[QUOTE=Gus;11897]The option is there, its up to you and is not required, but if you think it may help you then do it! Its not part of our training with NxSTage but like some of you are complaining and can’t stand that funky taste then i’d say try that option under your clinic’s supervision. Either way, doing it or not its still beeing filtered/dialyzed.
On my behalf, it has not caused problems at all. I have been on dialysis since 1978 and am still here alive!
It’s your choice, your right.[/QUOTE]
To flush the circuit of impurities and heparinize the dialyzer and lines, it would take 3 bags of saline per tx, but this is good practice.
Does anyone on NxStage become overheated feeling when the tx is over? I know it is normal to feel cold during tx depending on how warm one keeps one’s home. But does anyone have the opposite effect and start getting overheated when tx is over? My family member has experienced this and we wonder if it is a reaction to the dialyzer. Does anyone flush their filter with an extra bag of saline?
I have always “heated up” after tx on hemo machines. I can sometimes go as high as 101 fh. This used to concern my nurses, but they just consider it to be my body. It is just another thing I have learned to live with.
LSB
I start to feel warm towards the end of treatment. I have an electric heater in my dialysis room; I usually turn it off during the last half hour. But my measured temperature never increases. I’m opposite LSB I always seem to be in the 97 to 98 F range. Whatever my temp was to start it is usually +/- 1 degree at the end.
I have never had a problem with the plastic with the NxStage. The lines have been treated to be very clean so extra rinses are certainly not necessary, but if you do “taste” something, then I would try the extra rinse.
I am one who is often cold during treatment and warms up after. I do not believe it is any kind of allergic reaction, simply a reaction to getting all my blood back plus some extra fluid. It only lasts a short time. I generally keep a heater on in my room during treatment and then kick off the blankets and turn it off when I get off.
[QUOTE=Cathy S;11973]I have never had a problem with the plastic with the NxStage. The lines have been treated to be very clean so extra rinses are certainly not necessary, but if you do “taste” something, then I would try the extra rinse.
Aside from the overheating problem discussed, years back I learned that there are particles/impurities that shed loose from dialyzers so rinsing with an extra bag of saline is a good preventative step. I used to get a low grade fever each dialysis and RLS. The first time I rinsed with the 2nd bag, the problem never occurred again. Do you know if this problem is eliminated with NxStage dialyzers?