Exhausted the day after Hemo

[kickingandscreaming]

I have now been doing in-center Hemo with a CVC cath. for a couple of weeks.  My numbers have improved, but I feel really exhausted the day of and the day after treatments.  I thought that the day after was supposed to be so great and I can barely get out of bed.  I tried to walk my dog this morning and felt like I was 100 years old (I'm a young 74).  It feels like Hemo is depleting something I need (not just protein) while it purges my blood of stuff I shouldn't have.  Is this normal?  Is this the way my life is going to be?

The sessions themselves are soul-deadening. Four interminable hours chained to a chair with fluorescent lights shining in my eyes and alarms constantly going off.  How do people survive this?  And it's not like it makes me feel so great and that makes it harder to justify.

I am hoping this is just temporary as I'm having my (failed) PD cath tweaked or replaced this week and then am hoping to begin PD training and get the hell off this damn machine (and onto another).

[Michael Murphy]

The most importante tahing to do is find something to do for 4 Horus, I have a ipad that has books, Movies , And games. Next if you are asleep time goes by faster.  I generally stay up late before dialysis so sleep is easier. Mi handle the noise by wearing a head set playing music on my iPhone, this will drown out the noise.  Until the doctor feels sure of your dry weight they willbe challanging your weight by taking more fluid.  When your dry is set this should ease up. 
Hang in there after almost 3 years on dialysis I don't love it except that I am alive but it's only 18 hours a week that leaves 150 hours to live the life that dialysis is giving me.  Life is also easier with a fistula get one asap.  Good luck I hope you work out how to kill 4 hours. Remember with a fistula you may have only one arm to use during dialysis so whatever you find to do make sure you can do it one handed.

[cassandra]

Dear Kickingandscreaming I'm sorry you're feeling so exhausted all the time. How is your BP before and after? And how's your hemoglobin?

Love, Cas

[kitkatz]

Noise canceling headphones are the best thing to have at a dialysis center.  I have mine and use them every time I am there.
My fire tablet saves me with a few hours of game play or reading.
Ambien or another type of relaxation drug may help with getting through sessions.
A catheter is a slow process of dialysis and does not provide really super clearances.  Extend your time if you can.

[kickingandscreaming]

I do bring my laptop and a tablet.  My laptop's battery runs down after about an hour (it's old) and they won't let me plug it in. So that is only marginally entertaining.  The tablet is new and i don't really understand how to use it so that doesn't help too much either.  I can't sleep with all the alarms going off all the time, so 4 hours leashed to a chair is a mind-numbing eternity.  I have no intention of getting a fistula.  If PD stops working then I will go to hospice and depart that way.  I can't do home hemo (needle phobic) and I won't spend my life in center hemo.  Just not a life worth living to me.

They have already discovered my dry weight and are not taking off much fluid (I don't have much) after I cramped a couple of time, and my blood pressure is always high.  My hemoglobin is at 10.3 (having started at 7.3 a few weeks ago).  They won't take it over 10.5, so I can't count on much mileage from that.  I hate the one size fits all hemoglobin level, but what do I know.  I know it's because they think higher is dangerous (even if normal is much higher.)

"A catheter is a slow process of dialysis and does not provide really super clearances.  Extend your time if you can"
Definitely NOT going to extend my time.  4 hours is already way more than I can stand.  And, I don't have that much to clear.   I may be uremic by the numbers, but I have never had any symptoms of that, so no great motivation to clear more.

[Simon Dog]

I do bring my laptop and a tablet.  My laptop's battery runs down after about an hour (it's old) and they won't let me plug it in.

Have you considered buying a new laptop battery?

I've had treatments at about a dozen clinics (two as a regular patient, the rest as a transient), both with FMC and Davita.  I have never found one that won't let me plug in a laptop.  You must have exceptionally bad luck in that area, or perhaps it's because you asked instead of plugging it in when the tech wasn't looking

[kickingandscreaming]

Actually, I did plug it in for the first couple of times--all the while with the nurses telling me it's a no no.  Then about a week ago I plugged it in and totally discombobulated the dialysis machine and they had to reset the whole thing.  So now, I'm definitely not allowed to plug it in.  I'm not going to buy a new battery because I am hoping not to be in center for too much longer.  I have my PD catheter "correction" surgery this coming Thursday and then will start PD training.  Also, it's not a laptop I use for anything else.  I have a much bigger and more powerful one I generally use, but it's too heavy to drag to dialysis.  I tried finding some sort of external portable battery, but the only one that made sense  is backordered for 6-8 weeks.  So that leaves me few options.

[Simon Dog]

Actually, I did plug it in for the first couple of times--all the while with the nurses telling me it's a no no.

Funny, the tech at the FMC centers were always glad to plug my laptop in for me.

I do remember explaining to one RN "No, the rule is I cannot touch the machine while you are looking.   I will be more careful the next time I touch the controls."

[Jean]

Kicking and Screaming, one thing at a time. Dont be so quick to decide you won't stay in D if the PD doesnt work. I am 2 years older ( actually closer to 3) than you and I tell people that if I make it to 80 then if I am not on D I am not gonna be. they know I am lying. I dont feel like 76, altho, I do act it, but at any rate, don't be willing to give up what life you have left if you don't have to. And, you don't have to. Hang in there baby, I am.

[Michael Murphy]

What you can use is a jump start battery,  they generally have a 12 plug in so a car charger for your laptop will power off the battery for hours.