Kidney Patient Guide

My mom has been on Dialysis for about a year. She is diabetic and has heart disease.
About a month ago she had a bout with anemia and was in the hospital for a week while they got her blood count up.
She was getting epogen shots more frequently and daily dialysis.
Since then over the last two weeks her low blood pressure bouts have been getting worse and more frequent and she is afraid to get out of bed. The doctors seem to be at a loss about what to do. They had her stop a new insulin and that hasn't reversed the progression. Today she was barely able to get back to bed before passing out. (first time her knees gave out and she is afraid to get out of bed now).
She is very discouraged and doesn't want to go to the ER cuz' they don't seem to know what the problem is being caused by.
If her doctors are at a loss, the dialysis physicians assistant doesn't have answers other than "lay down when it happens"....
DO any of you have history with this scenario?

Hi Hagerhogan,

Sorry to read about mum.

BP - with a kidney condition 120/80 is considered good.

Blood count, ( Haemoglobin ) ought to be around 110 +- 10 a little higher is not a problem. She may well need EPO (sick kidneys don't make enough) and she may need iron regularly.

Blood sugar - is that well controlled, and not on the low side?

Dialysis - removing too much water will cause a low blood pressure, and blackouts, remember the dry weight is an intelligent guess at first, and may well need adjusting. The dialysis staff tend to take dry weight as gospel...

Someone needs to speak with her consultant both Nephrologist and Heart, to this end mum needs to let them know (if not already done) her case can be discussed with appropriate family members.

I think, staying in bed will tend to make the problem worse.

Warning - I am not a doctor.

Best wishes