I have read about a number of different ways nocturnal patients have their fistula taped so the needles are secure while sleeping and alarms are not set off, but I have never seen this up close. I am looking for a picture or diagram. Does anyone know where I can locate one?
HI Jane
I’ll try and send my way of taping at night. But don’t think it will stop alarms. While doing nocturnal unless you sleep motionless you’ll get alarms. The nxstage as good as it is still will alarm . If you roll or bend the tubing alarm. Nothing major. In the time I’ve been on night time I’ve only had maybe three or four major issues. Three were my fault, one the cartridge leaked. The alarm I get the most for no reason a red 35
As to taping I feel very safe , the last thing I wanted when I started this (04/07) was to wake to loose or displaced blunts. Can’t give you date on pics ,but will try hard to get them out by end of next week.
Thanks
bob O’Brien
Here is a video of how I tape myself up for nocturnal dialysis
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7996438588639581287
Hi Folks
Hi Bill
Is that you ? are you doing night time dialysis in a dialysis chair? Have you even done it in bed?
How do I put a video out there showing my set up?
[QUOTE=Bill Peckham;17134]Here is a video of how I tape myself up for nocturnal dialysis
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7996438588639581287[/QUOTE]
Thanks
Bob O’Brien
I will be doing nocturnal dialyzing in bed which means a different set of issues then someone dialyzing in a chair. I use tegaderms instead of tape. They hold the needles in place like glue- much more securely than tape does. But to be extra sure, I see from Bill’s video how I could reinforce the tegaderms with strips of paper tape. Although then, there is always the problem of the tape getting caught on the blanket. This happens to me doing SDD where I also dialyze in bed. If I get cold, I put my access arm under the blanket, and the tape I use to tape my lines in a circular position on my arm often catches on the blanket and unravels. When I do nocturnal, I’m sure it would be better if I didn’t put the blanket over my arm, but what else can one do if he gets cold? It is my habit to sleep with the blanket over my shoulder and then when I’m warm enough, I put my arm over the blanket. I do this off and on all night.
So, I am thinking that established nocturnal programs have come up with the best ways to tape the access up, not only to secure the needles, but also to minimize alarms. I’ve read that with nocturnal, alarms are rare as the blood pump is running so slow, but then I’ve heard others say this is not the case- that alarms will occur unless the access is taped well. It’s hard to imagine alarms not going off with turning to sleep in different positions at night. So, I am looking for the most professional ways to tape the access so I don’t start off doing nocturnal and wind up with sleep deprivation.
[quote=bobeleanor;17135]Hi Folks
Hi Bill
Is that you ? are you doing night time dialysis in a dialysis chair? Have you even done it in bed?
How do I put a video out there showing my set up?
[/quote]
Hi Bob. I dialyze in a bed when I am traveling; I much prefer the chair. In a bed I tape the same way. To get a video up on the web is pretty easy these days. I happened to use Google but YouTube is just as easy. You need to create an account with user name and password and then upload your video.
The one tricky bit is making sure your movie is in an acceptable format - see this linkfor acceptable file formats. The longer the video the longer it will take to upload, the upload time also depends on your internet connection speed.
Jane you might also be interested in a sort of netting that you can place over the needles and tape. The only worry I would have about very sticky tape is that it may damage the skin when you remove the tape post treatment.
Bill wrote;
Jane you might also be interested in a sort of netting that you can place over the needles and tape. The only worry I would have about very sticky tape is that it may damage the skin when you remove the tape post treatment.
I recall others who mentioned netting. Yes, that would keep the tape from unravelling. Thanks for reminding me. Tegaderms don’t cause me any skin damage when doing a short tx, but I’ll have to see what happens after removing them post 8 hr tx. Tape can loosen and come off, but Tegaderms stay put offering security for a nocturnal tx. I’m more concerned about how to tape the lines so alarms don’t go off then my needles coming loose.
Hi y’all,
Have you seen the Hemastrap? It’s a Velcro device with straps to hold the dialysis tubing in place. We have it listed in our Helpful Products Catalog here: http://www.homedialysis.org/hpc/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_4&products_id=29.
[QUOTE=Dori Schatell;17330]Hi y’all,
Have you seen the Hemastrap? It’s a Velcro device with straps to hold the dialysis tubing in place. We have it listed in our Helpful Products Catalog here: http://www.homedialysis.org/hpc/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_4&products_id=29.[/QUOTE]
The HemaStrap is the best thing ever. I woun’t go on dialysis without it. And I sleep a lot while I’m on dialysis.