peritoneal dialysis at home vs hemodialysis at clinic for elderly

[Mark6147]

My mother is 78 and is doing hemodialysis at the clinic. Getting ready 3x a week and making that trip is getting the best of her not to mention the 2 days off with fluid building up. She thinks a shot of steroids will help with the fluid and I am telling her no, that its the lack of dialysis for those 2 days. We are thinking of doing the peritoneal dialysis at home but the doc tells her all the negative things about it because honestly I don't think they want to loose the business. I cant see any reason as to why she cant do it at home. We could do the hemodialysis at home but right now we don't have the time nor the people to take the training classes for the 15 or what ever classes required to do it. If anyone is doing the peritoneal dialysis I would like to hear your story. The good bad and ugly...Im afraid the strain of her getting ready is taking its toll on her and doing her more harm than good. Please feel free to post here or email me privately. My email is markasosebee@gmail.com We are in the N Ga area and would love to talk with someone close by who is already doing it. Thanks for any help, advice anything.
Mark

[blommer_21]

Hi Mark my name is Eric. My wife lost her kidney function in 2010 at the age of 24. Obviously our situations are a little bit different with the large age gap. My wife did PD for roughly a year before getting a kidney from her sister. The transplanted kidney failed in May 2013. Since that my wife began PD again in September 2013. Personally of the two my wife and I prefer PD over hemo. It gives my wife a lot more flexibility in terms planning things, diet, etc. Every night Sarah hooks up to her machine and does a 9 hour run while she sleeps. In deeper terms on the positives. Doing dialysis everyday allows a tiny bit on give in diet, where as if she couldn't do dialysis for a couple days as you the fluid will build up. With her runs at night we don't miss out on things socially either. When she was on hemo her runs were always starting at like 4 in the p.m. and lasted for 4+ hours. We missed a lot of get togethers, parties, etc. Some of the negatives are your going to need to allocate a fair amount of room to store solution, drain bags, caps, etc. You need to allocate 8+ hours every night to it. So lets say your mother needs to be at an appt by 7 a.m. she needs to be hooked up to the machine not later then 10ish. Which can be tricky you kinda gotta always have that in the back of your mind. Traveling can be a bit of a pain at times hauling solution, machine etc. when you travel. I'm not sure the depth you have looked into PD but there is a manual option as well. This requires a little more discipline. My wife rarely does manual bags because you need to fill and drain roughly every 4 hours. It works easier to use the machine overnight for treatment. I'm sorry I'm jumping around like crazy but things are kinda just popping up here and there in my head. Also I'm not sure the physical shape your mom is in but the overnight drain bag can be quite heavy and bulky to carry to the shower or toilet for draining. I know I have listed more negatives then positives but PD works far better for us. If ya got anymore questions about please feel free to ask. Obviously everyones situation in unique but thank you for letting me share ours.

Eric

[jreviello]

Hi Eric I seen the post you sent to Mark back in Feb. My wife is on Pd and waiting for a transplant. I agree with all you said about PD is was a GOD sent for us. Hemo was not working well at all. Going into the second year of PD. I am 65 and my wife Marion is 65 I have a question on transplant we been waiting for over 2 years and had 7 living donors including me fail for one reason or another. We are been told in takes 5 years without a living donor so if it an other 3 years my wife would be about 68. My question is your feeling on a transplant , we are comfortable with PD and not sure what it will be like after a transplant. We are now down to 2 Doctor visit a month ( was as much as 10 to 15 a month) Lab the begin g of the month then clinical and the end of the month. A few other to stay on the transplant Lit but just yearly now. Sorry for this being so long. But we are not sure if a kidney comes up for Marion if it would be to hard for her. O my name is John THANK YOU for your time

[TutuOBrien]

Excellent information; just what I was looking for....I am having trouble (and pain) with my fistula, which clots or hemmorages....yesterday I had to have 3 stints put in access to open up the access.......conscious sedation did not work and the pain, as the doc squeezed, prodded, and pounded, was enormous. I have decided to look at PD as another option, so I was very interested in all you had to say...thank you very much. Cara

[brsjdk6]

Mark 6147 I am 78 years old and doing PD for almost a year now and must say it is so much better than Hemo. I have a lot of energy and attend my book club and Tao meetings during the day. I was too pooped on hemo to attend them Of course I'm anxiously awaiting a transplant, but because of my age, I can receive a cadaver kidney only unless someone is kind enough to donate a kidney. Any questions? Feel free to ask me.

[blommer_21]

John you ask a very good question. If everything is going well with dialysis is it worth going after a transplant. When a transplant was first brought up to us in 2011 we both were very naive. We just thought well put in a new kidney and everything will be a great forever. The dr's made sure to stress to us that a transplanted kidney is not a cure all. Basically your trading a disease for a lifetime of medically monitoring, anti rejection drugs, and your wife having to be very aware of whats going on with her body. Enough with the serious stuff though. If I had to give you answer I would say go for the transplant for 22 months there was no dialysis, no vomiting, no restricted diet. During those months its as if the rain clouds parted and there was blue skies and sunshine! We are much more prepared the second time around. The first time we were scared, overwhelmed, and confused. This time were digging our heels in and going for working our butts off to get another transplant. Personally to us we got a taste of life off dialysis and want it back!!!! Hope it helps and good luck!!! Thanks for letting me share!!!

Eric

[Humingbird]

My husband is 83 and had his first treatment last night on the machine. We were having a lot of problems getting the 4 manual PD treatments in each day because of doctor appointments, training on the cycler, etc. Last night he experienced cramps with the first drain and is having some muscle cramps. I am having problems getting him to drink water, etc. Thinking he will start feeling better with time on the program. Looking for a cart now to make it easier to move the machine around. Any suggestions?

[riverrat]

He will feel better once on cycler ,they can set the machine to leave just a little in and it want cause so much drain pain.I keep a cup of ice all the time to provide the fluid and also when on PD need to increase the potssasium,banana,kiwi,orange juice ect. will help with cramps.You can get a patient extension tube so you want need to move machine.hope this helps.
.

[843Tsthigpen]

I am a cargiver for my mom who is 86 yrs old and she does dialysis at a clinic 3 times a week just curious if anyone out there has had problems with itching just in the arms shes been on dialysis for 2 years thanks Teresa thigpen

[kswhitehead6]

I am 63 on peritoneal dialysis every night, After struggling with itching, mainly on my lower back, my nephrologist said my phosphorous level was high. Also because we are restricted in our amount of fluid we can drink, our skin stays dryer. He told me to use Eucerin creme, not lotion & I also use Olay body wash that contains a full jar of moisturizing creme. Good luck to you & you mom.

[hilltopfarmer]

My husband is 80. He has been on peritoneal dialysis for 31/2 years now. There have been very few negatives for us. He started doing 8 hours a night. By doing the dialysis when he is sleeping he has his days free. He has lost some ground over the years. He is now on his machine 12 hours a day. However, he still does most of it at night. He has never had an infection or peritonitis. Our doctor told us that the peritoneal dialysis would be easier on his body, and that seems to be the case. He has never done hemodialysis so I really can't make a comparison. Trying to think of negatives, the only thing that really comes to mind is when he is sleeping, he sometimes rolls over on the lines and the machine alarms go off. Given the choice of driving to the clinic 3 times a week and occasionally getting waken by the machine, I think we have the best solution. Hope this helps, if there are any specific questions I can answer I will be happy to try.

[Humingbird]

Thank you for information. My husband is doing much better with time on the machine. Now having problems with the alarm going off almost each night at least once with "low drain value". He is wondering if wearing a back brace belt would help him drain better as his muscles are weak in the stomach area. Does anyone else have this problem with the machine?