catheter only runs in reverse

[sullidog]

My catheter when you run it normal it doesn't have a good flow, always alarming the machine, then they turn the flow down from 400 and it still makes the machine alarm, however when they reverse it it runs fine, in fact I always have them start it in reverse because of this. I spoke to a vascular doctor about it (it wasn't mine) and he said as long as it gets good clearence to leave it as is. I get 81 percent clearence for 3 and a half hours. Anyone when they had their catheter had this same issue? As far as me having another access besides a catheter they are still fooling around so I'm going to my neph.
Troy

[Rerun]

Yes, they reverse it when the flow is bad.

[monrein]

That used to happen to me too when I was using my permacath. 

[RightSide]

Yeah, my catheter ran reversed most of the time.

As long as it worked that way, I had no complaints.

[KICKSTART]

By reverse it ,do you mean 'transpose'? eg; connect it the other way round ? If thats what you mean , then yes im the same as well , so it looks like its common!

[justatech]

Running a catheter in reverse doesn't really matter as to how much dialysis etc you are receiving. What this usually means is that the end of the lumens itself (the part that is inside the chest wall/vein) is lying against the vessel, and when they try to pull blood out of the side that is closest to the vessel(in your case, the red side), it tends to try and "suck" the wall into the cath, thus causing the alarms. It you have a 81% then you by far are receiving excellent dialysis with it running reverse. (By the way, the national standard is 65%).

[carson]

yep, every night for 2.5 yrs I've had to reverse the lines. It's ok though. Works great!

[Lillupie]

this is another reason why they try to force you to get a fistula.

Lisa