Nocturnal dialysis BS

[meadowlandsnj]

My center started nocturnal diaysis.  First they told us it was going to be in private rooms, now I find out it is in a ward with all the beds together where they go the daytime dialysis.  No privacy noisy nurses, ect.  One of the nurses told me I should try it I told her no thanks, I don't sleep well with noises and light and i like my privacy at night--I sleep in my underwear and a tee shirt.  But she's been persistant even told me well if you can't sleep here just go home and sleep all day.

Well HELLO!!!!!  Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having your day free if you're going to sleep all day!!!!  Moron!!!!!!

LOLOLOL

Donna  







EDITED:Moved to nocturnal section-kitkatz,Moderator

[okarol]

That's what I hate about being in the hospital - the night shift is wide awake, yakking to each other, banging stuff around, rolling carts and anything else to make noise.  Then the lights would drive me nuts too! I can just imagine that in a nocturnal dialysis situation - I would never get any sleep! And I would be cranky too. And what if someone nearby is snoring? Sounds dreadful to me! Like a refuge camp.

[Adam_W]

When I was in the hospital for two weeks in Jan/Feb, I hardly got any sleep despite how tired I was from being so sick. My room was almost right across from the nurse's station, and the nurses and other hospital staff would just yack and yack and yack all night long. Even when I was in the ICU it was noisy all night. My first night in there I remember in the middle of the night someone was asking LOUDLY what someone else wanted for "lunch" (I remember the other person wanted chicken). My second night in ICU, my night nurse was very nice and closed my door and drew the privacy curtain so I could sleep, since they could keep track of me through my monitors. I still wasn't able to sleep though because I had two IVs going, a blood pressure cuff on, and I was hooked to several other machines that I don't even remember what they were. I just managed to get a little sleep during the day when things were actually a little quieter (I was asleep when my parents came to pick me up when I was released). I would never do in-centre nocturnal dialysis.

Adam

[Bill Peckham]

When I visit Chicago and go incenter (for instance last Thanksgiving) I choose a nocturnal unit/shift. For one it is much quieter than the day shift and they don't take your blood pressure every half hour and the fluorescent lights are off. I can't sleep much but some of the other dialyzors are sleeping. I think it is a much more pleasant incenter environment but it is not the optimal place to sleep. I like to see the option offered.

[Ang]

if  my  centre  did  nocturnal,  i  reckon  i  would  jump  at  the  chance,  basically  eat  and  drink  as  you  please,  the  bonus  your  days  would  br  freed  up

[jbeany]

I'm with you, meadow - I can't sleep in that environment.  I want it quiet, dark, with my white noise machine running, my warm kitty asleep at my feet, and my down comforter pulled up to my ears.  The only time I've been able to sleep in-center was right after a fistulagram, when I was still doped up on Versed.

Go home and sleep all day - yeesh!   

[st789]

WTF......what happened to the care and love of the profession??

[Neo]

I do In-center nocturnal and I love it I do it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Nights for 7 hours at 250 blood flow.. My unit is real quiet and since I have seniority because this center just opened I get to use the isolation room, so I get a real quiet night sleep and the nurses are quiet and they turn the lights off at night...

[okarol]

I do In-center nocturnal and I love it I do it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Nights for 7 hours at 250 blood flow.. My unit is real quiet and since I have seniority because this center just opened I get to use the isolation room, so I get a real quiet night sleep and the nurses are quiet and they turn the lights off at night...

That's the way it should be!

[meadowlandsnj]

I do In-center nocturnal and I love it I do it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Nights for 7 hours at 250 blood flow.. My unit is real quiet and since I have seniority because this center just opened I get to use the isolation room, so I get a real quiet night sleep and the nurses are quiet and they turn the lights off at night...

That's the way it should be!

Exactly!  They only have 6 people doing the nocturnal and one dropped out I hear.  If perhaps the setting was different I'd try it but I know I would not be able to sleep in that setting of noisy nurses, bright lights, no privacy, cold temperatures (it's FREEZING in my center) Last week for example they switched my room and I had to dialyze back down in that room in a bed.  In the room they have 12 beds and two chairs right now.  The chairs were being used so I had to use one of the beds.  They're like the reject beds from the hospital I guess--all lumpy and they don't have pillows.  It was like 4 hours of hell.  I didn't sleep because of all the noise, the odors, the bright lights, NO TV!!-- I just couldn't get comfortable.  I don't understtand why they're not doing it the way it was first described to me.  It was going to be in a wing in the hospital they weren't using, you could watch satellite TV, have snacks, it would be quiet, they'd let you get a good nights sleep.
I can't get over that nurse who told me I could stay up all night at dialysis and sleep all day home!!  What kind of life is that???  I don;t want that kind of life--I have things to do and I can't sleep all day!  IDIOT!!

Donna

[del]

Don't see much point in staying up all night doing dialysis and sleeping all day.  Hubby does nocturnal but at home in his own bed and he sleeps through the night most times.I don't think he would like going to a center to do nocturnal.

[fluffy]

i dont have the option of doing nocturnal but i sleep during treatment somtimes. all i need are my earplugs and somethign to throw over my eyes. benadryl shots dont hurt either

[Kitsune]

Oh, didn't you know, we are no longer people when we go on dialysis, we are now "patients" whose lives revolve around it. So what if you can't sleep in a smelly, noisy room on a hospital bed that feels like someone put a pound of rocks in it, you can sleep during the day and you should be grateful for it, as your sole interest should be dialysiis now.

I recommend you read these books to improve your outlook:

"I Live For Dialysis" by Idont Know-Schitt

"It Keeps Me Alive And I'm Grateful" by Butte Kisser

"I Do What The Doctors Tell Me, Because I'm A Mindless Drone" by Rowe Bott

Read these books and you'll be a compliant little angel like me, you might even like the situation and answer your nurse provided, she sounds like an intelligent, thoughtful woman and you should be ashamed of yourself for going against her wishes.

[Lucinda]

Come on Donna darling, you are being a bit harsh!  You give up have your life to dialysis anyhow so why not sleep through the better half as well. Another  is deserved for that idiot nurse. I am being really, really lazy now by not looking this up, but can't you guys do nocturnal hemo at home?  It is never easy to be in hospital with a lot of light and noise even when you are really sick, far less fun when you actually feel OK.....Sounds like you were better off on the day shift.  It is good to hear some have a more understanding team though.  I think all nurses and doctors should be made to sleep in hospital in ER, ICU or ambulatory for a whole week and see how they feel at the end of it.  Maybe they would be more considerate of those who have to endure this lifestyle for the rest of their lives. I'm sorry you are having such a bad time of it. xxxx

[Rerun]

Yes people do Nocturnal at home.  Some have tried it at home but are afraid that something will happen while they are asleep.  You usually need a partner.  Again with any home dialysis you have all the supplies which IMO turns your house into a hospital.  At incenter Nocturnal (at least mine) it is usually quiet and they turn out the lights with only the computer screens emitting light.  Two people are on shift to make sure everyone is doing okay.  Just as with any dialysis bad things do happen.  The other night I guess I slept through the paramedics coming and hauling off someone.  At my unit we are all in the same room.  No curtains, no partitions.

                                                                                           

[kitkatz]

I do incenter nocturnal because it is easiest for us right now.  It allows my husband to travel when he wants to and it allows me to get better dialysis.  Four hours three days a week was killing me slowly.

[Neo]

i need to update my last post. In center has got a lot noisier.. But im healthier so im dealing with it but yea the nurses and techs are morons sometimes i swear there just chatting away all night,

[monrein]

I would equip myself with a good mask to block any light, those gel ones are not bad,  some good earplugs and that would not eliminate but at least cut down some of the annoyances.  This is what I do whenever I go to hospital especially the ER as I've more than once had to spend all night there until a bed becomes available.  If I still can't sleep I ask for a light med to help...like Zoplicone...or even Gravol.

[Treasure]

I have been doing in-center nocturnal and so far, they have been really conscious of being less-noisy and cutting the lights down. One thing, though, is that we dialyze in a regular center, with regular dialysis chair (with one exception-- me, they have gotten me a special flat-lying dialysis chair).  I was hoping we would start out with hospital beds and partition-- but no such luck. There is not really privacy-- except for the darkness in the center...and the men and women are right by each other.

I think I'm going to start wearing revealing niteys and see if they decide that we need dividers or something...hehehe

[okarol]

I think I'm going to start wearing revealing niteys and see if they decide that we need dividers or something...hehehe

Ha! Bold plan!! 

[kitkatz]

I walked into my center and the guy next to me has his shirt off. I asked if I could peel my shirt off, too. The tech giggled.

[willowtreewren]

 

[Treasure]

Yesterday some personage (I didn't know) came into the nocturnal unit and said he was going to take my picture. *HELLO* give a girl some warning before barging in taking her picture. My response to him was to bend over, but he didn't seem interested in taking a pic of my butt.  And it's a most marvelous butt, too, all nice and flat, since I sit/lie on it 8 hours/3 nights a week at dialysis! Hooo!   

I think they were taking the pictures for the study to show how much more marvelous we look now that we're on nocturnal. The truth is, I don't look like death-warmed-over now, but I do look like I've aged 20 years.  People used to guess my age in my mid-20s...now I look my age-- 46.  Sure, the nocturnal will probably help me live longer, but sheesh, I would prefer not to do so looking like some old bag!  I used to belong to the (slightly offensive) black-don't-crack crew, for shucks sake! (Google-it, if you don't have a clue).

Yes, a totally vain moment. And I'm entitled, because I'm worth it!...er no... well, maybe not.

 

Treasure/Michelle

ps...gonna be totally lazy and re-post this to my blog. hehehe.

[kitkatz]

Yeah, I guess I look my age now. If one more person asks me if I want the senior citizen discount, or they do not even ask and give it to me anyway! I am 46!  Sigh!