jbell wrote:Hi Gavin so sorry you are finding life so difficult. To be honest I think any kind of dialysis pd or hd is going to be stressfull and change your life such a lot. Will you start to use the pd machine through the night and stop doing manual exchanges ?, or am I missing the point and you have already done that ? Why did you not take to hd? I know it is an absolute pain losing so much of your free time and can be difficult at times as well but in my case I do feel the benefit on my free days. Do you get any suport from family or friends ? I find on my shift at the unit I feel a bit isolated as there are only 6 of us and next to me the youngest is 70 - 90+ and they all seem to sleep through the 4 hours. Which is probably the best way ! Having kidneyy disease is so difficult and other people don't always understand. I know emotional help is scarse on the ground as well. Do you work Gavin or are you too unwell ? You are not alone as the majority of people on here have had difficulties and low times, I am sure you can overcome this and hopefully things will settle down for you. I wish you well Gavin and stay in touch ...... Jbell
Hi and thank you for your kind reply.
I was finding HD difficult because of several things like having to wait for hospital transport there and back, you have to be ready 2 hours before your session so it turned out by the time I was ready and by the time I got back was over 7 hours each time.
Because I use a stick due to vein damage from thrombosis I had in 2007 I get hospital transport, otherwise it would of meant I took 2 buses to get there and two back, I suffer badly with public transport due to my anxiety plus sitting on the machine unable to talk to the person next to me as the beds are too far away and the machines were also in the way.
So that's why I decided on PD, Doing the machine instead of the manual bags isn't an option as my bedroom is upstairs and the bathroom is downstairs so taking the big waste bags down the stairs plus other factors so I can only do CAPD manual exchanges.
I live with my father who is 85, that's a worry and although he is very good for his age I still worry about the future ! Things started going wrong for me in 1998 when I had an industrial accident on my neck, then in 2007 I found out I had kidney problems and thrombosis in my right leg, in 2009 my mother died of cancer and in 2013 started dialysis.
I don't work due to my disabilities, and still also find it difficult coping with losing my mother in 2009, it was a horrible death and although again I saw a councillor I am still finding life difficult.
Not to mention several disastrous turns with Internet dating, I was scammed out of £3000 so I have certainly had my share of problems, to my stress is like a pile of books with it getting bigger and bigger and when I manage to clear some of those books then more get put on the pile so it's never ending.
I am a good listener and like to think I can be there for others and offer some comforting advice, but accepting things myself is a different matter.
If anyone wants a chat, then please email me or PM me and I hope I can be of help to you all.
It's nice to be able to talk to other people in the same situation as myself, who understand what I'm going through