Sandy
Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 38
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:02 am Post subject: NxStage
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I think one of the reasons Dr.s do not recommend home hemo is they would not see you as often and therefore LOSE $$$$. Maybe I am just being negative, however our experience tells me I am right! I believe one needs to find teaching hospitals to find Dr.s that are progressive. We are planning a move soon and will drive 5 hours every couple of months to see my husbands Dr.But he feels so good that that is now an option. Think positive people.
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another patient
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 2
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:37 pm Post subject: for sandy
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Sandy I would like to get in touch with you too about your personal experience with the NxStage machine. I already have spoken with rep, but would like first hand account. Could you email your # to DEO President Pat Tate-Harris at: DialysisEthicsLA@aol.com or call 225-355-5379. Thanks.
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Sandy
Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 38
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:31 am Post subject: nxStage
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I think one of the lessons one must learn about Kidney disease is this: You are in charge of your own health care. Do not rely on the government or Medicare or even your Dr. to be in charge. You must look for options and be open to them. Remember, almost all the people who SAY they are your advocate have some motive for doing so, be it financial or otherwise. Take charge people and don't let anyone or anything tell you you can't do something! I am convinced that if I were not a pain or thorn we would not be where we are today. We are still enjoying the benifits of NxStage and find the Company to be miles above what we expected. They are top drawer. Sandy
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The Observer
Joined: 01 Mar 2005
Posts: 2
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:23 pm Post subject: New Home Hemo Site
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There's a new site which a NxStage patient setup.........you have to see this site, it has alot of information. Because it's a new site I believe it has potential of being a very informative site on home dialysis machines......<
><
>www.dailyhemo.org<
>www.dailyhemo.com
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leadsag
Joined: 31 Oct 2002
Posts: 263
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:37 am Post subject: NXStatge
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Contact: Joe Stuteville<
>jstutevi@iupui.edu<
>317-274-7722<
>Indiana University<
>Portable system offers dialysis patients 'liberating' changes<
>INDIANAPOLIS ? A suitcase-sized machine tested at the Indiana University School of Medicine is making life easier for some patients undergoing rigorous dialysis for kidney failure.<
><
>A year ago, researchers at IU and across the country began testing the NxStage System One, a portable unit that allows patients to conduct their own dialysis at home or on the road. And the preliminary results are promising, says Michael A. Kraus, M.D., the study's principal investigator and medical director of IU's Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis and Acute Dialysis Units.<
><
>Dr. Kraus says patients treated with the System One therapy have more stable blood pressure and all of them have reduced or completely stopped their blood-pressure medications. Anemia rates seem to have declined and patients' appetites have increased. There has been a marked improvement in quality of life for the dialysis patients on daily treatments at Indiana University Hospital, a member of Clarian Health Partners.<
><
>"We've had mothers who didn't have the energy take care of their kids, people who had resigned themselves to never work or have a career, basically a lesser quality of life. Now their situations have reversed," Dr. Kraus says. "It has given patients back control over their lives."<
><
>Currently, about 70 patients with kidney failure nationwide are treated with NxStage System One, a third of which of these treated at IU and Clarian Health.<
><
>Kidney failure, or end stage renal disease, affects some 400,000 Americans, which cause a person to experience a total and irreversible loss of kidney function, leading to the eventual need for dialysis or transplantation. It can be caused by a number of conditions such as nephritis, traumatic injury, diabetes, hypertension or genetic-related disorders.<
><
>For end-stage patients who do not have a match for kidney transplant or are not candidates for deceased donor transplantation, the only treatment is dialysis of which there are two types. Less common is peritoneal dialysis, where the patient's abdominal mem
ane filters out waste, a process usually performed at home.<
><
>The most common form of treatment is hemodialysis, which separates toxins and excess water artificially from the patient's blood. Hemodialysis usually takes place in clinics or hospitals, though some units have been adapted for home use. Traditionally, patients undergo four hours of "cleansing," three days a week. While effective, the process often leaves patients physically exhausted and unable to resume normal activities.<
><
>The NxStage System One delivers hemodialysis, hemofiltration, or ultrafiltration to patients with kidney failure or fluid overload. The system is compact and weighs about 70 pounds. It's portable because of its freedom from unique electrical requirements and water processing, and can be used not only in a person's home but also when traveling.<
><
>Patients at IU have performed their dialysis in their homes, campers, hotel rooms and other locations far from their homes.<
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>With this system, patients conduct daily dialysis (up to 2 ? hours) to accommodate their schedules.<
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>"NxStage trial participants at IU undergo extensive training before they are allowed to take the system home with them," Dr. Kraus says. "Training time is typically one to three weeks, and patients also must have trained partners who can assist with the set up and maintenance of the device and its components."<
><
>The system has given Indianapolis resident Angela Bunch, who is receiving in-center therapy at IU Hospital, a new lease on life. "I work full time night shifts. I would leave work in the morning, come into the hospital for dialysis three times a week, go home and rest and after that I would crawl into work.<
><
>"No pep, no get up and go whatsoever," says Bunch a postal worker who has been on dialysis since 2001. "Now, I can take those stairs at work and at home. The energy level I have now is so much higher. It's all so very liberating."<
><
>That freedom is what allowed Rick Skiles to go on his first extended vacation since starting dialysis in 1997. Last Christmas, the 51-year-old Indianapolis resident was able to cruise the Caribbean with his wife and visit relatives in Virginia. At the end of each day during the trip, Skiles would set up the portable system and conduct his own dialysis.<
><
>"There's no comparison to what I was doing before," Skiles notes of his previous dialysis regimen. "This approach definitely has been life-changing for me."<
><
>###<
><
>For more information about the IU daily dialysis program, call 317-274-4428.<
>More information about NxStage can be found at
www.nxstage.com/ ***********************************************************
Sandy
Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 38
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:56 am Post subject: Now on NxStage
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Just wanted to follow up. We are moving next week back to Georgia to be nearer my children. And looking forward to that. My husband is like a new person since starting NxStage. His labs came back perfect! His meds for BP. have been halved and it is so wonderful to be free of 3 times a week torture of going to clinic. Whoever said " Be it ever so humble, there's
no place like home" was SO RIGHT! I cannot say enough about this system...and all of it is GOOD. Sandy
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KCW
Joined: 28 Mar 2005
Posts: 2
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 6:17 pm Post subject: NxStage Contact information
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Thank You Sandy for posting this great news! and wish you the best in Georgia! No place as pretty in the spring!<
><
>Call the company directly for all of your answers!<
><
>NxStage Medical, Inc.<
>439 South Union Street<
>5th Floor<
>Lawrence, MA 01843<
><
>Call Toll Free 1-866-285-1299<
><
>Direct Telephone 1-976-687-4700<
><
>Fax 976-687-4600
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Sandy
Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 38
Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 2:33 am Post subject: NxStage
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My husband is still doing great on NxStage. I wish more people would consider home dialysis. The difference is astounding in both physical and emotional well-being. It is just such a relief not to send him off to clinic and to have the whole day to do as we please. Sometimes he takes his treatment eary in the morning freeing up the rest of the day and other times we do it later to have the day for appointments or whatever. Really, the only downside is the monthly visit back to North Carolina for clinic day. Other that that, we are home free!! Sandy
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Marty
Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Posts: 160
Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 8:03 am Post subject: Oh so true
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Sandy thank you for posting on home hemo. I have been my fathers partner for going on 5 years. Although we don't use the NxStage and do Nocturnal the results both emotionally and physically are outstanding. I too wish more patients would take a deeper look at this modality, it can really turn a person around. I think there is going to have to be a bigger push on the patient side to get this available to more patients but it truly is worth the effort.
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Pierre
Joined: 29 May 2005
Posts: 2
Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 12:51 am Post subject: Any machine will do
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I dialyze 6 days a week at home on a conventional hemodialysis machine (I won't even mention the
and). Home renovations were minor - just a simple extension of water supply and drain from behind the bathtub, all paid for by the hospital. My service is NOT provided by a company, but by the nephrology department of the local hospital.<
><
>The benefits of daily hemodialysis are not related to any specific machine, they are benefits of the process itself. Even if you end up with the same total number of treatment hours in a week as regular in-centre, the benefits come from the frequency of dialysis. This greatly reduces the so-called "unphysiological" effects of building up toxins and fluid over two days, and then having at removed all at once in a longer treatment. I do 2 hours per treatment, 6 evenings per week (and I can vary the exact time I do it if I want to).<
><
>I use the buttonhole technique with dull buttonhole needles, and I do my dialysis without a helper. There is big money involved in home hemodialysis machines, but the reality is that machines like NxStage and Aksys only claim to add some convenience. They don't really affect the actual treatment. Dialysis is dialysis. Don't miss out on the benefits of daily hemodialysis just because you can't get a specific machine.<
><
>
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jfwag
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
Posts: 140
Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 7:53 am Post subject: Re: Any machine will do
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I could not have heard this put any better. I hadn't thought about it like that, (new machines help with convenience).<
>To others out there that are thinking of home hemo, if you are able to, the doctor agrees and the few minor changes to you r living space-do it. The health benefits greatly out weigh any inconvenience percieved. <
>poignantmoments.tripod.com/
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Smaller is Better
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Posts: 2
Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 4:05 am Post subject: Size Matters
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NxStage is the way to go, most convenient for most of us, especially those of us who live in an apartment or live in a motorhome. <
><
>Just recently NxStage has been approved by FDA for home use........read more about it here...<
><
>nxstage.com/company/062905.asp<
><
>
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Sandy
Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 38
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 7:55 am Post subject: Now on Nxstage
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I just want to play catch-up today. My husband has been on NxStage since January 3, and he is totally off all medications including Bp and heart med's. We are just so completely happy with this method of dialysis and we believe that we can live with this now. It was difficult for two " road warriors" to give up our indepedence and go to clinic three times a week. As I have stated so many times, this is A BETTER WAY <
>sANDY
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AL
Guest
Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:35 pm Post subject:
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Hi Sandy, I have been using NxStage to! Been almost a year now and what can I say, wow! I just joined NxStage Users Group at Yahoo! You might want to join to cuz theres other NxStage users there who chat and share their experiences.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NxStageUsersGroup/ ***********************************************************
DE Friend
Guest
Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 4:08 am Post subject:
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Al,
Thanks for posting the link! I just thought I would mention Home Dialysis Central has a great message board for home dialysis also,
http://www.homedialysis.org/boards/ . I've heard a lot of good about NxStage, it sounds much better than the clinic and I've heard even more good about slow nocturnal dialysis.
