Okay, now I can see the benefits of nightly Nocturnal. I did my first 2 nights in a row so consequently only had to take off 1.5 litres of fluid last night. That and a nice slow 225 pump speed,(I have been trialling 250),and this morning I don’t have that washed out feeling, even though I was under my dry weight by 500ml! I normally walk the dog an hour or 2 after I come off and feel drained by the time I get home. Today I felt positively NORMAL! I could get used to this…maybe
Might try that again sometime! Your theory was good.Thanks, Pierre! 
Great to hear beachy. I usually do 4 nights a week, meaning every second night plus 2 nights in a row. The 2 nights in a row really do make a difference, and its nice on the second night to only dial in a small UF. The past few weeks I havent been doing 4 nights, just every second night, and Ive cut down to 8.5 hours instead of 10. I can tell you I have certainly noticed a difference in how Im feeling, and I think it explained my high K+ the other day. Will find out this week with pre and post bloods. I think I will go back to 40 hours a week. It can be a chore to go on 2 nights in a row, but I think it will do me good.
Hi Amba
Wow 10 hours seems like a lot! Do you do that long because you don’t like those early mornings or is that what your Unit suggests?
I think I would need a second set of buttonholes if I did consecutive nights as I find the tunnels get a bit tender and I find I don’t have a nice scab to get off too.
I have many selfish reasons for not being able to work up to consecutive nights yet. I love going to the gym and doing a weights and aerobic program at around 9am 3 days per week(the off days) when I feel fresh. A few hours after I have pulled the needles I know my fistula would not have healed enough and my body is too “dry” to do that sort of thing. I feel so much better and fitter for going to the gym that I am not ready to give it up just yet while my tests are still good. :?
We can do 8-10 hours. I do 10 because I have trouble with fluid, and because I want to do as much dialysis as I can. Plus I dont like coming off too early as I end up going back to sleep. I have since dropped to 8.5 hours every second night, and I am starting to notice a difference in the way I feel. So I think ill try go back to 40 hrs a week.
I have wondered if Pierre was a woman in a previous life since he is so articulate in describing his observations of the tx and in touch with his feelings lol ha, ha, ha! Well sometimes on that last part :roll:
But girls, I wish you could do 6x nocturnal txs so I could hear your observations of how daily, long txs would make you feel. As “WO
MEN”, I know you could give me a good, thorough report lol!
I know with myself still on 3x in-center, I feel like %*+# by the time I get to the evening of my day off. Don’t even ask me what I feel like on the 2nd day off on the weekend! So, it makes complete sense to me that dialyzing nocturnally 6x is the best way to go. I am ready to do whatever it takes.
I understand your need to exercise, beachy, but wonder if you dialyzed 6x if you would feel even better and might come up with an alternate time to exercise.
Just keep the reports coming to little ole Jane 
Jane, I dont think I could handle 6 nights, 4 is enough! Its a bit different when you are doing it all yourself, it can get quite draining. Just had my pre and post bloods so am awaiting results to see if I should go back to 40 hours a week. At the moment Im on every second night for 8.5 hours.
I dont know how you get by with 3 hours x3. What are your bloods like? I have a bad tendancy to get rebound potassium on short treatments. I only did 2 weeks of 4hr x3 and I felt awful. The 2 days off are just horrible. I would go into the centre and couldnt wait to dialyse lol
Then I went to home training where I started off on 5 hours x3-4, which made a bit of a difference, and then up too 6 hours. I barely ate anything because I was so scared about my potassium going up. I stuck to the diet, and didnt eat more potassium than I was supposed to and it still went up. Sorry Im waffling on again :roll:
If you have the chance of doing nocturnal that would be great. It can take time before you will notice a difference, but it is so much better.
I guess I’ll take that as a compliment, Jane. I kind of assumed that if I had a previous life, I was a Roman centurion or a pirate captain sailing the Spanish Main. Just a woman never occurred to me 
My own, absolutely, totally PERSONAL experience is that for me, 4 or even 5 nights is not enough. Even at 5 nights, I feel the difference. Maybe it’s because I’m not that big, and I don’t have as much “storage space” as some to carry me over an extra day. And I’m not alone. I know some people who would do it 7 nights a week if our neph let them.
Once I get into a groove, putting myself on every night is not that much of a chore. Some nights I think, “Fuddle-duddle, I wish I didn’t have to do this &*%$&# thing tonight”. But, the advantages for the next day are so compelling that I just do it. I’m at the point now where, not counting the few minutes to put my needles in and connect, I can get this sucker ready to go in 45 minutes or less (15 of that is just free time while I wait for the recirculation to complete). Now, I don’t know, but 45 minutes doesn’t seem like that big a deal for the benefits I get. Once on, because I’m so clean and even, I sleep like a baby.
I wouldn’t want to do more than 8 hours. In our program here, they think that on daily nocturnal, 6 hours is enough. Anything more doesn’t really add anything significant (except in how it lowers your UF rate). So they say, pick any duration from 6 to 8 hours depending on how early or late you want to get on and then get off – in other words, how long you sleep. The idea of nocturnal is that you sleep through it. If you only sleep 7 hours, who wants to just lie there awake for another hour or two waiting for the treatment to complete?
Pierre
Peirre, I definitely notice those extra 1-2 hours. If feel just that little bit better. If you are only small, then less hours is probly enough for you, which cant be a bad thing
Ha ha Jane. I am all for sisterly love but you may be waiting quite a while for me to work up to 6 nights! Think you will probably get there well before me. I am too much of a squirmer. Last night was “freezing” here (well for us tropical gals anyway. I struggled all night with doonas, blankets, pillows and jamies (pyjames?)! Scored a big 2 hours sleep! Hubby even dragged out an old beanie (do you have them) to try and keep head warm. Think I should have worn a ski suit to bed! :lol:
What temperature is your dialysate?
pierre
36.5C when I change it manually from 36 for those cold nights. What do you have yours on?
beachy
Mine is 36 too. It seems fine for me. I’m never cold. I had to have a short daily treatment at the dialysis unit last week so they could do a Transonic on me, and I froze after the first hour. Same dialysate temp.
Now it’s over 30 degrees here, and I’ll have the opposite problem. I’m too hot. The air conditioner doesn’t cool the bedroom.
Pierre
It hadn’t occured to me before that when I do home hemo I won’t have to have the temp. set to 37 and sit under a cold air return vent lol wow, another advantage; keep em comin!
I’ve been told that at the unit I’m at the reason the temp is turned down low on a/c is because there is so much moisture in a dialysis unit that the floors become slippery if the a/c isn’t adjusted low. Lin.
Lin writes:
I’ve been told that at the unit I’m at the reason the temp is turned down low on a/c is because there is so much moisture in a dialysis unit that the floors become slippery if the a/c isn’t adjusted low. Lin.
Ha, ha, ha that’s a good one :shock: