Comments on: Dopamine

By: Heather

Heather — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:58:14 +0000

I had a pt. 2 days ago on renal dose dopa. with the same exact side effects! I didn’t put it together right away! You ROCK! Nice work!!

By: heath

heath — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:37:54 +0000

as a pediatric ICU nurse we even had some newbie knowitall fellow order renal dose dopamine the other day. Eye rolls ensued of course. But yeah, I have seen nausea from low dose dopamine as well. Of course no one ever relates it to the dopamine cause that would be too easy, but it always seems to be the patients that have alphabet soup as their diagnosis. Perhaps it has something to do with the general debilitated condition?

By: CountyRat

CountyRat — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:17:45 +0000

“Renal level” dopamine is a myth. It is sad that there are still docs admitting patiemts to an ICU who are five-years behind. I remember using it often in the 1980s, and I never saw it work. By the early 2000s the theory had been debunked, but it will probably take ten years before word gets around to some of the old timers.

By: may

may — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:49:49 +0000

nausea was something i often saw when i used to work in an ICU. even at a very low renal dose.

By: beajerry

beajerry — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:26:39 +0000

Dopamine drips are always fun.

By: donna

donna — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:51:54 +0000

OH! I forgot, my dad’s sats were also affected by the dopa!?!?
and by the way, you ARE a great nurse!

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:49:36 +0000

My father had a similar reaction to dopamine…in fact, his nausea turned to outright emesis so badly that we were sure he had aspirated (he didn’t!). Once the dopamine was turned off, he was fine. And a few fluid bolus turned him around. One RN hypothesized that it was because he was dehydrated (CHF=lasix=dehydration=hypotension=dopamine??? …sort of a vicious circle) But I never understood the patho on that one. I was still a student nurse at the time, so didn’t get it all, and I must admit, that years later, I still wonder about it. Anyway, botom line, he did react to the dopamine, and felt much better when it was turned off!

By: steve andresen

steve andresen — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 02:11:31 +0000

I think the data bases will point out that nausea and vomiting are common side effects from dopamine administration. At least, when I just googled “dopamine,” that’s what I found.

I think I would have wondered whether the dopamine or the recent sq heparin made some other changes that could have caused the nausea. Was he having tachycardia and didn’t tolerate it? Why was his renal output so bad and getting worse? Did he have an acute pump problem? You did not say whether or not the patient had a low or dropping cardiac output/index. Maybe the dopamine wasn’t enough to fix the renal function because the problem was basically with the heart…

good question, though.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:03:32 +0000

We used to have a lot of patients s/p CABG on renal Dop, but usually it was because they were in the process of weaning it off, not because they actually wanted it for the renal function though I have had a few.

I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone react that way to dopamine, but if they had I probably didn’t put it together.

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:56:21 +0000

Nice work! I very rarely have to administer the renal dose for dopamine, but I will be sure to remember this story next time I do.

PS. it sux when CRF turns into ARF.