this is after 350ish mls of d5w in each side ... I'd love to go with a full liter and see how big that makes me, but the infusion seems to stop after the late 300's. ive tried massaging and pumping before and during infusion, but nothing really seems to be helping. I'm 5'6" and around 140lbs so I don't have too much fat on my chest to begin with anyways, so I'm sure that's a contributing factor. Im sure its been posted elsewhere on here before but just as a refresher, does anyone have tips on how to infuse more fluid?
I find sometimes I have to move the catheter a little to keep it flowing. Try backing it out just a touch and see if the flow resumes.
From your height and weight it doesn't look like you have much fat on your chest to work with, so there might not be enough skin to get 1L in. You can also try Dex, if you're up to it. It will infuse and inflate faster, which may help stretch the skin. But Dex has its own risks.
Hmm... well, also I've been using subQ needles for infusing should I be using a bigger gauge? For me and all the other newbies out there... what's dex? O,o
Yeah it looks like you already used dextrose. As justBitbigger said. I'm not sure about subcutaneous needles. Most people here, myself included use catheters and hanging bags of iv fluid for inflations. Syringes and injections are good for small amounts. But it's also safer for the tissue to use gravity rather than injection. I use 1.25" long 22ga catheters. I tried 18ga but they were more painful both to insert and infuse. For me the pain of infusion is the limiting factor for flow rate, not catheter size.
