Another trip to the hospital

By Michael Fraase

Wednesday, 12 March 2008 07:31PM CST

Section: ESRD

SickSomething with my dialysis treatment went terribly wrong last Friday. Half-way through the session, I started to get leg cramps. All sorts of cramps are common for dialysis patients, but not for me—I haven’t had cramps for years; I’m close to obsessive-compulsive in managing my fluid intake. For the last few months, though, I’ve had intermittent leg cramps. My cramps are especially strange. You’d expect that I’d cramp in my calves or my thighs, but no, I cramp in my shins. Shins. How weird is that?

On Friday I immediately recognized cramps coming on and asked the technician to stop the ultrafiltration and give me a shot of saline.

Ultrafiltration is the osmotic process by which fluids are removed from the bloodstream. Too much fluid in the body results in higher blood pressure and other complications.

At the same time I started cramping, I became severely disoriented, weak, and nauseous. But I didn’t crash, and retained consciousness.

After about a half-hour I asked that the ultrafiltration resume and I finished my treatment. I came off 0.8 kilogram above my dry weight, which is quite rare for me. My disorientation, weakness, and nausea became increasingly severe throughout the last half of the session. I somehow managed to drive myself home—the dumbest thing I’ve done in a while; when the nurse asked me if I was okay to drive, my response was, “of course.” Once in the car, it took me a full three minutes of intense concentration to remember where I was going—home—and how to get there.

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