Does The Time of Day Matter for Dialysis?

[Rerun]

I use to dialyze from 3PM to 5PM.  Now I have switched from 9AM to Noon so that when the time changes I can drive.  I can't see at night to drive.

Anyway, I crashed today!  I think I need to adjust my blood pressure medication that I "usually" take in the mornings to evenings. 

I took my BP medication at 8AM and then went to dialysis.  I thought about it, but did it anyway.  What a wasted day.  I have slept all most all day!  AHHHHHHH

Oh, yeah, today I've been on dialysis 1 year!  I hate it more today than I did a year ago if that is at all possible!   

[kitkatz]

Sweetie, it is possible to hate it more everyday  even when the goo days outweigh bad most times.  Wait until you are looking at eight years of it!  You think you are grumpy now, wait a few years.

Yes time does matter on the days you go to dialysis.  5a.m. sucks for me to run on the machine.  I will start to crash half way thorugh treatment.  Later in the day is best for me.  Then the BP meds have had a chance to work and I am fairly coherent when I go in.  Anytime after nine or ten a.m. and better in afternoons.  But then I am wokring and that sets it all up for me to run later.

[goofynina]

when i first started i was going in at 4:30 pm, hated it, then when i got the early shift, 4:30am, i loved it, i would stay awake until i got there, got my little benadryl and i was out like a light, until the darn dietician would come and wake me up, grrrrrrrr, but i preferred the early morning most of all

[geoffcamp]

I work but even if I didn't I would still perfer the night shift.  I usually get into the unit around 5-5:30PM but have come as late as 6:30PM.  I like it because I normally rest and then go home and sleep off the effects!  By the morning I am ready to get up and go on as usual (well as usual as i can be!).  Plus the dietitians and social workers only make infrequent visits to bug me!  Docs stop by once a month or so.  It was hard for me to find a unit that runs this shift.  In the beginning I had to drive a little over 100 miles round trip to get a night unit and that REALLY sucked!  On dialysis nights I would not get home until after midnight  after working all day too.  Finally a unit got big enough to offer the shift about 4 years ago and I was happy to have it!!!!!  now I am usually home by 9PM.

Geoff.

[Epoman]

Well in my years of in-center I have been on all shifts, I liked the fact that on the evening shift started about 6:00pm I would just come home and go to sleep after dialysis that was nice. But I liked the first shift which started about 6:00am that way the rest of the day was all mine, but I hated getting up that early. Probably my favorite shift was 2nd shift which started about 10:00am, that way I wouldn't have to get up early.

But now on NxStage I create my own schedule.

[Joe Paul]

I used to be on the late shift, 2-6. I hated it, because it took up most of the day. When I got the phone call asking if I wanted the early shift, I dove on it. I'm now out by 11 am, and , like Epoman says, I now have the rest of the day to do as I please. I think that alone made me feel better.

[tamara]

I usually get on about midnight now that I do nocturnal dialysis I get on the machine as tired as possible because if I dint I wont sleep at all. But before when I was on my 4 hour treatments I would prefer to get on after I had tea about 7.00-8.00pm so I would finish about midnight and then go straight  to bed feeling a bit iffy .But then when I woke up the next morning I would feel all fresh.Listen to your body and how it feels if possible do your treatments when it makes you feel its best.

[Bajanne]

We only have two shifts on M-W-F and just one on T-T-S.  I go on the second shift on M-W-F and that starts between 11am and 1.  Sometimes when I have to travel, I go to the early shift, which starts about 7am.  I don't seem to find any difference in my feeling after dialysis.

[thom]

When i started i was on T-T-S 7am - 11am. now i'm on T-T-S 5pm - 9pm. it fits in better with college

[angieskidney]

when i first started i was going in at 4:30 pm, hated it, then when i got the early shift, 4:30am, i loved it, i would stay awake until i got there, got my little benadryl and i was out like a light, until the darn dietitian would come and wake me up, grrrrrrrr, but i preferred the early morning most of all

Ya that is my shift right now! 4:30pm! And I just can't sleep on the chair And then when I come home Sandman is home from work and I can't just go to bed but talk for quite a few hours and check out forum posts. So I usually go to sleep quite late and sleep most of the morning.

When I learn button hole they say I have to change to the morning shift. When I have went in for tests or surgeries I have went on the 6:30/7am shift and I was fine with that as the rest of my day was free but I was tired by the time I would normally talk to Sandman. I think I would love the noon shift best. That way I am not sleeping most of the morning away yet there would still be time to do things afterwards.

[AlasdairUK]

I have done mornings from 7am, but I'm currently doing twilight shifts when I get on the machine at about 6:30 - 7pm. I prefer this as I still work and then relax on the chair for a few hours. I then go home and go to sleep waking up fresh.

I also find the patients who go in the evening are normally more stable and the shift seems to run more smoothly.

[Rerun]

Well CRAP.......no one told me this and now I'm stuck on mornings because "I" requested it.  God I feel like crap today.  Maybe my body will adjust.  I can't drive at night, so it is either mornings or try and get rides......In the summer I can drive myself evening shift.  I hope I adjust to this.  What a wasted day!

[angieskidney]

Don't feel bad. Every shift has its advantages

[meadowlandsnj]

I've been on all shifts but I like the one I'm on now 10am to 2pm.  The best nurse crew is on then and the doctors I like do their rounds at this time.  I have something to eat about 8am now then leave at 9:30 or so.  I usually get home about 3pm so I some time to do what I have to do before dinner. 

[Rerun]

I've been on all shifts but I like the one I'm on now 10am to 2pm.  The best nurse crew is on then and the doctors I like do their rounds at this time.  I have something to eat about 8am now then leave at 9:30 or so.  I usually get home about 3pm so I some time to do what I have to do before dinner. 

So, you feel good enough to do something after you get home?  Well then there is hope.   

[Zach]

When I began dialysis I was on the 9 am shift.  It was too noisy for me.

I moved to the 5 am shift, and was there for about three years.  I would go to work afterwards ... but would get "punchy" by about 3 pm, even though I had to work till 7 pm.

I agreed to cut my time from five hours to four hours so I could dialyze on the later shift ... and I have been on that shift since the late 1980s (and have since increased to a 4 .5 hour treatment).

And I sleep off the effects of the treatment.  Sometimes sleep is not throughout the night, but when I'm really tired ... boom.  Right to sleep.     

[Rerun]

Yes, I think I'll regret going to mornings, but at this point I don't have a choice because it will be getting dark earlier soon and I can't drive at night.  But, next April???  I'm going back to evenings.   

[okarol]

Looking back I wonder if it was a bad idea for Jenna to go in from 4 to 7:30 PM. She would sleep through dialysis, then be up til 3 or 4 AM. Then she'd sleep til noon, then sometimes she's be awake til late that night. Her sleep seemed to be no pattern whatsover.