Mimi~ It's been 6 months since I did my last infusion, but if I remember correctly, I let every drop drain out of the infusion bag, out of the drip chamber and into the tubing on my arm. I did not waste one drop of that expensive medicine!
I would be more concerned that the bag went from half full to empty in what seemed like a short amount of time in your post.
Infusion took me a good hour to an hour and a half.
Of course, check your concerns with your doctor.
Timaca
Posted by monkeyshines (Member # 6406) on :
mimi,
I did this at least once, mostly cause I did IV so long (6 months) I got complacent and occasionally didn't pay proper attention to what I was doing.
I vaguely remember not feeling so great when I did it, but it's been long enough ago that I don't remember details.
While it's not optimal, I was fine and lived to tell the tale.
Hope you're doing okay now.
monkeyshines
Posted by chroniclymie (Member # 7697) on :
it should and will be fine, unless you kicked the bucket since your post. it requies a bolus dose of 30cc of air to cause death. next time stop at the regulator bubble or let the bubble empty out and stop. the amount left in the iv tubing is totally insignificant and can be discarded, 95% of the fluid is normal saline or d5w sugar water. very little of the total volume of the liquid is medicine. docdave Posted by david1097 (Member # 3662) on :
A little air won't hurt.... I think the danger threshold that is used is something like 10 cc of fast infusion. That is over a complete line full.
If you are dripping from a bag...
The bag will drain until the fluid leaves the little bottle thing at the top.The line will usually drain down to a few inches above the entry site in your arm. It is the weight if the fluid that pushes it into the body (your blood is pressurized.. ie blood pressure) and once the level of the fluid reaches a level corresponding to your blodd pressure it will stop. No risk of infusing air, at least with gravity feed.
If you are using a pump....
If on the other hand you use a pump, more specifically, one that has no "air" or "bubble" detector, BE CAREFUL. With such a contraption YOU CAN pump A LOT of air into your line.
I absolutely know that when this happens IT HURTS LIKE HELL and other really bad things happen....
Moral of the story is , IF IT HURTS STOP WHAT EVER IT IS YOU ARE DOING.
How are you making out so far? If a major flare up is to occur, tommorow would be the most likely day...
Posted by JRWagner (Member # 3229) on :
Correct answers except everyone has forgotten one issue: You are all assuming the line and insertion pick for the bag will not be reused.
If you are reusing your line (I am doing Claforan, 4 grams per day, every eight hours), and I use one set up (line, etc.) per day.
So...if I let the level of solution get too low in the line, I need to either use a new line or run a considerable amount of liquid from the new bag to flush out the air in the line before I hook up.
Dave is right...one needs a lot of of air in one's veins to cause death, but smaller amounts can indeed cause discomfort.
Try to stop the drip immediately after the bag has spent it's last drop, this wa there will be no issue with air in the line.
By the way, those tiny "Champagne" bubbles in the line are not an issue.
Mimi, what drug are you infusing, and how long have you been on IV? Hopefully you are getting your blood tested every week?
What are your symptoms? Length of time diagnosed with Lyme?
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