Ralph takes one a day. He takes it in the am because he dialyses at night.
He is nocturnal.
Some doctors agree that that it helps other phoo phoo it. But I truly believe it helps.
I also take it so it will help my blood keep “running” and not have a heart attack.
Pat
[QUOTE=Pat Colongione;12126]Ralph takes one a day. He takes it in the am because he dialyses at night.
He is nocturnal.
Some doctors agree that that it helps other phoo phoo it. But I truly believe it helps.
I also take it so it will help my blood keep “running” and not have a heart attack.
Pat[/QUOTE]
When he does not use it does he have as poor a return as I have described at about 35%?
Since you guys are having problem with rinse back…
Are you using HEPARIN? If the dose of heparin is too low the blood will clot/streak in the dialyzer (filter). We have not had any problem with not returning all the blood yet… except for once when I forgot to press stop before I closed the clamps on the red line before attaching it to the priming spike for rinse back… Got air in the system and ended up not being able to return all the blood Because the air eventually was sensed by the air sensor in the Venus (blue clamp) line. This will make it impossible to get the machine to do any more rinse back… SAFTEY built into the machine to make sure you do not get air in the patient’s veins…Known as AIR EMBOLISM… Also What I now do to make sure that the rinse back goes smoothly is to get the air bubble out of the aterial line (RED CLAMP)… When you attach the red line from the patient to the red line on the priming spike… After you attach the red line to the priming spike keep the large red clamp closed and open the small red clamp and squeeze the tubing between the two clamps and you will see the air that you introduced into the line above the red blood move up towards the saline bag. Squeeze and Tap the line until the bubble goes into the saline bag now you are air free in the aterial line… open the large red clamp and press the add fluid button and your rinse back should be uneventful I now squeeze and tap the lines as the blood is returned…If the blood is sticky??? still some of it in the lines going back to the patient I do another rinse back… usually only from 250 down to 200 than press STOP… walla the lines are clear of blood… You can plan this rinse back by adding this volume into your volume of UF to be removed…
Any way my machine is set for (2) rinseback cycle. System set-up #14 (rinseback limit)=2. ALso my system set-up for #13 (rinseback factor) is site specific set at (1.2). [rinseback volume =(blood-side filter volume + blood cartridge volume) times rinseback factor]… So when I press STOP at the end of treatment the top window reads 252 and counts down to zero as the blood is returned after i press the add fluid button…
Hope this is helpful…
HemoHelper
I use the Fresenius machine and I have also been puzzled by why sometimes I get a real clear rinseback then other times I don’t. Neither more heparin or more rinseback of saline seem to do much. I was thinking it may have something to do with the dialyzers themselves.
Marty
Since you guys are having problem with rinse back…
Are you using HEPARIN?
>>Yes, definitely. In my case I have tried increasing the heparin several times, but the problem still occurs.
If the dose of heparin is too low the blood will clot/streak in the dialyzer (filter).
>>Is clotting always due to too low a dose of heparin, because I have seen a small amount of clotting in the dialyzer’s ven. head resulting in a poor return, when the 5 previous txs the returns were 95% clear? Then the txs. after the small amount of clotting with 35% return, the return is 95% clear again. Also, I have seen this small amount of clotting when I used anywhere from 3000 units heparin to 6500 units. And I have had poor returns when small air bubbles were observed in the ven. cap, yet no clotting seen.
We have not had any problem with not returning all the blood yet…
>> I had not a single problem with returns my first 5 months at home, but the problem began one day and haven’t been able to solve it for about 3 months now.
Also What I now do to make sure that the rinse back goes smoothly is to get the air bubble out of the aterial line (RED CLAMP)… When you attach the red line from the patient to the red line on the priming spike… After you attach the red line to the priming spike keep the large red clamp closed and open the small red clamp and squeeze the tubing between the two clamps and you will see the air that you introduced into the line above the red blood move up towards the saline bag. Squeeze and Tap the line until the bubble goes into the saline bag now you are air free in the aterial line… open the large red clamp and press the add fluid button and your rinse back should be uneventful
>>We would get a red alarm (can’t think of the #) when we hooked the red patient line to the red line on the saline bag at rinseback. This happened almost every time. We got the advice to put a 10cc syringe on the red saline bag line and draw it half full of saline, then remove before connecting the patient line. This solved the problem for me and I never get an alarm anymore when I reach this point. I have also heard of the method you use, but have not tried it as the syringe trick solved my problem as far as the machine alarming. But you seem to say that the way you do it prevents poor rinsebacks, too. So, I will look into this, as from what you are saying, air may be getting into the system, eventhought the alrm no longer goes off, hampering some rinsebacks.
If the blood is sticky??? still some of it in the lines going back to the patient I do another rinse back… usually only from 250 down to 200 than press STOP… walla the lines are clear of blood… You can plan this rinse back by adding this volume into your volume of UF to be removed…
Any way my machine is set for (2) rinseback cycle. System set-up #14 (rinseback limit)=2. ALso my system set-up for #13 (rinseback factor) is site specific set at (1.2). [rinseback volume =(blood-side filter volume + blood cartridge volume) times rinseback factor]… So when I press STOP at the end of treatment the top window reads 252 and counts down to zero as the blood is returned after i press the add fluid button…
Hope this is helpful…
>>Not fully clear on what you are describing here. My machine is also set to return at the 252 rate. But when I see blood stuck in the lines after it has reached zero, and hit rinseback again, the saline rushes through but the blood sits in the lines. I also stop at about 200 on this 2nd rinseback as don’t want to get too much saline back. So, not sure if I am doing the same thing
you are with this. Could you please elaborate again?
[QUOTE=Country Girl;12132]I use the Fresenius machine and I have also been puzzled by why sometimes I get a real clear rinseback then other times I don’t. Neither more heparin or more rinseback of saline seem to do much. I was thinking it may have something to do with the dialyzers themselves.
Marty[/QUOTE]
I have been told that this is another possible cause.
I believe a little blood is lost through every type of dialysis process, and with daily therapy, maybe a little more cells are lost during the process. Machines aren’t perfect. You might not notice it during a simple rinseback, but over time you Hgl will start to drop.