New to pd

[3lmr]

Hi there, new to this group. I started pd dialysis in January this year and still feeling bad. I’m wondering how long it takes for someone to start feeling better. I’m always tired and my weight keeps going up from my target weight. Has anyone has any idea what I should do. I really feel bad and guilty that I can’t help much around the house, but I’m always tired and always in pain. I hate to feel this way. Thanks in advance

[Ashkutty]

Hello! Best would be to talk to the nephrologist.

[3lmr in reply to Ashkutty]

Thank you for your help

[cs65]

Have you been checked for an infection? You should probably go to your nephrologist right away.

[3lmr in reply to cs65]

Thank you

[Eddie2149]

Hi 3Imr

I just turned 70 and have been in PD for 20 months.

I live by myself and one night I sat there telling myself that this is it......I had been given a second chance to live and I was not about to just throw in the towel!

I looked around and asked myself what had made me a happy person.

By loving those people that love you, I do not have time to think about those things that I know will bring me down.

Sure, there are some issues, but I cannot dwell on them. I have found the strength and courage to continue. Life is beautful and we need to celebrate it.

I have always said , "I have kidney failure-kidney failure does not have me"!

Look around and see how other people are in worse shape than you. I tell myself that I will do everything in my power to live without pain.

If I do not help myself...who will?

I take my medicine, binders, ride my 5 speed bike and do 5 exchanges daily.

I am still there for my 2 daughters and my family. What helps too is eating 3 times daily. Go out and see a movie.

Enjoy life..good luck!

Eddie

[Jayhawker in reply to Eddie2149]

It’s great for that you ride your bike. How far, on average, do you ride daily?

Marj

[Eddie2149 in reply to Jayhawker]

2 miles daily total. Get to appreciate stuff you do not see when inside your car. When finished I make a cucumber and pineapple smoothie.

[Jayhawker in reply to Eddie2149]

I’m trying to restart my bike riding right now. We’ve had a lot of rain though so at best I’ve had 2 out of 7 days a week to ride at this point. Hopefully we’ll finally get past all this rain so I can start riding daily.

[Eddie2149 in reply to Jayhawker]

I chose bike riding because I was riding my bike before dialysis. Basically, all you need to do is take up some exercise activity you feel comfortable with and like Nike says "Just Do It"!

My other relaxing time is to play my acoustic guitar and sing some songs or play some tunes in my Yamaha keyboard.

[Jayhawker in reply to Eddie2149]

Exactly🐶 I have riden a bike throughout my adult life. I have also walked a lot and, when I was younger, I swam laps.

I realize the swimming and water walking are out now with dialysis just around the corner. I’ve been extremely sick with very low blood pressure as well as sudden drops in my blood pressure for most of the past 6 years. Finally, over the past 12 months, my blood pressure has improved some. While it still runs low, it’s no where nearly as low as I was. And I no longer experience sudden drops in my blood pressure.

So, I’m very thankful to be feeling so much better. But I’m very weak from all of this. So I’m gradually building my strength and stamina up again.

Right now I’m walking 3/4 mile a day. I do a light 36 minute workout on my recumbent elliptical machine daily. And, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m trying to get started with bike riding—but the weather hasn’t been cooperating with the bike riding at this point.

I do really enjoy bike riding and walking. Both are good forms of exercise for me. The recumbent elliptical machine has been a crucial form of exercise for me; I could do 1-2 12 minute light workouts on that even when my blood pressure was running really low and plummeting. (My blood pressure was generally fine when I was seated...)

As is likely obvious, this is going to be a work in progress throughout the summer this year. But I suspect my strength will be back by the end of August—I just have to stay focused and keep working at this. I’ve got two charity bike rides i would love to do in late September and early October—if I think I can ride far enough. 🚲

[WhollyAligned in reply to Jayhawker]

You know you can still swim in the sea and fresh water? Just swimming pools, jacuzzis, that kind of thing is out due to infection risk. I love diving into the sea on holidays and go in without any dressing so the catheter site gets a good cleanse. I just tuck it into my bikini briefs and in I go. Bliss! Just make sure it dries off well before reapplying a dressing. Getting sun on it is actually very helpful.

[Jayhawker in reply to WhollyAligned]

That’s wonderful on the swimming!

Unfortunately I live in central United States. Not only am I literally thousands of miles from either ocean, I’m also a few hundred miles from any fresh water lakes. Consequently my only access to water for swimming is a pool... I used to live in upper state New York so grew up swimming a lot in fresh water lakes. We also traveled to the eastern sea coast in the summers where I got to swim some in the ocean. Swimming has always been my preferred form of exercise.

However, I also enjoy biking. I now live in an area that is ideal for distance biking. So before I became so sick I used to do distance bike riding. I’m going to do what I can to get back to that this summer. However, this is definitely going to take some time AND distance riding for me now may be 5-6 miles a day only... I’ll just have to see what I can build up to on the distance 🚲

Nevertheless, it’s just good to be feeling enough better consistently to be able to focus on biking again🐶

Marj

[WhollyAligned in reply to Eddie2149]

Beautiful mindset!! Well done!! Keep living from your heart. Life is all about how we see it and therefore it is so important we do not become consumed by negativity.

[3lmr in reply to Eddie2149]

Thank you very positive information

[WhollyAligned]

To inspire you: dailymail.co.uk/health/arti...

[Jayhawker in reply to WhollyAligned]

This is great! Thanks for sharing🐶