TareX, peritoneal dialysis does not involve a bag that you wear. It involves filling up your peritoneal cavity inside your abdomen with dialysis fluid or hooking yourself up to a cycler 9 hours a night. The latter is what I do, though I was on manual PD for the first three months that I was on dialysis. You have to carry bags of fluid with you to work if you're required to do manual exchanges in the daytime and do an exchange at least every 8 hours, 4 times or more per day in most cases. This is really an oversimplification, but you get the idea.
There is some pain in hemodialysis. Poking huge needles in your arm or having somebody else do it is no fun. However, several companies make special numbing creams that you can coat your arm with to minimize the pain. I avoid the needles entirely by being on PD.
Peritonitis is not such a big concern if you follow the techniques you're taught in training to the letter and do not cut corners. I am not really worried about it in my own case because I strictly follow what I was taught. There's a greater risk of infection from technicians and nurses cutting corners in a dialysis clinic. When you do dialysis at home, you're responsible.
I will be first in line for one of these portable kidneys when they are commercially available if I don't have a transplant by then, especially if they are smaller and lighter.
I was on peritoneal *omg, I can't even spell the damn word!* for about a year and now I have an ash cath but seriously, if it's similar to the P-word, I'd be willing to go under the knife again to be able to use the belt! The cath. I have now makes it really hard to do anything fun! I LOVE swimming in my pool but if this cath. gets wet then I'm in for a world of hurt! I HATE not being able to get wet! I can't even take showers without taping plastic over my catheder! I'm with you, man. First in line!
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TareX, peritoneal dialysis does not involve a bag that you wear. It involves filling up your peritoneal cavity inside your abdomen with dialysis fluid or hooking yourself up to a cycler 9 hours a night. The latter is what I do, though I was on manual PD for the first three months that I was on dialysis. You have to carry bags of fluid with you to work if you're required to do manual exchanges in the daytime and do an exchange at least every 8 hours, 4 times or more per day in most cases. This is really an oversimplification, but you get the idea.
There is some pain in hemodialysis. Poking huge needles in your arm or having somebody else do it is no fun. However, several companies make special numbing creams that you can coat your arm with to minimize the pain. I avoid the needles entirely by being on PD.
Peritonitis is not such a big concern if you follow the techniques you're taught in training to the letter and do not cut corners. I am not really worried about it in my own case because I strictly follow what I was taught. There's a greater risk of infection from technicians and nurses cutting corners in a dialysis clinic. When you do dialysis at home, you're responsible.
I will be first in line for one of these portable kidneys when they are commercially available if I don't have a transplant by then, especially if they are smaller and lighter.
- a kidney patient
I was on peritoneal *omg, I can't even spell the damn word!* for about a year and now I have an ash cath but seriously, if it's similar to the P-word, I'd be willing to go under the knife again to be able to use the belt! The cath. I have now makes it really hard to do anything fun! I LOVE swimming in my pool but if this cath. gets wet then I'm in for a world of hurt! I HATE not being able to get wet! I can't even take showers without taping plastic over my catheder! I'm with you, man. First in line!