Daily Nocturnal Home HDF - Six month update

I switched to Daily Nocturnal Home Hemodiafiltration (HDF) in the first week of June this year with a mixture or hope and trepidation. 

Hope because HDF had shown very good results in clearing out middle molecules such as the notorious Beta-2 Microglobulin (Beta-2m) and I was suffering from a very high Beta-2m level which was causing symptoms like pain in my right shoulder while sleeping when it got cold. 

Trepidation because I hadn't come across anyone else undergoing this modality. There were people doing once a week HDF or thrice weekly-four hour HDF. I also came across some literature around short daily HDF and every other day nocturnal HDF. But none around Daily Nocturnal HDF.

The post-one month results were disappointing, the post-three month results were promising. 

I completed six months after switching to this modality recently. So, here's an update.

For those who are regular readers of my blog, you're aware I had a hip fracture in October that necessitated a hip replacement surgery. The surgery has a long recovery but I am feeling much better than a week or two back.

After 6 months of Daily Nocturnal Home HDF, my Beta-2m is down to 13,822 ng/mL (down from a high of 23,000). This is great news! The fall in the number is also borne out from the fact that I no longer have shoulder pain when it becomes cold at night. And the last month has been unusually cold in Hyderabad. While the normal level is about 2,000, this fall is pretty significant.

I am pretty thrilled with this right now! Some good news at last.