With my dialysis treatment lately I am happy because I am not getting anymore that so thirsty
Yesterday I got worried that I might suffer again from "chills" or basically a blood infection because I am using a high flux dialyzer. It is a kind of dialyzer which compared to a regular low flux type has a larger holes which is better to clear-out many more bigger molecule toxins like uric acid and other nitrogen by-products which in turn would clean the blood better. However the bad elements or basically dirt coming from the dialysate solution where the blood would get into contact with will cause infections to the blood and depending on how much foreign matter that is in the dialysate which the blood would bathe from to get the blood to get cleaned-out from toxins, the worst that the infection will manifest like these uncontrollable chills where you will have to use all of your energy to combat it aside from feeling some of the symptoms of chills like muscle pain in some part of your body like in my case my back, arms, and the thumb of my right hand not to mention if a hypotension crisis happens first which is as scary as hell because you will not know if that would be your last day or not especially if you have a heart condition where you are more susceptible of a heart attack or stroke for that matter. Also as I have observed, using high flux dialyzer can clear more of the toxins from the body like Phosphorus which is great because at least it will not make my skin itchy where the symptom like that is an indication of a high elevation of Phosphorus in the body and must be avoided. That is why patients has to carefully monitor their diet which I am doing but still I guess that my blood's phosphorus levels goes overboard for the reason that my skin would itch unnaturally particularly in those times that I was consuming whole eggs which I thought was a good idea to make me get a good amount of protein and oblivious about its Phosphorus content until my skin got itchy and so from then on I was avoiding in consuming whole eggs anymore and replaced it with eating egg whites as one of my main source of protein which is low in Phosphorus, about 5 grams per whole egg white.
Well, yesterday I didn't experience symptoms of hypotension and my dialysis treatment went as smooth as my other regular treatments. However, it is just odd that the reading of blood pressure is so low post-dialysis treatment that it is prompting my nurses to raise my feet which is their standard operating procedure in dealing with that situation so that the blood would concentrate in the brain and make the feeling of lightheadedness to go away aside from infusing some saline solution to the patient's blood stream so that the patient will recover faster. But I did not felt any lightheadedness yesterday nor any symptoms of the chills which I was anticipating and for me it is just another successful treatment session and so I was not discharged that fast and waited for a few minutes for my blood pressure to "recover" in which I did some extra work of folding my blanket but it got snatched by the caregiver to fold it and put it in my bag who then took a reading of my blood pressure the third time and it was already (I guess) in the levels where I can normally be discharged and it ranges from 100 to 110 Systolic in which for other patients is too low to be discharged from the dialysis treatment center. This is one reason that I still wanted to stay to my current dialysis clinic because my nurses already knows how to deal with me with regards to my blood pressure which I am always trying to manage to stay at my normal range of 110 to 120 where at 130 I am already not comfortable with it although there are times when I am already bloated with extra fluids in my body it goes beyond 140 if i would go overboard with my sodium consumption or the in-between dialysis sessions are too far from each other which is not happening now because I am already getting a three times dialysis treatment per week which stabilizes my blood pressure some more. My normal range of blood pressure is even lower compared to many adults which sometimes are in the borderline of being hypertensive which I always attribute to a developing disease process if an individual would have a reading of 130 Systolic particularly if the diastolic reading would be at the 90 level, then something is brewing already like diabetes or a problem with the heart's coronary arteries. I already knew when I was still a new dialysis patient that the number one killer of the type of patients like us are the problems with the heart like an enlarged heart due to the unmanaged fluid volume in the body and the consequent hypertension which wears and tires away the heart and thus it would lead to heart failure. It is more prevalent in dialysis patients who are already sick with diabetes which in the first place was not managed well until it busted the kidneys and or the eyes whichever came first. So a careful management of fluid and or diet in order to make the heart and blood pressure in a much better state is truly needed in my opinion is a good way to live long as a dialysis patient where I figured out that hypertension comes with a fluid overload or extra volume in the blood most particularly if the patient is consuming more sodium which effectively raise blood pressure for the reason that I already experienced it when I was consuming sodium bicarbonate in my attempt to "de-acidify" my blood but it just lead to my blood pressure reaching dangerous levels, and so I stopped using it right then and there and learned my lesson which I am conveying to you folks right here.
One thing about my dialysis lately was I am not getting that so thirsty anymore and that is important for me so that I will not to consume more fluids just to quench the burning thirst and then having to contend with breathlessness and that general feeling of discomfort by getting bloated in the process. So I am also glad that my dialysis clinic with the order of my Nephrologist is not anymore dialing the sodium settings to "full blast" which was my issue before because whenever my blood pressure would read "low" my nurses would automatically set the sodium setting to high in the dialysis machine because in theory, like consuming Sodium bicarbonate, it will elevate the blood pressure but in turn would make the dialysis patient very thirsty and would have no choice but to drink so much water or beverages back just to relive that burning thirst sensation. I already had that experience for a very long time which is why I was always targeting my driest "dry weight" as possible to accommodate the water that I will have to consume after my dialysis treatment to quench the burning thirst in my mouth. That is why in-between my dialysis sessions, I would prefer to sweat out the extra salt in my body which then lowers my blood pressure. So more often than not, I would arrive at the dialysis center not feeling thirsty anymore but upon the discharge I will be suffering from having a burning thirst and then the process would start over and over again until more than a score years had passed until I had a break from tit after I talked to one of my senior nurse who happen to finally take heed of that long woe of mine until she listened, well after consulting it to the perpetrator who had set it up in the first place which wretched my soul for more than a decade already, her former mentor but at least I had changes which is now making my quality of life in a much better state than before. But dialysis quality now is not like before where I was feeling a much better clean even after fifteen minutes of being hooked-up at dialysis and by the time that I am finished it would really make my appetite better, so much better that I can eat everything as if it is the sweetest meal ever where my level of satiety is higher. It is my measuring tool about the quality of dialysis that I get like when I experienced getting my treatment in a different hospital, it really reminded me the experience of having a quality blood cleaning method considering that in my formers years I was only using a low flux dialyzer for that matter. So now it is not like that anymore and it is just a wish now for me if the quality of cleaning with dialysis would return or not, it will depend on maybe the doctor's orders.
Upvoted! Thank you for supporting witness @jswit.