This is a really good look at the aspect of pump speed and dialysis. The author, Greg, always does a very good job of making the complicated simple. I recommend you read his other postings at his blogsite, BigDandMe.
Devon
Manny (not his real name) started BigD about two months ago. And contrary to common experience, he feels just as lousy as when he started: weak, tired, generally unwell and incapable of doing much at all. These are classic symptoms of insufficient dialysis, where not enough toxins are being removed by the membrane filter.
Why? Like all new BigD members, his fistula was soft and fragile and initially couldn’t handle blood pump speeds higher than about 200 milliLitres per minute (mL/min). But rather than his fistula gradually maturing over time to become capable of faster blood flows, it had some kind of blockage (maybe it was clotted or had a narrowing that impeded the blood flow). So staff couldn’t get the blood pump speed past the 200 mL/min mark, which is not really enough dialysis to make a difference.
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