3 Weeks of Dialysis

[Wat76]

Hello All,

 First, let me say this site has really prepared me for Dialysis since 2010, my thanks goes out to everyone on the site. I started in center D July 1st.  It has truly been an overwhelming experience.  I would like to know from those who has PKD and no other outlying issues how they are doing on Dialysis.

Also, can someone please elaborate on the Dry Weight issues.  I notice when the center pulls a litre of water from me, I am totally washed out after D.  When the tech pulled a half of litre, I was so energetic after D, I went home and clean my house, something that really needed to be done.  I started D on a non emergency basis and felt I could have lasted longer without it.

Yesterday, after D, all i could do was go home and sleep, please explain the dry weight. I am a big bone person and correct me if i am wrong, If a person who weighs the same as I do and they have more fluid and I have more muscle mass and bones, should they pull the same amount of fluid.  Thanks in advance for your responses.

[Cordelia]

Hi Wat,

Nice to meet you, welcome to the site here       

I'm doing really well on dialysis and I have PKD. I have very little fluid removal.  They usually take about a half kilo of fluid off of me at my treatments.  I am on the morning shift and prefer it as opposed to the evening shifts, when I first started. I'm on the Tues, Thurs, Sat morning shifts.

Yes, you'll find in the beginning its extremely overwhelming-I found the very same. I go to in center. Are you in center also? 

In my unit, we get to decide how much fluid we want removed. Even though I don't needle myself, I do have some control even though I do in center dialysis.

What kind of access do you have right now?  Do you have a chest catheter?

Everybody is different when it comes to fluid removal and time for dialysis. I started off doing 4 hours of dialysis and now I'm down to 3.5 hours sitting in the chair.

I found I was pretty washed out after dilaysis for the first whole year, I think that's pretty normal to feel tired after dialysis.

I started dialysis in an emergency too, I almost died, I was stage 5....kidney function at about 12 per cent at the time of starting dialysis. I was extremely sick, vomitted a lot, severely itchy......became an insomniac and had severe muscle cramps and had no appetite. My neph said I was less than 2 hours away from kicking the bucket. .....Oh, and I had the major brain fog, I could not think clearly if my lfie depended on it.....

I'm much better now and have been doing well on dialysis, awaiting transplant....is a transplant something you're considering?

    to you!

[MooseMom]

I've read many, many posts about how hard it is to gauge one's true dry weight.  It seems to be one of the great mysteries of dialysis.

[amanda100wilson]

I am doing home dialysis and this is how I guage my dry weight if I start getting low BP because I am taking too much.   I take my initial weight and then I determine how much fluid I have taken off when my BP has fallen lower than I want it, I.e. when it starts giving me symptoms.    Then I calculate how much weight the fluid that I have taken off weighs (1 liter is equivalent to 1 kg).  I deduct that from my initial weight and that is my new dry weight.  Bear in mind that salt can cause you to hang onto fluid in your tissues and result in low BP above your dry weight, so best to only believe that this is true if you haven't eat much salt.  No-one has told me this, I've just worked it out myself so I am not sure if the medical/nursing profession would agree but it makes sense to me and seems to work.

[Grumpy-1]

WAT76

You wrote "I notice when the center pulls a litre of water from me, I am totally washed out after D.  When the tech pulled a half of litre, I was so energetic after D, I went home and clean my house, "   When they take too much fluid off, you become dehydrated and that is why you feel washed out.  The half litre for you seems the be a correct number.  Being rid of the toxins can make you feel much better and that is what D is suppose to do. 

Not sure the correct definition of dry weigh, but I understand it to be your weight when just the right amount of fluid has been removed by D.  Amanda described how she calculates her dry weight.  For me I don't worry too much about it and I'm more concerned on how I feel.  I'm doing PD so I have complete control over how much fluid is removed by the use of the different strength's of the dialysis fluids I use.   Grumpy

[HSM]

My kidneys failed because of PKD. I found the only way to determine a precise dry weight is when they start to take too much off. If your feet start cramping, tell them to stop taking any further fluid. You need to monitor how much you drink too, but after they've taken that bit too much a couple of times, they should have a very good idea how much you can typically tolerate to come off you and therefore your dry weight.

With PKD the size of my kidneys are annoying, but I'm not complaining about dialysis. I'm grateful as there's the small issue of it keeping me alive lol.