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Author Topic: PD failed. Hemo just in time?  (Read 1827 times)
chuckt67
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« on: August 02, 2012, 06:28:20 AM »

My mom has recently switched to hemo after 2 years of pd that suddenly went downhill. It was a scary 2 weeks. she's had mental issues which i'm told are from high BUN level and will take a month and a half to clear up. she stopped eating and started having hiccup and belching issues along with complaints that her food all tasted bad and hardly ate or drank for a month prior. Doctors couldn't figure it out, but i eventually narrowed it down to a reaction to renvealla. Once off it, all that went away. She developed spasms in her limbs when she puts pressure on them. Her unexplainable drop in bp made the PD nurse tell me that the might not put her on hemo, luckily i started giving her bioflavinoids which seemed to help raise her BP enough to get them to place the temp hemo cath. it worked fine for the first 2 sessions. We took a small trip and scheduled her next session there on the 11th of July. Afterwards they told me she was having alarms indicating a catherter problem and that we should have it looked into. Back at home we went to our next scheduled session where i told them what the other clinic said. Afterwards they said they were getting the same alarms and that they informed her doctor. the next session it started to spasm with her breathing. the doctor said it was because of some low protein syndrome. So i added protien supp. and didn't hear anything more about it. In the last 12 days i notice her coming out of dialysis weaker and weaker and when she sleeps she sounds like she's working out. Very labored breathing. I'm communicating this to the clinic and the doctor. A week ago they fail to get her tubes to work. they put something in them to clear it up and send her home we go back 2 days later on a thursday and only 1 tube is working. they send her home we get a call to show up monday 6:00 am to try again or else go get a new temp cath. It doesn't work Monday so we go home and wait this is 6 days without dialysis for someone who almost failed before the switch to hemo 3 weeks earlier. We get a call shortly and she has her new temp cath by 4 pm. the drew blood for a lab to see if she needed to stay at the hospital to dialyze but i was told her labs weren't that bad. I asked the discharge nurse to see the labs and all they tested were serum electrolytes including the anion gap(which has been tested 3 times in 4 and a half years, once in Aug '08 and twice in the last month, odd?). I started looking at old lab data and theres been a lot of liver type tests. ALT is 57, AST is 54. Then i saw an aluminum test result of 57 from a year ago and no standard range listed. I asked PD nurse about possibility of confusion from aluminum, i think she got nervous, not sure, but she said that the Renvella removes aluminum also. Is this true, if not how long does it take for hemo to remove aluminum. I guess most of all the labored breathing during sleep is my biggest concern. I've got a baby monitor and it's a bit frightening sometimes. It seemed to clear up for the 1 night after the temp catheter was replaced but it's been back for the last 2 nights. If any of this babble strikes a chord with anyone, i'd be grateful for any feedback.

thanks again to all,
ChuckT
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jeannea
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« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2012, 10:10:45 AM »

I don't ever remember being tested for aluminum while on dialysis. What about creatinine, BUN, hemoglobin? How were the electrolyte results, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, sodium? This whole thing makes little sense to me.

The labored breathing would tell me that she needs more dialysis. Prob has too much fluid around her lungs. If that gets worse go to the hospital. If she has confusion, that could also mean she needs more dialysis. Or in an older person it could mean a bladder infection. You could get that checked.

I would forget about the aluminum and just make sure she gets enough dialysis. There's a saying in medicine about not looking for zebras.
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noahvale
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« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2012, 11:23:44 AM »

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« Last Edit: September 17, 2015, 08:04:58 AM by noahvale » Logged
amanda100wilson
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« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2012, 02:28:03 PM »

I believe my aluminium is tested every few months, at least I think that I have drawn a tube for it.  I was not aware that Renagel contained aluminium since Renvela is an updated successor.  I know that alucaps did which preceded the calcium and other binders such as renagel.
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ESRD 22 years
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Healthy people may look upon me as weak because of my illness, but my illness has given me strength that they can't begin to imagine.

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