...The nurse said "congestive heart failure!" All I heard was Heart Failune1! I said "No! both my ankles are swollen up because I just hurt them really bad." I don't know why I wrote that, but I suspect that congestive heart failure is really bad and I don't want it. What do ya think?
This is why you must look out for yourself - the nurses are locked into a mindset.
Be realistic. You lost fluid for sure being sick and possibly real weight too. How did you feel going into dialysis - dehydrated? good? "wet"?
If you felt good (not wet, not dry) walking in, then you were either at a good weight or a little over and you needed to attempt to get a little fluid off.
If you felt dehydrated, then you needed to walk out at the same weight as you walked in, or possibly even receive a little fluid (that's a bit risky, but it is indeed possible for a dialysis patient to become dehydrated if sick.)
How did you feel after dialysis? If you feel good or wet, let them take you down a little lower next time, and the next time, etc. until your blood pressure or the way you feel says that they have arrived at your new dry weight. Meanwhile, you're no longer sick and you're eating again and you're gaining weight back, so a lower dry weight may be fleeting.
This is why dry weight is ... what? difficult to determine, elusive, a moving target, a best guess. Determining it is an art and YOU are the artist because only you know how you feel. The dialysis staff can only help.
About challenging... if you feel that your real weight has gone down or you feel wet (edema, difficulty breathing, high BP or you come off of dialysis feeling good but find that you quickly feel wet after drinking what shouldn't be too much fluid) you have them challenge you. If they won't get the nephrologist involved and don't let it go. You must look out for yourself.
Alene
I Hate Dialysis Message Board
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