My wife made the account but it is really mine, Terry. I am a retired 68 white male and have been on PD since Nov 2010. My blood work is always in the top 95 percent and my clearance is 2.24. I do also get EPO and Iron shots..
In the past year my energy level is in the pits and I practically feel like I am approaching deaths door. My question is when you are healthy you hear about exercise making you feel better. My body does not seem to recover quickly and I feel washed out. I do not have a strict regiment of exercise because I am afraid to use what little energy I have. If I do start exercising will I find I do build more energy even with the loss of kidneys and eventually start feeling better. I have literally become a couch potato and very much want to feel among the living.
thank you for sharing and may the Lord bless each one of you.
PS I am considering a transplant. After talking with a gentleman on my area he says he can now keep up with his 2 year old grandson but until then I want to live.
very important question
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Re: very important question
Hi,
Exercise will help, whilst the felling of being 'washed out' is very real, some of it is probably due to depression, hopefully you will find you can do more than you think. I am not advocating running a mile or 2 hours in the gym just taking a walk will make a difference. If you have been inactive for a long time, start with say 10mins gentle walk, if it is possible take your wife along, for moral support. Gradually extend this to a 20mins brisk walk four times per week, by brisk I mean, just quick enough to interfere with talking.
If pain killers will help then use them, not anti-inflammatories, Paracetamol is OK.
It will also help if you can find an interesting walk/s.
Have a word with you GP before you go beyond the gentle 10mins, just to make sure.
Doing a little housework qualifies as exercise, for days when it is not possible to get out. It is said, vacuuming a house is about equal to a 2hr workout in a gym, and it's free.
Pottering in the garden is helpful.
If you want to measure your progress, record your BP, and resting pulse rate say daily, you could record this on a spread sheet and graph it. What you should find , after a couple of months, your BP and pulse should fall, due to improved cardio vascular function.
Low red cell count will make you feel tired.
After a transplant you should be 'normal' again.
Post, if you need clarification or just moral support, good luck.
Exercise will help, whilst the felling of being 'washed out' is very real, some of it is probably due to depression, hopefully you will find you can do more than you think. I am not advocating running a mile or 2 hours in the gym just taking a walk will make a difference. If you have been inactive for a long time, start with say 10mins gentle walk, if it is possible take your wife along, for moral support. Gradually extend this to a 20mins brisk walk four times per week, by brisk I mean, just quick enough to interfere with talking.
If pain killers will help then use them, not anti-inflammatories, Paracetamol is OK.
It will also help if you can find an interesting walk/s.
Have a word with you GP before you go beyond the gentle 10mins, just to make sure.
Doing a little housework qualifies as exercise, for days when it is not possible to get out. It is said, vacuuming a house is about equal to a 2hr workout in a gym, and it's free.
Pottering in the garden is helpful.
If you want to measure your progress, record your BP, and resting pulse rate say daily, you could record this on a spread sheet and graph it. What you should find , after a couple of months, your BP and pulse should fall, due to improved cardio vascular function.
Low red cell count will make you feel tired.
After a transplant you should be 'normal' again.
Post, if you need clarification or just moral support, good luck.
Re: very important question
just got my lab results back Albumin 4.1 Potassium 3.9 Calcium 10.0 Phosphorus 4.2 PTH 214 Hemoglobin 11.6 KTV 2.24
so you can see I really have no reason to feel like that.
While I am at it this brings me to another question. At times I will have a wave of extreme weakness wash over me and may last for 5 min to a half hour. No other symptoms. Is this normal for us? I have questioned my doctor and just get I don't knows.
This is a very unsettling feeling and wonder if others experience this.
so you can see I really have no reason to feel like that.
While I am at it this brings me to another question. At times I will have a wave of extreme weakness wash over me and may last for 5 min to a half hour. No other symptoms. Is this normal for us? I have questioned my doctor and just get I don't knows.
This is a very unsettling feeling and wonder if others experience this.
Re: very important question
Terry, I felt a lot like that and the bad news is it worsened after 2 years on PD. Just when I thought I would never get a transplant, out of the blue the call came and it is now over 6 weeks and go for another op on Tuesday to have the tube and stent removed... I should be as normal as possible after that. I did find that towards the end they gave me some B12 and something else infusions every 2 months or so and that helped a lot. I would suggest talk to the specialist PD nurse or nephrologist and explain the tiredness and ask for B12 or something else to boost your energy, without that it can be very horrible. Anyway don't give up hope, a transplant will come along soon enough and you will recover. Send me your phone number by PM if you feel like a more in-depth chat and I will give you a call. PS I am 65 now.
After a long time of waiting an anonymous donor has arrived in my life.
Words cannot express my gratitude to this lady and my paired exchange wife donor making it all possible
transplant 19th June 2015...Going very well mind you 2 years later
Words cannot express my gratitude to this lady and my paired exchange wife donor making it all possible
transplant 19th June 2015...Going very well mind you 2 years later
Re: very important question
Hi,
"just got my lab results back Albumin 4.1 Potassium 3.9 Calcium 10.0 Phosphorus 4.2 PTH 214 Hemoglobin 11.6 KTV 2.24"
Try this link for what blood results are about. http://www.edren.org/pages/edreninfo/bl ... isease.php
As you can see, there is a wealth of information hear, worth a look. KPG has some helpful stuff as well, look at the Home page.
There doe's not appear to be a standard set of measurement units in use in the UK, therefore it is usually best to include the measurement units when quoting blood results.
Calcium looks high, Phosphate looks high, but I am guessing at the units used in your results.
Just thought, an exercise bike can be used, especially when you are not able to go out. Same rules apply start gently, building up to 20mins of higher pulse rate as you get accustomed to exercising, four days per week.
"just got my lab results back Albumin 4.1 Potassium 3.9 Calcium 10.0 Phosphorus 4.2 PTH 214 Hemoglobin 11.6 KTV 2.24"
Try this link for what blood results are about. http://www.edren.org/pages/edreninfo/bl ... isease.php
As you can see, there is a wealth of information hear, worth a look. KPG has some helpful stuff as well, look at the Home page.
There doe's not appear to be a standard set of measurement units in use in the UK, therefore it is usually best to include the measurement units when quoting blood results.
Calcium looks high, Phosphate looks high, but I am guessing at the units used in your results.
Just thought, an exercise bike can be used, especially when you are not able to go out. Same rules apply start gently, building up to 20mins of higher pulse rate as you get accustomed to exercising, four days per week.
Re: very important question
hi Terry,
though quite different in many respects (I'm on HD, only 45, and still at work), I can empathise with the loss of energy, and those waves of weakness. I find it hard to do many things: house work i do in stages - a room or two at a time - as I cannot manage, e.g., vacuuming the whole house (just 4 rooms!) in one go. I often feel my legs about to give way, or that I am unsteady on my feet. If I spend more time than usual on my feet one day, the next day I have to take it easy. I don't do regular walks, due to time constraints and disinclination, but getting to my mostly desk-bound job forces a certain amount of walking a few times a week. Gardening is good - gets me away from TV or computer - but again, in small doses.
This year has been better than last (especially for the garden!), though my blood results are not much different - I think this is mostly due to mental attitude, but i seem to be a bit steadier too. last year i didn't stray much, worrying about losing strength in my legs - even then, i had some bad days almost dragging myself out of the underground to my train home. Last year had many low points, in how i was feeling about things, but this year I am trying to take a longer view, and doing something of the things I enjoy.
so yes, i think this is part and parcel of the condition for some (many?) of us, though some seem to manage a lot better. my approach was simply to pick up one activity after another, doing a liitle more each week. but it took a while to get to that point.
though quite different in many respects (I'm on HD, only 45, and still at work), I can empathise with the loss of energy, and those waves of weakness. I find it hard to do many things: house work i do in stages - a room or two at a time - as I cannot manage, e.g., vacuuming the whole house (just 4 rooms!) in one go. I often feel my legs about to give way, or that I am unsteady on my feet. If I spend more time than usual on my feet one day, the next day I have to take it easy. I don't do regular walks, due to time constraints and disinclination, but getting to my mostly desk-bound job forces a certain amount of walking a few times a week. Gardening is good - gets me away from TV or computer - but again, in small doses.
This year has been better than last (especially for the garden!), though my blood results are not much different - I think this is mostly due to mental attitude, but i seem to be a bit steadier too. last year i didn't stray much, worrying about losing strength in my legs - even then, i had some bad days almost dragging myself out of the underground to my train home. Last year had many low points, in how i was feeling about things, but this year I am trying to take a longer view, and doing something of the things I enjoy.
so yes, i think this is part and parcel of the condition for some (many?) of us, though some seem to manage a lot better. my approach was simply to pick up one activity after another, doing a liitle more each week. but it took a while to get to that point.