TB Test mandatory?

[tiredandthirsty]

Hi All,

Hope you are all doing great and keep on doing great forever.

my clinic is at it again.  they want me to do a TB test since it is about to be a year since i had the last one.  i don't want to do it because i am terrified of what would happen if it comes out positive.  it will put me back 6 months at least from getting a transplant meaning 6 CONFIRMED months of dialysis hell whereas right now i could get a phone call anyday and i could be potentially on my way to getting my life back in order.  they said if i don't do it then i won't be allowed to run there.  i said i will find another clinic in anger. 

does anyone else have to go through this bs?  get TB tests done on a yearly basis? do other centres require this as well?  i emailed my coordinator and she said it is needed for the listing as well so i will surely get it done.  but i just got one done LAST YEAR and i haven't even left the state since then.  i am just so mad that one freaking test can put me back 6 months.  6 bloody months!!!! !@#%!#$%@#$%#$%#

[cattlekid]

First of all, I don't know of any center who would NOT require you to get a yearly TB test.  I had to do it when I started at my first center and then I had to do it again when I started at my home dialysis center, even though it wasn't even a year yet. 

Secondly, do you believe that you have been exposed to TB?  If not, why do you believe you might test positive?  Just curious. 

FWIW, I was exposed to TB when I was traveling in 2011.  I had to get a blood test and a chest x-ray but both turned out negative and it did not impact my status on the transplant waiting list.  So even if you think that you have been exposed, it is worth it to get the test, for the safety of others.  The person who exposed an entire clinic to TB was in Stage 4 and highly contagious.

[Desert Dancer]

I dialyze at home - I have nearly since the beginning - and am not exposed to other patients or workers AT ALL, and even I have to have a yearly TB test. It's highly contagious and you can pick it up anywhere if you're around someone who's got it, doesn't have to be a health care setting.

I also had to have a recent (within 60 days) TB test before I dialyzed as a guest at an out-of-state center. That meant getting one 3 months after already having my yearly one. The centers have to protect their patients and it's their right - and their patients' right - to know you're not a disease vector. I would certainly never want to sit next to someone who may be infecting everyone around them with TB but just doesn't want to know if they are. TB is nothing to screw around with and I highly doubt you're going to find a center without this requirement.

[noahvale]

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[Ricksters]

I had the TB test done last  year when I started dialysis....I would rather have the test and be sure that I don't have it than  take the chance of not getting the test and putting my position on the list in jeopardy.  I do PD so I am not in center more than once or twice monthly, but you never know what you are exposed to when you are out and about.

Ricki

[jeannea]

If you don't have a current TB test they'll probably take you off the list anyway. If you do have to be treated, you will still gain time on the list. How long have you been on the list? You could still have 6 months to wait before they call.

[tiredandthirsty]

hi,

i am not trying to put anyone else's life in jeopardy neither am i trying to put mine in one. the reason why i am so afraid of this test is because i am from a region of the world where TB is an endemic sort of issue.  every time i have talked to any doctor about it they have told me i most likely have it since i am from that region.  however, the test last december turned out negative.  i have also been through one round of transplant and with God's grace nothing happened then either.  this is the biggest reason why i am afraid.  these $%#$% have stuffed in my mind that i already have it.  ESRD, another chronic condition, two hernias currently that the transplant centre does not want to touch.  i don't WANT to deal with anymore.  my plate is FULL.  i am tired.  God won't give me more than I can handle, but i think he is over estimating my abilities.  i need a little break.  just a little.   

[amanda100wilson]

I am from the UK where we are vaccinated with the BCG so when they do the regular TB Test it always tests positive.  My transplant unit in California were insistent that I had latent TB!  My dialysis units that I have attended require me to have a yearly X ray because of the positive test.  However when I was tested for the transplant list at John Hopkins I had to have a newer more sensitive test called a quantiferon gold Tb test.  Only Quest labs and then only certain ones do them.  With this test, I test negative.

[bevvy5]

Canadians here and hubby has to have it regularly.  And if we're travelling to another clinic he has to have a current one - within 30 days.  It's not negotiable, at least for the travelling part.

[tiredandthirsty]

i guess i have my answer.  i checked with the transplant centre and they said yes go ahead and get it done, we need it.  so that sort of settled that debate.  if they want me to jump through a hoop on fire like a dog, i will do it. 

so i will be doing the TB test tomorrow morning :-(.  fingers crossed and hope for the best.   

Thank you for all your responses.  Hope you are all doing well and keep on doing well forever.

[KatieV]

if they want me to jump through a hoop on fire like a dog, i will do it. 

But you don't have to be happy about it...

I need to have the TB test done as well.  Frankly, I don't care, except that I had ALL my tests done for transplant listing 18 months ago.  The transplant team refused to list me, even as inactive, until we got my medications sorted out.  Now that is done and they are saying I can be listed, but I have a big list of tests to be redone.  So more waiting while I get those done.  Arggghhhh!!!!!

[tiredandthirsty]

if they want me to jump through a hoop on fire like a dog, i will do it. 

But you don't have to be happy about it...

I need to have the TB test done as well.  Frankly, I don't care, except that I had ALL my tests done for transplant listing 18 months ago.  The transplant team refused to list me, even as inactive, until we got my medications sorted out.  Now that is done and they are saying I can be listed, but I have a big list of tests to be redone.  So more waiting while I get those done.  Arggghhhh!!!!!

i am absolutely not happy about any of the testing.  i did the first round of testing last december and now since it is about to be one year, i have to re-do all the testing.  and i am DREADING it.  scans, x-rays, social worker, the whole deal.  and to top it of, the doctors are available only on M-W-F which are my treatment days.  so i have to do all the testing in the morning, and then go to dialysis in the afternoon.  a FULL DAY of poking, prodding to look forward to.  how nice innit?

[MaryD]

Do they not just do a Mantoux test?  A tiny prick/scrape on the skin?  Or have you been vaccinated at some time?  I was vaccinated at school, and I always give a positive test result which confuses the medicos.  But when I explain they have accepted my reasons. I think they don't do tests here in Oz as TB is unusual, although they might test right up the top end near Papua New Guinea as there is a particularly virulent form where the indigenous people go island hopping.

[tiredandthirsty]

yes they did do that test.  tiny spot under the skin. the reading is tomorrow.  i don't see anything over the top at the site.  i have been keeping my eyes on it every so often.  hopefully it stays that way until the reading time tomorrow.   

[MaryD]

If it is going to show up, it will do so within a few hours.  Good luck!

[Krisna]

I'm not on the waiting list and I've never heard of my center or any of the transplants clinics in the area requiring a TB test.  But then it's not an epidemic where I live.  I was exposed to it at my doctor office and had to be tested the wk before Thanksgiving.  I had it read the day before Thanksgiving and thankfully it was negative.

If it hasn't shown anything by now then you are fine!  Good luck with finding a kidney!

[JasonEb]

I had 3 TB tests in the period of 9 months (June 2011-March 2012).

The one in June 2011 was my yearly one at my old unit.  The next one was just a couple months later when I switched units (different companies).  Apparently it was too difficult for the new unit to flip through a few pages of medical records to verify that I had already had one recently (even though I quite vocally told them over and over).  The last one was in March of this year because they wanted to "synch up" all the patients tests.

[tiredandthirsty]

hi all,

thanks for all your responses.  so this morning there is nothing at the site.  i can barely tell where the medicine was placed.  which i think is good news.  4-5 more hours to go before it is officially "read". 

hope you all had a great christmas, are doing great and keep on doing great forever.