for his treatments), we have an actual dialysis chair.  When we started home hemo, Marvin first used a regular recliner, but he wasn't comfortable in that.  So, Marvin checked into buying a dialysis recliner, but those buggers are expensive!  (We found new ones for as much as $3,500 -- the lowest "reconditioned" one we found on the internet was $1,500).  Marvin started asking around at dialysis clinics  (the one where he was an in-center patient for 12 years and also several neighboring clinics).  He asked if they were going to discard any "good condition" chairs and if they would be willing to let him have one, and, within about a month, he had three offers.  We went and picked up all three (from three different clinics).  We checked them out, thoroughly scrubbed them down, and then Marvin picked the "best" one to put in his clinic.  We have stored the other two to use as back-ups and/or for spare parts (if the need ever arises).  Marvin has offered his two spares to other home dialysis patients (one home hemo and one PD), but both of these other people said they preferred a bed to a dialysis chair.  We even volunteered to deliver the chairs to them (they both live within an hour of us), but neither took us up on the offer.

Marvin said he feels more comfortable in the dialysis chair than he did the regular recliner.  He says it's firmer and easier to sit in for three hours.  I also prefer the dialysis chair because I can wipe it down with a clorox wipe after every treatment (couldn't do that with the cloth recliner) and because I don't worry about blood drops or other minor spills because they're easy to clean with a clorox wipe.  The dialysis chair also makes Marvin sit higher than the regular recliner did, and it's easier on my back during cannulation (I stand in front of him and lean over to cannulate).  I also like the dialysis chair because it can be positioned very quickly into a total reclined position if Marvin should ever "crash" during a treatment.

Are there any clinics near you that you could call to see if they have any good ones they are going to discard?  They do replace the chairs every so often in clinics -- and often "good" ones are discarded, too.

[willowtreewren]

I feel so spoiled!

Our clinic let us pick out which color of chair we wanted to bring home with us. they sent us with a big blood pressure machine that automatically takes the BP at whatever time interval we set it for. They even sent us with a rolling hospital stand for the BP machine, but we took that back since we ended up not using it.

Aleta

[Hemodoc]

I was able to get one from Champion chairs but they don't ordinarily sell to private buyers.  It was recommended by the supply person at Kaiser who knows the people very well since that is what is in the incenter unit.  I had to buy a demo with no warranty.

It was 1150 plus 300 for shipping.  Does quite well and is firm which I need with my bad back.  I figure it will be a good investment if my home unit is going to stay operational for a long time.

Since you are going to be in the chair a long time, get a good one.  In fact, LazyBoy was nearly the same price but didn't have the features that are good with a dialysis chair.  There is evidence that dialyzing with your legs down doesn't give you as good a clearance as having your legs up.

What ever you get, make sure it is comfortable.  The dialysis chair offers the further safety feature of being able to go into trendelenberg if your BP drops.  All in all, it was a good buy so far.

Look around at the Kaiser center and ask where they were able to get their chairs, if you like it of course and go from there. 

[boclark54]

Because of my husband having a bad back even before he started home dialysis we had a recliner with both heat and back vibrate features and helps alot,for him  he's way more comfortable than he was with in-center chairs.

[tyefly]

Thx everyone.....  I will start looking into different dialysis chairs...  I like the firm type of chair too.... And I didnt know that you would get better clearence with elevated feet....  makes since....  its the little tricks of the trade that are so important to learn....   

[lola]

just looked thru the Slumberland ad and they have "heated" chairs on sale $399 for fabric and $599 for leather hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Otto has my Grandma's old recliner and it's like 25-30 years old and his legs are propped up uneven but he loves it.

[Jean]

Speaking of which, can you do dialysis while laying in a water bed?