Machine "blood warmer" temp?

[Ohio Buckeye]

That is good news.
Am so glad for you. 

[kevno]

It always seems to work for me. Happy it as worked for you too Joe Paul

[Panda_9]

So your willing to die because of being cold?  Our machines are set at 34-36 and it does get rather cold. I usually have a blanket on and the staff are usually happy to turn the air con down if its too cold. Surely there is something causing this excessive coldness. I wouldnt think you would be so cold that you are willing to not dialyse.

[Joe Paul]

Yes, id rather die than be cold. (if you read the first post, that explains why).

[kevno]

Tell the truth I rather be that bit cooler than to hot Too hot makes me itch because my phosphate is a bit high. That drives me crazy Like today the first thing I did when I walked into the room was turn off the heating, and open the window.  Good job I am in a room on my own, would not be popular with the other patients

[Joe Paul]

You know, its crazy..I hate being hot too, AC has been going most of this summer. Its just that cold from the dialysis I cant take, its just, say "different"

[Panda_9]

How old are you Joe if you dont mind me asking? At times I have wanted to give everything up as well but I dont want to die. We have very hot summers here and we have no aircon and in those times I really dont cope with the heat, but again, I dont want to die. Can you have a heater near you during dialysis or something? Would that help? Geez surely they can do something for you? Can you change over to PD?

[Joe Paul]

Amber, thanks for the concern, but my Neph did OK raising the temperature up .5, which helped alot. I am 45 years old BTW, and don't want to sound like I don't value my life, I do, its just there are limits to what I can take, and that kind of cold isn't within those limits. I am still learning to cope with all this change, keep in mind, I am a newbie to this, just over 4 months on dialysis.

[angieskidney]

I didn't even know about the blood warmer temp as I am still pretty new to hemo (I was always on PD). They are supposed to teach me but honestly I learn every little thing right here! There were a few times I was so cold I felt like my bone marrow was ice cold! There were times when I was so cold I was shivering and the nurses noticed and asked, "Are you cold?" No I just like to sit here shaking. Didn't you know? It is the latest hemo-dance? I mean, come on! The 2 times I remember being so unreasonably cold it turned out that I had a fever. They would never have known except that I took my temp afterwards (there is a thermometer at dialysis which we take our temp but only have to before we are hooked up. We take our temp at the same time we weigh ourselves.

[kevno]

I always check my temp at the beginning of dialysis and at the end. Our BP is taken three times at the beginning in the middle and at the end. Too make sure we are not crashing our BP.

[BigSky]

We have our temp taken at the beginning and the end and our BP is taken sitting and standing at the beginning and then every 1/2 hour through the treatment and then sitting and standing after the treatment is done.

[Bajanne]

We have our temp taken at the beginning and the end and our BP is taken sitting and standing at the beginning and then every 1/2 hour through the treatment and then sitting and standing after the treatment is done.

That is exactly how it is done at our centre.  The machine is set to do it every ½ hour.  They also do some extra BP tests if there are any abnomalities (too high or too low).

[holding down the ALT key and inputting certain numbers can get you all kinds of nifty symbols, e.g. ALT 171 = ½  ALT 172 = ¼.  As a teacher of a foreign language I had to learn them to be able to write 'tête' and 'mañana', for example]

[kevno]

I am on a machine with no BP machine, thats why I get my BP done half way it's a Gambro AK200. Most of the other patients are on Fresenius 4008 with a BP machine so they get their BP done every hour.

[angieskidney]

Mine is a Fresenius 2008K machine and it takes BP every 30 min and also the standing/sitting at the beginning and end.

[needlebearer]

Okay...first of all...Joe...I'm glad you got your temp problem straightened out.  It is miserable to be bone cold.  Covering your head will also help tremendously.  Either with a knit cap or something like it.  I have one patient who is always freezing, but she never brings a hat.  I cover her head with the sheet she puts on the chair and it really helps her.  Sure, she looks like Mother Teresa, but she is a warm Mother Teresa  ha ha.  Another thing you could try is to have a tech or nurse give you a glove filled with very warm water.  Just be careful with the temp of that water...if you have neuropathy or any loss of sensation, you could be burned if not careful.  Hold this glove over your chest and you'd be amazed how the heat radiates out.  I use this trick myself when some of our fellow (menopausal) nurses try to freeze me out.  Their hot flashes give me frost bite
Lots of good tips and tricks here.

[Joe Paul]

Thanks needlebearer, things have been good with that temperature change, and a new blanket from the wife. Seems, since my gums are finally healing, thats helping too. BTW, thanks to all for your concerns and your tips, you all are wonderfull! Joe

[Hawkeye]

I somehow missed responding to this thread.  I know that on our machines (2008K), all the machines are supposed to be set for 37 degrees unless the neph orders otherwise.  I have never seen the temp raised only lowered.  The other thing besides killing your blood cells that the temp can do is that it also changes the bloods viscosity.  The higher the temp, the thinner the blood, and the lower the temp the thicker the blood.  The few patients I know that have the temp down (35 instead of 37) have it that way because they have thin blood and the lower temp thickens it up a bit.  It helps keep the machine from alarming all the time.  They are calibrated to read a certain way, and when the blood thickness doesn't match up it causes alarms.

[susie q]

I use the 2008k also .. the temp is set at 36.1  ..  works for me.. 

[Joe Paul]

I use the 2008k also .. the temp is set at 36.1  ..  works for me.. 

Shiver my timbers, LOL, just kidding. As to what Hawkeye says, they use Baxter machines at my clinic, no alarms with the temp at 37.5

[angieskidney]

I use the 2008k also .. the temp is set at 36.1  ..  works for me.. 

How can I find out what my 2008k is set to?

[Panda_9]

I should be up on the screen somewhere angie, or you may need to press a button to find it. Just ask whoever sets you up.

[angieskidney]

I should be up on the screen somewhere angie, or you may need to press a button to find it. Just ask whoever sets you up.

Every time I ask any of the nurses (we don't have techs like the American units do) they always ask "why would you want to know that?" or "You don't need to know that". I am supposed to learn everything about this unit but because most of the nurses go back and forth to the other unit they tend to just do everything themselves and never teach you anything. That is why I thought I would ask here .. especially since at least 2 people are on the same machine as I am.

[Panda_9]

They sound like snooty bitches then lol It would take them 1 second to find out. If I knew how Id tell you.

[BigSky]

I would tell them you are just checking.  Also make sure that the dialysate flow rate is at the right level.   Some people dialyze at 400 and if you are at 800 and it isnt set to that you get inferior dialysis.

[angieskidney]

I would tell them you are just checking.  Also make sure that the dialysate flow rate is at the right level.   Some people dialyze at 400 and if you are at 800 and it isn't set to that you get inferior dialysis.

How do I know that? They just ran a test on all of us and said something about how I can get a flow of 700.. does that sound right? But with my fistula having problems ... until I get that Fistulogram I will stick with the 400 that they run me at for now. Is that test that tested me at 700 .. is that the flow rate? So much I still have to learn