HOW DO YOU FEEL . . after Dialysis?

[Hazmat35]

I have heard so many different variations and reasons, it drives me crazy. 

But, after Dialysis, how do you feel?  Do you feel lousy, or do you go to work like nothing has happened?  What's your story? 

Once I get done w/ my 4 hours, I drive home, and it is all I can do to get undressed and basically "collapse" into bed.  I can't sleep, I'm sick to my stomach, I can't sit still, all anxious like!  I tried once, to do dialysis in the A.M. and then go to work, what a nightmare that was! 

So, how do you feel aftwards . . . ?

[Rerun]

When I was on days I would go home and sleep for 3 hours and then feel weak with no enthuasium to do anything until the next day.

On Nocturnal I come home at 4:30am and sleep until 7:30am and get up feeling fine.  I still don't think I could work full time.  I'm on a work disability.

[Hazmat35]

glad to hear you are feeling better, ReRun.  I still work about 50 hours a week.  It's pretty rough, but I have to do, what I have to do. 

[Dianejt]

Frank was also very anxious so I would give him a Lorazepam 1 mg right after getting off D. By the time we would get home (1 hour drive) he was able to lay down & sleep. Before that he was up & down for 3-4 hours not able to get comfortable. Ask your Doctor for a script.

[Tracy]

I'm glad you asked, because I am wondering how other people feel too.  I do 3.5 hours 3 times a week, after work.  I have a 45 minute drive home and then I collapse and just about can't move till morning.  I do have to take a tylenol pm to help me sleep.  Seems like my body is so sore and achy.  Like my body is craving sleep, but my mind won't calm down.  I  only take one tylenol pm and it helps a lot.  When I first started D in May of this year, I felt pretty good afterwards (the next day).  Now, I feel very weak and have been  missing work because I can't seem to find the energy to stand up.  I'm ok sitting, but as soon as I stand up to get ready for work, I practically fall to my chair.  I sometimes wonder if it is dehydration?  I don't cramp or have headaches, but I sometimes feel like my body doesn't like to be this dry.   

[gothiclovemonkey]

same story here...
I go to dialysis, come home (30min drive... i dont drive though, too afraid id get sick, have a bleed etc)
When I get home im weak, tired in my body, my mind is racing, i have insomnia usually, i feel nauseated. i cant stand it, and id say 2/3 i get a really really bad headache that nothing works to get rid of. and an all over tingle in my body. Also, i eat alot after dialysis.

[MooseMom]

This is the thing that worries me most about starting dialysis; this is what I wish my husband could understand.  He seems to think that dialysis is going to make me feel just fine.  I've told him that I could put up with the needles and I could put up with being confined to a chair for so many hours in a day, but if after all of that I am just going to feel like crap, then what's the point?  Sure, you're alive, but if you are too exhausted and ill to live your life, again, what's the point?  If I knew that dialysis would make me feel GOOD, then I'd do it with a much happier heart and with much less resentment.

Is there a single person here on IHD who feels marvelous after D?  I really want to know.  I very much doubt it.

[Poppylicious]

Is there a single person here on IHD who feels marvelous after D?  I really want to know.  I very much doubt it.

I can't claim that Blokey feels marvellous (I'm not in his head, and he doesn't tell me lots of things), but I don't think he really feels bad.  I tend to know if he's feeling lousy because he does that whole Man Thing (sorry guys!) where the Littlest Thing becomes a Big Thing.  He's usually incredibly tired, but then he works full time and goes to haemoD straight after work three times a week - and then has a thirty mile drive home - so I put the tiredness down to that.  On the occasions that he does haemoD in the mornings he's usually pretty jolly and happy for the rest of the day. He hasn't been sick, or claimed of feeling sick, once since starting haemoD (although it was a very regular occurance prior to beginning).

Like I said though, I'm not in his head/body.  Maybe he's just very lucky (which is good, because he couldn't take to the PD - he'd probably be a mental wreck if the haemoD gave him the same symptoms as those who've posted above.)

[Desert Dancer]

I'm usually okay until about an hour/hour-and-a-half after I get off the machine.  Then I run SMACK into "The Wall", liquify and slide down The Wall into a puddle on the bed. Sheer exhaustion and weakness, sometimes with a headache to boot. If the tech has taken it upon herself to remove fluids instead of maintaining/adding fluid (and I somehow don't notice) the effect is noticably worse.

I dialyze in-center (for now) three times a week for four hours each; I'm hoping when I switch to home nocturnal the long, slow runs will not be so harsh and I won't have the backlash I get with my current treatments.

MooseMom, I share your concerns about caregiver expectations. My dearly beloved made a comment the other day about me exercising some "discipline" and getting up in the mornings for some exercise. AND he said it on a treatment night. Boy, did he get the stink eye for that one! He keeps asking me if I'm feeling any better and I can't give him an affirmative answer. It's so hard when you don't LOOK sick.

[Tracy]

Well, I'd like to say that it just recently got weird for me.  I DO work full time and I DO have a 45 minute drive homje after D.  So, relatively speaking, I do feel good.  I have TONS more energy than before I went on D.  And honestly, I can't believe how much fluid I was really carrying ariound with me.  I had no idea!  So, I hope that when it is your time to start, that you give it a shot.  See how  YOU feel.  Everyone feels different.  And you never know, you might be one of the ones that feels GREAT after!! 

[albiecl]

I do a twilight session for my Haemo 3 x week, 4 hrs per session. Prior to going to Dialysis I have usually been at work all day although I WFH on a Friday. When I do my usual twilight shift I feel fine after Dialysis, I drive myself home (15 mins) and then stay up talking to my husband who I wouldn't have seen all day for 30 mins or so.  I often don't feel ready for bed even though I'm tired but its pretty late so I make myself go to sleep. 

However I have noticed that if I do a morning or afternoon session I often develop a headache that only goes away with sleep.  I holidayed in Crete this year and did 3 morning sessions.  After the final session I had an awful headache, felt like I couldn't keep my eyes open. I took paracetamol which did help but I ended up getting in bed and just spending the evening there napping.

[KICKSTART]

I think you know how i feel! Yet some people on the unit feel ok. To those of you that work , i raise my hat , how the hell do you do it ? 

[FindingNeverland]

I usually feel incredibly drained afterward,  I don't feel all that horrible but I definitely don't feel great either, sometimes I just end up falling asleep because I don't do much anyway, especially since I don't work. Usually I've gotten my cramping under control before I leave but sometimes they like to show back up.

[del]

Hubby has always said that he feels no different when he goes to dialysis than when he leaves.  I guess he is one of the lucky ones. he does nocturnal home hemo now but for 6 years did in center and 98% of the time felt really well after.

[sullidog]

I usually feel a bit week and sometimes a headache but generally ok.
Troy

[Restorer]

I feel "vibratey"/tingly for hours afterward (as here). I also feel... what's the right word? Bleh, maybe.  It's a "taste" or feeling in my throat and mouth, but different from the toxic ammonia-like feeling when I haven't had enough dialysis. It makes me want to drink more to fix it.

In any case, my blood pressure is also low enough that I feel like I can't do anything. Last week, I had to go out to buy a new keyboard right after dialysis. I felt terrible walking around - I just didn't have the energy. After I got home, I just collapsed and rested for a while.

[RichardMEL]

Everyone is different. I usually need a "cat nap" after D, but if I have something on - like a dinner appointment or something - i can usually get through OK. I work before I go to D... if I did D and had to go to work after - not sure if that would work too well - but I finish and get home, feed the cat and take it easy. Next day I am fine

[boswife]

im guessing my hubby is one of the "rare" ones from what im reading.  We come home (5 min drive), get some lunch and away he goes, mowing, moping, doing laundry or what ever he can to busy himself..I often pack us a lunch and heaad to the docks and we walk, fish, people watch or what ever.  He feels really good most of the time.  He has a cold right now and is healing soooooo much better than pre dialysis.  Im the one tired after dialysis..lol as i run around trying to get stuff done so he can have fun after, and then *I* want a nap, and he wants to play.. lol   

[galvo]

I guess I'm one of the weird ones. I generally feel fine afterwards.

[Bruno]

Hi Everybody
I must be one of the lucky ones...HD has been good for me. I am doing 20 hours per week by way of 4 sessions each of 5 hours. Usually I feel great afterwards unless I go flat during the session ie your blood pressure gets too low. I certainly feel better on dialysis than before.
I've been told that more D hours help for what it's worth. There are people at our centre trialling 24 hours weekly.
Bruno

[ChickenLittle56]

Since I start D at 6am I usually don't eat until I come home. I have lunch and then take nap. I feel so tired when I wake that sometimes I can't go out to do my chores. I tried doing them right after D but it didn't work out. During the summer months it can be so dreadful when it is very hot outside I just want to stay in my A.C room.

[GoingThere]

I feel fine and I can immediately start my sport activities. Yesterday I wen into the mountains right after D session.

GT

[pklipe57]

I do dialysis after work.  I drive myself home after my three and one half hour treatment.  I have something to eat and go straight to bed which is about 10:00 p.m.  I can't sleep.  I go from the bed to the couch and the couch to the bed...etc.  Finally I go to sleep after 1:00 p.m. and will stay in bed until 8:00 or so.  I never sleep over three hours in a row. 

[Riki]

I'm ok after until I stop.  As long as I keep moving, I do ok.  Last night, for example.  I had plans to go to see Hairspray (George Wendt was playing Edna Turnblad. it was awesome), and I knew that if I was late getting off, I'd be late for the show.  I was offered an earlier time by the nurses.  I was off around 4pm, instead of my regular 6:30pm, and I went out to dinner with my mom and 2 ladies she works with and we went to the show.  I had to stand up at intermission cuz my butt had gone to sleep, but I really didn't start getting tired until after that first hour of sitting.  By the time we got home, I was ready for bed, but it was more of a body tired.  The brain was still wide awake.  If we had gone out shopping or walking, I probably would have still had the energy.  It's always when I stop that I get tired.

[hexoffender]

I generally feel pretty good. If I get a bit too dry, I get a dehydration headache. So i try to drink some water afterwards. I start at 6am and then drive to work. Sometimes I stop at the deli close to the center and pick up lunch. On days that I dialyze, I work late, so I dont leave the office till 6 or 7 pm on Tue/Thu.  Then I go to the gym and do my regular workout.  By the time I get home around 9:30ish I usually will be tired enough to fall asleep, but sometimes i take a couple melatonin's to relax me and sleep. Exercise is great for taking the edge off on dialysis days, just stay hydrated.