Rant -I Hate Dialysis

[Joe Paul]

We renal patients are survivors I do not know one renal dialysis patients who as not gone to hell and back, but remember the saying "RENAL PATIENTS NEVER GIVE UP!!!!!" I have struggled some times but up to now come through the other side. Being kept alive by a machine gets us all down. It's good to have a site like this just to let a bit of the pain out in words. Thanks Epoman you will never know how many patients you have helped  

Just me being able to put out what I may think or feel is good enough for me. Its no different from any day of my life, I just try to tell the truth of any situation. I'm sure any of you out there can relate to what I just said.

[kitkatz]

I HATE having to reschedule my life around dialysis!!!! 

Hate it! Hate it! Hate it!

Going to go absolutely nuts the next time somesone schedules an appointment on a dialysis day and I have to change my life around to make their appointment! Also these medical people seem to think becasue I am on dialysis people I do not work and can just pop into any appointment they want me to be at!  I am going to yell next time: "Excuse me, you know I work for a living just like you do! You know my schedule. You know my dialysis days and when I can come in. Come on folks we have been at this eight damn years now doing this!  Get your shit together!"  Yes, I am going to lose my mind all over the next appointment person.  Pray you are not on the other end of the phone with me!

[Rerun]

That is ONE nice thing about being on disability and not working.  I am NOW one of those people who have all damn day to wait in line and wait in doctor's offices and wait wait wait.  The stress is just gone from waiting. 

When I was working and had a life......I would get so MAD when I'd get to a doctor's apportionment only to WAIT.  Then when I finally got in my blood pressure would be through the roof and they would wonder why! 

The other day I was in line at the grocery store when this lady got behind me all dressed up with a box of muffins.  I could tell she was headed to a meeting.  I let her go in front of me.  After all.......I have nothing to do!

[angela515]

Being on PD I only need to go to the dr's once a month, except every 3 months I have to go once for lsba dn once for seeing the dr. I am not working currently, but I do live 30 miles from the dr's office, and I have no vehicle, or driver's license. So I depend on my parents to be my ride to the dr's each month. I explained this to the drs when I first moved here last December... and I told them I can only come in on Mondays, since my dad is only off Sunday and Mondays... and my mom is only off weekends. So, its not like they dont know, they do... yet they still "forget" to draw some lab or the dr can only see me on a thursday this month or w/e... and I have to re explain, I dont have magic powers and can just appear at your convience... I can only come if I got a ride... and I only got a ride on Mondays.... I feel so tired of repeating myself over and over again...

[angieskidney]

I guess I am lucky that disability will pay for my cab ride now .. so I call up the cab for rides to appointments. But now the cab drivers fight over getting my fare  because they know they will get paid well 


I hate when appointments are scheduled on dialysis days though .. and then they take longer then they said they would and then are surprised when I say "I got to go to dialysis after this" 

[PMP]

Dialysis center called my father this morning and said they had an opening at 10:30, so "come on down."  He got there on time and they actually got him in the chair at 1:30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   What the hell?? 

Pat

[Bette]

I have been really irritated at dialysis lately because I sit next to an old guy who is kind of out of it.  Well he keeps moving his arm, and everytime he does, his alarm goes off. 

After about half an hour of this the nurses come over and yell at him, he gets frustrated and shakes his fists at them and it goes on and on.  I feel bad for the guy but I go to Dialysis at 5:45 AM.  I am trying to sleep!  The last thing I want to hear is alarms and screaming nurses.

[angieskidney]

when my fistula was new it would alarm a lot but even with my permcath it used to go off ALL the time! Man I hated that! What would happen was if I reached over to turn off the alarm it would go off again because reaching over would make my body at the wrong angle I guess in my chest taking BP woudl set it off and answering the phone, changing the channel .. and so on

[kitkatz]

Just put us in a straitjacket. Thank you very much.

[stauffenberg]

I think they tend to over-schedule specialist appointments and diagnostic procedures for dialysis patients.  Given that dialysis patients cannot be cured, the cost/benefit of another time-wasting appointment is questionable, especially when getting to the appointment and back uses up about an hour of time, and waiting for the appointment takes up another hour, all for an intervention by the doctor or diagnostic technician which takes about 15 minutes.  Patients should be defiant and ration the number of appointments the medical profession is allowed to impose on them per week.

[angieskidney]

Patients should be defiant and ration the number of appointments the medical profession is allowed to impose on them per week.

YAY!! 

[angela515]

I think they tend to over-schedule specialist appointments and diagnostic procedures for dialysis patients.  Given that dialysis patients cannot be cured, the cost/benefit of another time-wasting appointment is questionable, especially when getting to the appointment and back uses up about an hour of time, and waiting for the appointment takes up another hour, all for an intervention by the doctor or diagnostic technician which takes about 15 minutes.  Patients should be defiant and ration the number of appointments the medical profession is allowed to impose on them per week.

Personally I think most of our appointments are a waste of time. We go to the doctor appointment for them to say "How are you?"... obviously if something was wrong, i would call the doctor... or be at the hospital... and if something was wrong with my labs, they could easily call me... why waste my time to say ok everyhing looks good for right now.. see you next time... uhm ok, and what the hell was the point of this aappointment!!???