I had my AV Fistula surgery just last month but after 10 days it stopped. Interestingly enough while the fistula was working (all the dialysis nurses said it looked and felt strong) my pulse went up to 150 - 152. When the fistula stopped the pulse went back to normal.

The doctor said he won't run any tests and they will just wait to see if it happens again when they do another AV fistula surgery on me. I am a skinny (120 lbs 5'5" 32 year old Canadian) woman so they said they would have no trouble with my viens since they are close to the surface. The surgeon said my viens are huge but then when I asked him why it failed he said my viens are small. When I asked my nephrologist why my pulse went up so high he said it was probably just a fluke thing and not to worry about it.

But I am worried! It is my health here! My life! And I am not the type to freak out because I have been sick since birth and in and out of hospitals since I was 9 years old and had my first kidney transplant when I was 16 after 2 months of CAPD (I was lucky). I feel like the doctors are not taking me seriously. I know they will deal with anything they come across but I feel that if they too the pulse issue more seriously that maybe they could prevent some issues in the future. Sometimes things like this make me really question the Canadian health system and I wonder if I would get better treatment in the States except that I would never be able to afford that. So I am here wondering if I could get any advice. The next AV Fistula surgery has not been scheduled yet even though it was supposed to be within the last 2 weeks.

Hi! I am also Canadian and have had my fistula clot off once. What I noticed was from time to time, the month before I would get this flush of blood and a warm feeling in my arm.
In northern Alberta regular transonics are used to monitor how fast the blood is moving through the fistula. They have caught many problems before they occur. Preventing many clot offs befoe they occur.

quote:

Originally posted by Nancy Verdin:
Hi! I am also Canadian and have had my fistula clot off once. What I noticed was from time to time, the month before I would get this flush of blood and a warm feeling in my arm.<br /> In northern Alberta regular transonics are used to monitor how fast the blood is moving through the fistula. They have caught many problems before they occur. Preventing many clot offs befoe they occur.

Hmm... I live in Ontario and it is with the use of my permcath but ever since I got a fistula but before they started using it. The odd thing is they just started using it with 17gauge and it seems to have come down a bit (still high at 114 but not as bad as 140) ... so I don't know what is causing it ...