Please explain how Uf profiling works and what is a good profile to start on. I gain 2 on weekdays and 3 on weekends. I am going to try sodium modeling too, either linear or step. Would like suggestions on a sodium program too. Thanks.

UF profiling actually staggers the amount of fluid pulled during the treatment. A "straight" UF program the UF rate (amount of fluid pulled in a certain time) can be determined by dividing the UF goal (total fluid to be removed) by the UF time. Let's say the 2000 cc's to be removed in four hours the UF rate will be 500cc/hour. When you utilize UF profiling you pull more fluid in a certain phase of the treatment, let's say you are more stable in the beginning of your treatment, instead of pulling 500cc/hour you may want to pull 750cc/hour for the first two hours, now in the last two hours instead of having 1000cc to remove you only have 500cc left (you have removed 750cc/hour for two hours=1500cc). So the last two hours the rate drops off significantly so hopefully your pressure stays stable and you do not suffer any cramps. Some more on sodium tommorrow. hope this info helps.

My SO has been on Hemodialysis for almost 9 months now. He is diabetic and it took him awhile to start feeling "not too bad" at the end of his treatments. His current DW is 65.9K and he typically gains 2 to 3K between treatments. Fluid first goes to his ankles, then to his face and abdomen. His BP never went low at first, but it started to do so several months ago. He does not like Sodium Modeling because of the way it makes him feel so he stopped allowing the Techs to use it but he still wants to reach his DW so he doesn't want the UF turned off if at all possible. One of the Techs tried a UF Profile that kicks the rate up and down during the treatment. That didn't work, so they tried a Profile that removes most of the fluid during the first 1/2 of treatment and removes substantially less during the last half of treatment, (Profile 1 on a Fresenius 2008H). This worked wonderfully and although his BP starts to go low near the end of the high step, as soon as the rate of fluid removal starts reducing, his BP recovers with no cramping. The problem is that one of the RNs insists that UF Profiling adds extra Sodium even if Sodium Modeling isn't turned on during treatment. The RN will not turn on the Profile if Charlie's BP is high at the beginning of the treatment, which it usually is, because "the added Sodium would cause BP problems". Sure enough, BP starts to bottom out during the last hour and it is too late to turn on the Profiling at that point so UF gets turned off because Charlie doesn't want Sodium turned on and the DW isn't met. Sorry about the long post before the question but I thought the more information the better. The question? Does UF Profiling add extra Sodium or does it simply vary the rate of fluid removal by use of TMP? Thank you in advance for any information.

The UF profiling does not increase the sodium level of the dialysate bath (if it did it would be called sodium variation). The UF profiling system simply increases the Ultrafiltration pump strokes removing more fluid at the appropriate time. The prove to the nursing staff is watch the conductivity, it should not increase during the uf profiling program. Hope this helps