I find that I need to inject a little Xylocaine in both my arterial and venous buttonholes before cannulating. Many people don't use any anesthetic but I find using it makes the cannulation painless.
Now, another thing I realized was that I need to use it for a few weeks and then I could stop using it for a few weeks and then I would need to start using it again.
These days I am using Xylocaine. Now, I am trying to do most of the starting part of the treatment myself but using the regular 10 ml syringes I found that it was very difficult to inject the Xylocaine. So, my tech suggested using Insulin syringes. I bought a few yesterday and used one. It was much easier to inject the Xylocaine.
But last night, after about half an hour of cannulation, there was a strong pain in my arterial site. I touched the area and it felt like the needle was touching the upper wall. The pain was becoming quite bad.
I tried adjusting the needle. I had to be very careful because if the needle got dislocated, I could bleed and it was tough to start dialysis again. But the pain did not reduce. I tried to ignore it. About 2 hours passed with my alternating between trying to sleep and trying to adjust the needles. No success.
Eventually I woke the tech and he did some adjustment of the needle and the plaster. After about 5-10 minutes, I think the pain reduced or I fell asleep, I don't know which.
I got up early in the morning - about half hour before dialysis would finish. I felt very uncomfortable in my arm around my access sites.
I had the tech close dialysis about half an hour before schedule.
Even after the needles were removed, the pain lasted quite a while.
For the most part, my dialysis goes off quite uneventfully. No pain, good sleep, good UF. but there are these days when these kind of things happen and it really frustrates the hell out of me.
These are the times when I yearn for a transplant. What a nice life it must be! No hassle of dialysis, no cannulation, no worrying about fluid intake.
Now, I am about to start my dialysis and am really worried that the pain might return. Let's hope it does not.
Now, another thing I realized was that I need to use it for a few weeks and then I could stop using it for a few weeks and then I would need to start using it again.
These days I am using Xylocaine. Now, I am trying to do most of the starting part of the treatment myself but using the regular 10 ml syringes I found that it was very difficult to inject the Xylocaine. So, my tech suggested using Insulin syringes. I bought a few yesterday and used one. It was much easier to inject the Xylocaine.
But last night, after about half an hour of cannulation, there was a strong pain in my arterial site. I touched the area and it felt like the needle was touching the upper wall. The pain was becoming quite bad.
I tried adjusting the needle. I had to be very careful because if the needle got dislocated, I could bleed and it was tough to start dialysis again. But the pain did not reduce. I tried to ignore it. About 2 hours passed with my alternating between trying to sleep and trying to adjust the needles. No success.
Eventually I woke the tech and he did some adjustment of the needle and the plaster. After about 5-10 minutes, I think the pain reduced or I fell asleep, I don't know which.
I got up early in the morning - about half hour before dialysis would finish. I felt very uncomfortable in my arm around my access sites.
I had the tech close dialysis about half an hour before schedule.
Even after the needles were removed, the pain lasted quite a while.
For the most part, my dialysis goes off quite uneventfully. No pain, good sleep, good UF. but there are these days when these kind of things happen and it really frustrates the hell out of me.
These are the times when I yearn for a transplant. What a nice life it must be! No hassle of dialysis, no cannulation, no worrying about fluid intake.
Now, I am about to start my dialysis and am really worried that the pain might return. Let's hope it does not.
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