How many of you have had a reaction to whatever when doing a dialysis TX. Shaking, hot flashes, rashes, itching, etc. And if so, what did the care taker or Dr say it was?

Very curious to your responses

About one month, or thereabouts, after I started dialyis, I had terrible itching while on the chair for a number of txs. My phos was not high. I asked, but no explanation was given to me.

I've also had cramping so severe several times, I felt like I was going into shock. And I passed out twice.

During my second year of dialysis i developed a rash on my upper arms, increasing after every dialysis tx. for about a week. I complained and was told they were "flea bites". 10 min. into a tx. I developed flush face, rapid heart, decrease blood pressure and hives. I was rushed to ER with acute allergic rx. since then we have always rinsed with an extra liter of fluid and have no further reactions.

Check out the list of posts for "Freaky Tx". At the time staff thought I was just "very cold" or "coming down with something", then when my temp. spiked they thought I had a blood infection. I repeatedly asked if they found the cause and was told no. I suspected a pyrogenic reaction; my doctor recently confirmed that for me saying that is what the staff told him. Apparently it was something wrong with the water, lal. Just curious, why do you want to know, did you have a reaction? Lin.

John, The "Freaky Tx" post is in the General Nursing section. Lin.

I have found that there are a few reasons for reactions coming on to treatment. Some have a reaction to renalin , the sterilant used in reuse. Rinsing with a few extra bags of saline first can help for many. First use syndrome (I've read) is a reaction to the clay-like substance that holds the fibres in the dialyzer. Again, rinsing with extra saline should help. Also, running heparin into the machine in pre-rinse is reccommended. another cause of "starting" discomfort is a drop in BP, due to blood leaving the body. You may mitigate this with addition of saline equivilent to the blood out. When I was new to dialysis we would start the blood pump at 200, and increase 50 - 100 every ten minutes to my max of 450.. Personally I refuse reuse, rinse with saline and heparin, and add saline as we go along. I haven't had any reation in more than two years.

You can put reactions into two categories. Before 15 minutes is usually a reaction to the sterilant. Past 15 minutes and there are two potential causes. First is water that has endotoxins. This causes a pyrogenic reaction or fever. The second is a reaction to the membrane itself. Usually shortness of breath with other symptoms. There is no clay like substance in the dialyzer. It is a potting compound. And the reaction is to the membrane itself. Rinsing with more saline is always a benefit to the patient. This rinses out manufacturing residue from the dialyzer. Rinsing with heparin is not effective as it takes heparin five minutes to work in the body. The best way to get heparin is into the fistula needle five minutes before the treatment even begins. Otherwise you are not anticoagulated.

Thanks Concerned professional for your insite! My reaction did occurr about 15 to 20 mins into tx, and the problem was with the water. At first staff tried to blame it on anything else, not wanting to believe it could "possibly" be anything they might have neglected!
I believe it was Chuck who pointed me in the right direction, and I owe him my thanks! If the problem continued who knows how many patients would have been ultimately affected, before the water was monitored more closely!
Needless to say, staff is not too thrilled that I read up on it and knew the facts. They would rather have talked me into believing I was "coming down with something". Thanks again for those who help to educate patients. Lin.