Hello. My father is doing the PD and he has been doing this for about 6-8 months. During this time, he has lost a lot of weight, is very nauseated, loss of appetite, etc. During the past week or so he has gotten so weak, vomitting, can not move around by himself, and is tired a lot. I do not live in the same city as my parents, so I don’t see him all the time…but from what my mom & my dad both say, he is getting much worse. The only other thing I know about the situation is that his protein levels are low.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Shouldn’t dialysis be helping and not making him feel this bad? I called him today and he asked me to draw up his will, and went into the speech about how sorry he is and how he wish he could see my son grow up. He would never say that unless something was really going on. I don’t know what’s going on with him, and am hoping someone could give me a little more insight.
Mandy, you are right to be concerned. We are not doctors, and can give you questions, not answers, though.
PD is a great treatment, but it’s not a good fit for everyone, and your dad is not doing well. Low protein levels = a higher risk for death. His fatigue, vomiting, and lack of energy suggest that he needs to see his nephrologist ASAP and most likely switch to another type of dialysis . Given how poorly he feels, your mom would need to take on a lot of responsibility (at least at first) if he was to train for home hemodialysis (HD), but if they were willing to get him home on longer and/or more frequent HD, there’s a much better chance that he could be around to see your kids grow up.
[QUOTE=Dori Schatell;17541]Mandy, you are right to be concerned. We are not doctors, and can give you questions, not answers, though.
PD is a great treatment, but it’s not a good fit for everyone, and your dad is not doing well. Low protein levels = a higher risk for death. His fatigue, vomiting, and lack of energy suggest that he needs to see his nephrologist ASAP and most likely switch to another type of dialysis . Given how poorly he feels, your mom would need to take on a lot of responsibility (at least at first) if he was to train for home hemodialysis (HD), but if they were willing to get him home on longer and/or more frequent HD, there’s a much better chance that he could be around to see your kids grow up.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for your reply. My dad is 72 years old and has diabetes, plus the dialysis. I don’t even know if he could do the HD. I don’t know much about dialysis, so I really appreciate your reply & your honesty.
Home HD might be too much for your parents to take on. I’ve known some folks who had trouble with PD and switched to in-center HD and did much better. It may be that with his diabetes, the sugar in the PD fluid is a problem for him. If he switches to in-center HD, please try to help him advocate for longer rather than shorter treatments (a minimum of 4 hours–more is better), and every-other-day if possible, to avoid the 2-day “weekend” with no treatment.
Home HD might be too much for your parents to take on. I’ve known some folks who had trouble with PD and switched to in-center HD and did much better. It may be that with his diabetes, the sugar in the PD fluid is a problem for him. If he switches to in-center HD, please try to help him advocate for longer rather than shorter treatments (a minimum of 4 hours–more is better), and every-other-day if possible, to avoid the 2-day “weekend” with no treatment.[/QUOTE]
Another dialysis option in some areas is nocturnal in-center hemodialysis. With this treatment the patient goes into the dialysis clinic after their last shift leaves and stays until early morning before the first morning shift of patients starts their treatment. This is typically done 3 nights a week. It would give your father more dialysis and your mother some respite.
Hi there Mandy. Some side-effects of dialysis are inevitable. But there are ways to alleviate them, like regarding his nausea, there are medications out there that could counter the nauseating side effect that dialysis brings. To know which medication would work well with your father, I strongly suggest you consult his doctor about it.
Cheer up and stay optimistic, optimistic but prepared.
Is your dad on any meds?? Anemia or renagel type med, heparin, anything…Asking because he may be anemic and need epo to up his count…(when mine is ,low I get sick, can’t eat, tired all the time and chills) , With Heparin I am highly allergic and will vomit immediately and get heart palpatations, Maybe something he is being given he is having a reaction. other then the pd just not working properly
