Need help in choosing which home dialysis- PD or HomeHemo

Hello all, my function is down to 10% I am going to be starting dialysis soon. I have my assessment for both home dialysis choices and educational classes as well but I would love to hear from anyone who wants to weigh in on their choice and their experiences. I am not choosing any option for an in centre treatment. I live in Canada so I am not sure if home hemodialysis is an option for other areas as PD seems to be the only home choice. Thank you kindly.

[PracBob]

I have done both HD & PD. The both worked very well. I prefer PD because with it I feel more energetic and have a better appetite. Also, I can do it overnight at home so I avoid the 3x per week trip to the dialysis center. The home treatments do require some work seeing it up but I think it's worth it. My only problem is that I need to sit up for complete draining so my sleep gets interrupted. Most purple don't seem to have this problem and can sleep straight through the night. I'm looking into getting an adjustable bed that will let me sleep partially sitting up. I hope my experience helps you decide. Best wishes for your treatments.

[arcefam]

Hey T. I’ve been on PD for 8 months and love it. HD could not stand being at the clinic and being the youngest person there I’m 44 now and have all the freedom I want. At night sometime I sleep threw it and sometimes I need to get up but only for a few minutes.

Take Care

Rickybum!

[LRow]

Hi Tdubbs, I know in the states you have home PD and home Hemo available to you. I chose home PD and was on it for 9 months. It wasn't compatable for me unfortunately. I chose it because I was still working a full time job as a nurse and it fit my needs at the time. It has less restrictive fluid and diet intake than Hemo does. I'm on Hemo and it fits well for me at this time. I go to clinic to have it done because I didn't want to have all the supply's taking up my homes space. It's like having your home turned into a clinc, it's the same with your PD supplies. Just make sure you have ample storage space. My wife said she wanted to have her home back so take that advice for what it is.

I would suggest you find out as much as you can regarding both Pd And chemo at home, phosphorus binders, you daily suggested intake, protein supplements, iron supplements and ultimately your transplant list eligibility, I was excluded from my list the first time evaluation for having 20kg of fluid on me from the kidney failure. Something I thought my clinic would tell me prior to the evaluation. Just food for thought. Best wishes to you.

[Maxwellfamily]

My husband did hemo in center and for him it was horrid he got 1 good day a week and was sitting in center 4 hours 3 days a week gave him no life if you do home hemo tell them you want the buttonhole technique to your fistula so you don't need needles everyday and make sure you have someone around hemo with hemo there is emergencies with pd you can sleep while doing diaylsis you can travel you have more freedom if you like baths ask for a bathtub Cath it comes out under your peck muscle so you can be in water without submerging the opening of has gave us the ability to travel country and out of country as well as camp for weeks again and has resorted my husband's energy

[Hidden]

Thank you so much for the info. I have decided on PD and I have my consultation with the surgeon coming soon for the catheter placement. Sadly I don’t get a choice of the catheter and yes, I love baths but will need to say goodbye to baths but hopefully not forever. The home hemo option is just too much- the amount of space needed for machine and supplies is a lot, and the 8 weeks of mon-fri 9-3 training course is too much. I live an hour away from the hospital, in London Ontario so “commuting” while sick is not something I want to do. Doc says I will likely start dialysis within next 6 months....so just waiting to get a bit sicker I guess.... I am mostly managing my symptoms but the leg weakness, nausea, headaches and restlessness are getting worse. I feel I am no longer me. And that is the hardest part of waiting for dialysis. I hope I get me back. Thanks again for the info and I wish you and your husband many blessings.