Studies show that cool dialysate improves outcomes…
It can make you feel like a block of ice, though 
Sometimes, there are little variations in how machines are adjusted at the dialysis centre or the home dialysis unit where I go sometimes. I get pretty cold when the dialysate temp hovers around 35 as opposed to 36. The nurses say that it does help to prevent hypotension for those who are prone to that.
Pierre
I did try it several times, all I did was turn the dialysate heater off…I did feel a bit cold and my blood pressure did rise a bit, but I am guessing its because we’re cold! 
You really can’t generalize about patient preference from a study with only 10 patients!
I am the 11th patient now… :lol:
I wouldnt be playing with the temp unless first asking the Dx nurses.
Hehehe, they know…in matter of fact we can adjust it to suit our needs. If we feel cold we can turn it up. If we feel to hot we can turn it down…just as if your were adjusting your home furnace… :lol:
We can turn it up or down within limits. It’s not that critical, especially for a nocturnal patient, since BP doesn’t suddenly drop. I make slight adjustments. For example, it can be stifling hot in my apartment some nights, and so I turn temp down a bit to help (it’s like my own internal air conditioning). I never go beyond 35 and 37 degrees though. Just one degree makes a big difference.
Pierre
Ive found 36 is fine for me. Its certainly nice in summer, not that I like summer anyway. My BP has dropped a few times on nocturnal, and Ive gone flat once, but I dont think it was ever temp related.
Gawd, with a combo of hot flushes and the shivers from the old menopause plus all that blood whizzing around outside the body I often find I need to turn temp up or down half a degree on Freni in the wee small hours, particularly now its winter. Usually have to fight to get the sarong (to shade the lights) off the screen and fumble around but it is worth the effort. Wish they had put the buttons in a more convenient height for us Nocturnees. :?
Today, I had the heater turned off…it was a very hot day today…over 100s…
Lovely, Gus!
One of the many advantages of being on dialysis is that you have your own personal “air” conditioning system. Should market this, the rest of the world might want to join us! :lol:
Hmm, time to turn the computer off, we are about to have a humdinger of an electrical storm. This time last year we lost our Subaru when a friend staying at our place drove it out of our driveway in the middle of a flood. I wasn’t on dialysis then and don’t think we need another flood right now. Bye:shock:
You can’t turn the heater off completely on a dialysis machine that uses piped water supply, since the water would make the dialysate too cold.
Beachy, at first reading of your last post, my first impression was why you would need to get dressed in a sarong just to adjust the temp, then I saw the bit about the screen
Pierre
I use hand towels to cover the lights, works pretty well.
What do you do when you are hooked up to the machine and you get too hot (ac is not cool enough or fan is not on or high enough)? Does lowering the temp on the machine help enough? I’ve heard there are fans with remote control.
It depends on how hot it is. Sometimes I find that lowering the dialysate temp from 36 to 36.5 makes a difference, and sometimes it doesn’t. When needed, I use a fan. If I need to change the speed or turn it off, I just stand and reach over to do it. Between the length of the bloodlines and the extension of my body, I can reach out a fair distance. Standing from a prone position will almost always cause a pressure alarm though, unless I override the alarms. You have to be careful when doing this, because of course, when you are in override for 30 seconds, you have no alarms to tell you something is wrong.
By the way, to block off light from the display, I just use a manilla folder cut down to size. It works great. The newer Fresenius “Baby K” turns the screen off and on automatically. That would be great, but mine is an earlier Baby K.
Pierre
I get nekkid, all nekikid with wet towels over me…while hooked up to the NxStage… :oops:
Thanks for that info gus :oops: lol
I just wear a singlet nightie in summer. Need some form of clothes on so Ive got something to pin the lines too.
I don’t need anything to pin the lines to, and so I don’t wear a thing
Pierre
How do you anchor the lines then?