Pericarditis Anyone else had this?

[Red from Canada]

Hi Everyone!  I have just come out of hospital after what I thought was a heart attack.  It turned out to be uremic pericardial effusion and they were afraid it was going into tamponade, which can be fatal.   It required intensive hemodialysis as well as my daily PD on the cycler, to try to remove the fluid from the heart.  I just got home but have to continue with both types of dialysis for at least two weeks, before going back to Pd.   This was so scary.  My B/P went to 74/33!  I had never heard of this until it happened to me, but apparently it can happen to kidney patients.  Am I the only one here this has happened to??

[pelagia]

Sorry to hear about your health scare. Thank goodness you are on the mend.   

[Sunny]

Hope things are better now.I didn't know about this so thanks for the heads up.

[Rerun]

I thought Pericarditis was an infection around the lining of the heart..... are you on an antibiotic?   Not trying to scare you.... maybe it means more than one thing.

                                                             

[Red from Canada]

Hi Rerun.   Yes, they tested me for both bacterial or viral infection.  No sign of either, just a real excess of fluid around the heart, which is treated with mucho dialysis both ways.  Luckily I had a catheter for hemo access too.  I used the Mayo Clinic site for details on pericardial effusion and it can have multiple causes, one of which is kidney disease.

[LightLizard]

heart problems are pretty normal for us dialysis patients. i had to get a pacemaker last october, thanks to dialysis. i hope your heart is ok, red.

[paul.karen]

:-(

never heard of it.
Thx for the heads up.  Sorry you had to find out this way.  But glad you are ok.
I hate Dialysis............and havnt even started yet

[LightLizard]

well, the problem is that once the kidneys are gone, the other organs have a very hard time doing their job. so it's not just dialysis that causes the problems with the heart. its about balance, really.

[Zach]

well, the problem is that once the kidneys are gone, the other organs have a very hard time doing their job. so it's not just dialysis that causes the problems with the heart. its about balance, really.

I think part of the problem occurs when people on dialysis receive less that optimal treatment.
Heart problems can be avoided or minimized with more dialysis more frequently.

--And of course, managing the renal diet.

[LightLizard]

well, the problem is that once the kidneys are gone, the other organs have a very hard time doing their job. so it's not just dialysis that causes the problems with the heart. its about balance, really.

I think part of the problem occurs when people on dialysis receive less that optimal treatment.
Heart problems can be avoided or minimized with more dialysis more frequently.

--And of course, managing the renal diet.

that may be for some. my dialysis treatment has been optimal, and my diet has been about as perfect as a dialysis patient could want, thanks to my wife. the problem is that i did have a pre-existing condition with my heart that probably would never have gotten as bad as it has gotten if my kidneys still worked. (aortic stenosis' is the term they use. a narrow aortic valve.)

[circleNthedrain]

Last year while on D my BP dropped really low and I couldn't breathe.  I was rushed by ambulance to the hospital (1 block away) where they fooled around for quite a while trying to figure out why I had no BP and couldn't breathe.  No one knew but there were many guesses.  Luckily for me a doc passing by on his way out heard the other docs conversation and decided to throw his 2 cents in.  He said I had fluid built up in the sac surrounding my heart (NONE of the other docs suggested this!).  Pulls out a big long needle and sticks it in my chest, no time for numbing meds, they thought I was on my way out.  Now, I won't say it didn't hurt like hell, because it DID, but I soon started to feel quite a bit better.  The upshot of all this was too much fluid surrounding the heart, probably from a virus.  I was NOT fluid overloaded and did not require any extra dialysis.  I understand there are several different causes for this condition.  Hope you are feeling better Red!

[ladyhawk526]

In 2004 I had peridcarditis and was told that the water around my heart had calcified.  This calcification had to be scraped off.  Things were iffy for awhile, but I did recover.

[texasstyle]

The Tamponade is yes, deadly. my husband had it happen on the table and theywere able to save him. he had so much fluid that is collapsed his lungs, and the fluid pressure on the heart constricts the heart with pressure so tightlyy that the heart can not beat properly and the heart actually ruptures the heart muscle and all the blood explodes outside. A pericaridal "window" was put in which is a flap made with the heart tissue to help prevent the fluid from building up. I "hthink" but I'm no dr. of course, that ureic perical effusion has even more to so with an inflammtion as well with the pericadial sac around the heart. It's soimportant to try your best to watch fluid intake and make sure the dialysis itself is taking off the fluid correctly. I'm very sorry you went through that. Hugs*********