Legs feel weak

[AaishaDar]

Hi everyone, long time no talk.
So I had dialysis today which means I did not get dialysis on the weekend. I knew I had a bit more fluid than usual being the fact that I haf shortness of breath. So I got on the machine and 2 min in it starts beeping over and over. So they had to switch the blue and red lines. (Dont understand why ir what that means so please explain). So within 5 min I start sweating like crazy and feeling nauseous. I understand it happens wheb they are pulling too much fluid but shouldnt that happend near the end of dialysis?? Okay so I knew this was going to be a long awful treatment. So somehow i got through the treatment literally fanning myself the whole time and 15 min left I throw up. ( i will be gping into detail so if youre of weak stomach just click out now). I am not a big eater a had some melon and and english muffin this morning but I threw up everything I had the day before. Literally.everything. Okay throw up is normal I get that. But it looled as if nothing was digested properly. It had no fluid in it looked liked mashed potatoes the chunky kind. The techs even made note and I told hil I didnt even eat much this morning. He asked if I had a big dinner and I really didnt. So they just ended the treatment right then and there and I was glad I needed to cool down honestly. Finally I come home and I feel my legs do not have any strength. They feel like noodles. Never had this happen before only when I come back from a long stay at the hospital. But yeah my body is already small as it is im 5 ft and 83 pounds and 3 kg was too much to take off. I do very well with my fluid but this weekend it was just very hot. Let me know if anyone else experienced this.

[Paul]

As this was posted several months ago, I'm hoping AaishaDar has got the answer by now. But in case anyone else is reading this because they have the same problems and want to find an answer:

The most likely cause is low blood pressure. That can cause all these symptoms. If you get them your nurse or technician should immediately take your blood pressure, as these symptoms are most often caused by the patient being unable to take the speed of fluid removal (NB "speed of fluid removal" is NOT the same as "pump speed"). In AaishaDar's case I'm guessing that, because (as mentioned in the post) AaishaDar had a bit more fluid than usual, they were removing it faster to get more out in the dialysis time.

If you are diabetic, note that dialysis also removes some of the sugar in your blood, and as these symptoms can also be a sign of low blood sugar, this could also be the cause.

As to the question "I understand it happens when they are pulling too much fluid but shouldn't that happen near the end of dialysis?" The answer is: It is not the quantity, it is the speed it is removed. It is often thought of as "too much fluid", but that is because you need to put the speed fluid is removed up to remove larger amounts, so at the end of the day pulling large amounts will cause this, but only because of the high removal speeds needed to perform this operation.

I have read that the fastest speed you should draw water is 10cl per hour per kilogram of the patient's optimal dry wight. Or, to put it another way: The most liquid you should remove in an hour is 1% of your dry weight. (EG if you weigh 100KG, the most they should remove is 1 litre per hour.) However, depending on your constitution, you can get a major drop in blood pressure at a lower speed of fluid removal. In those cases the maximum speed is below the speed that causes this!


Hint for new members: The reason AaishaDar did not get a timely reply is probably because it was posted in "Introduction - PLEASE READ THIS SECTION FIRST" which is the wrong section to post questions in. It should have been in "Dialysis: General Discussion" (which it has now been moved to). Always check the index page and choose the correct section if you want a reply (and even if you don't).

[SweetyPie]

Wow thank you for this infomative answer. It really makes sense now. Im not sure if 88 is considered low sugar but Iv read about low sugar and I honestly feel I have all the symptoms.