Feeling Cold, Chills and Sweating after Hemo?

[smcd23]

My husband does hemo 3x a week. Since they stopped nocturnal at his center, he has been going to the "later" evening shift. He gets home around 11 and then goes to bed shortly after. He will come home and feel okay, maybe a slight chill but it's summer now so that isn't happening as much. We will get in bed and within a short time he is freezing, he gets extra blankets for the bed and will still be very cold. But then on other nights, maybe once a week after the cold and chills a few hours later, in the middle of the night he will wake up hot and sweating. And it's not like sweating from too many blankets, it's drench the blankets, pillow, sheets sweating. I've seriously had to go out to WalMart and buy him a new pillow more than once because his didn't dry out overnight.

Is this something other people have experienced? Or normal? We both get annoyed (I hate having to change the sheets all the time, and buy new pillows) but he doesn't sleep good on the nights it happens. 

[jeannea]

I have experienced that but it was after transplant not after dialysis. I know Prednisone can cause night sweats. Other meds could too. And dialysis affects each of us differently.

BTW, most pillows can be washed in the washer then put in the drier so they're ready again. Check the label.

[Speedy1wrc]

I have run into that after a significant BP drop. If it goes horribly low I sweat profusely then once it climbs I get then chills. I usually am so frazzled I fall asleep and will wake in an hour or two drenched in sweat.

What is his BP post treatment. Does he take BP meds at bedtime?

[smcd23]

I have run into that after a significant BP drop. If it goes horribly low I sweat profusely then once it climbs I get then chills. I usually am so frazzled I fall asleep and will wake in an hour or two drenched in sweat.

What is his BP post treatment. Does he take BP meds at bedtime?

He takes his BP meds before dialysis, around 630pm each night. His BP has been really decent, actually, usually in the "normal" range of 130/85 (he was really high for awhile). His dry weight has also been up and down, mostly down, because its summer, he is sweating more and the past few Mondays he has walked in only 1kg over his dry weight, when over the winter he would usually gain about 3-4kg over a weekend. I know he said on more than one occasion in recent weeks his BP has gone low during treatment and they had to give him some saline.

I'll have to try and remember to ask him what his BP was when he leaves dialysis the next few nights. I know for a fact he had left under their threshold a few times because it went to like 90/50 and no matter how much fluid they gave back they couldn't get it up, and he was feeling okay so they let him leave.

Haha I just asked him and he said it is usually low, like around 100/70. Maybe the mystery has been solved?

[Speedy1wrc]

At least it's something to look into.

If you have a BP monitor at home you could always check it when he gets home.

I am at home so when my BP hits 120 I back off on my UF so I don't crash. The drop and rebound are nasty if it goes too low. In center the patient may not know what their BP trends are. Talk to your nephrologist and let them know about the drops and see if they can write orders to modify his UF goal on the fly if necessary.

[KarenInWA]

If his BP is low after treatment, maybe he should talk to his dr about taking his meds at a different time of the day.

KarenInWA

[smcd23]

Follow up post because I'm so angry right now...

Hubby is still sweating tons after dialysis. Cut back on one of his bp meds to no avail. Last night he soaked the sheets, the blanket on TOP, of him, soaked through the "waterproof" rubber lined mattress pad and into the mattress to the point it's STILL soaked 12 hours later, thus staining and voiding the warranty on our not even a year old expensive mattress. I'm beyond upset, like we cannot sleep in the bed tonight because it's so wet, and I have to work in the morning. I don't know what to do...

[jeannea]

Wow! Has the doc said anything else or just ignored him? Someone should know why this is happening.

[smcd23]

Per usual, complaints fall on deaf ears. He is going to bring it up again when he sees the doctor and he said the social worker was going to call me (about an unrelated issue) and I'm going to mention it to her and add that they can buy me a new mattress.