PD pain: My husband has been on PD for... - Dialysis Support

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PD pain

Jfish5 profile image
8 Replies

My husband has been on PD for about 9 months, and he just mentioned that his initial drain hurts terribly. Is this common? His Dr and nurse don't seem to think it's a big deal. I see him clenching the armrest of his recliner every night - seems like a big deal to me.

And if anyone could explain the initial drain? Why? Any leftover liquid from the night before would have been absorbed by the body throughout the day... why drain what is empty?

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Jfish5 profile image
Jfish5
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8 Replies
Soneram profile image
Soneram

This happens to me but not every night only now and again it's like as if the drain is trying to suck as much out of the bag in your stomache I try changing positions or lie on drain side it only happens about five minutes from end with me my last fill on morning is now down to 1.5 litres was worse when I was putting more in but as I say it's not that often ask the PD nurse if his can be reduced slightly as its not nice at all good luck

Wossam profile image
Wossam

Hi,

I also had severe pain during the drain phases, so your husband has my sympathy. All the nurses and doctors would say is, it's because I am constipated, so take more laxatives (I even had to take Picolax which is industrial strength laxative.) I'm not sure this had much effect but after a while, the pain subsidised by itself and is now bearable. I still get the odd twinge during drain but it's a lot better now.

As far as the initial drain is concerned, the fluid is not absorbed, so there is still considerable about of fluid to remove. I consistently remove extra fluid that has been drawn in from the body during the day. I think only if the fluid remains in the body for much longer periods, then absorption can occur.

Regards

fredinspain profile image
fredinspain

I was on PD for 6 years, starting in Spain and it happened from time to time and there they gave me heparin to put into my bag for a few days and it cleared up. Here in the UK in my trust despite a lot of evidence from other Trusts they wouldn't give it to me. Ask you might get it and it's simple to use.

dave21gsl profile image
dave21gsl

hello iv also had this it was very painful my nurse also blamed being constipated and i was given picolax and spent most of the weekend on the toilet but didnt do any good. also my nurse said about setting the machine with a comfort fill this is a final fill what stays in the body all day so by the machine has some fluid to remove when it goes on the initial drain mode this didnt work either i eventually had to have my pd tube removed and a new one fitted and the surgeon used a camera to see that it was put in the correct position after this i had no pain what so ever i hope this information helps but i can tell you this is very painful what your husband is experiencing.

jennieck profile image
jennieck

I agree with the comments already submitted - that it hurts sometimes but that change of position can help. Also our hospital is equally obsessed with laxatives. But I can tell you all that we have found something MUCH BETTER THAN ALL THE LAXATIVES prescribed by the doctors and nurses, even industrial strength Picolax - and that is Aloe Vera Colon Cleanse tablets. They are completely natural, you can get them from a health food shop or from Waitrose supermarket, and you take two at night. They work gently and effectively, WITHOUT producing foul smells and unpleasant liquid stools. My husband is now completely free of ALL hospital laxatives and doing well on PD three times a day. (And no, I am not an agent for the tablets!!) Regards Jennie

TamekaS profile image
TamekaS

The body always science absorbs fluid. But some time to ease that pain of the initial drain first of all is he doing manual or is he doing the I think they call it next stage that's not what mom was called when I did it but I also did it for years ago and I didn't do it through DaVita but anyway sometimes if he's able to kind of rock back and forth because what is doing is sucking up against the wall of the gosh I can't think it's too early in the morning I'm sorry but it's sucking up against the wall so if he can like kind of shift position sometimes in a move the cord away from the wall so like at the very end when I first feel that little pinching sensation I just kind of rock back and forth back and forth by side to side and then I move there cord around and then it you know it's kind of like when you are cleaning out your kitchen sink and you got one of those little sprayers and so you move this free or around to make sure that you clean the entire sink and not just one part of the sink you know does that make sense except this is obviously doing it in reverse because it's pulling fluid away and so sometimes like I said the line can get caught up against the wall of the lining and it is start sucking on the wall and that in that is some terrible pain so if he can rock back and forth back and forth and side-to-side you know and then sometimes once you get to that point you can go ahead and skip it because apparently you have already drained enough fluid and then depending on what percentage of fluid you use depends on how much fluid is taken off of you so you don't want to absorb too much fluid out of the body because the body is already supposed to have a percentage of water that stays within the muscles so if you're weighing yourself before each treatment after heat treatment to see how much you gain throughout the day you pretty much have an idea just like they do in center of how much fluid to take off so he could have gained some weight or lost some weight so that's something to think about or look into

Aelfrith profile image
Aelfrith in reply to TamekaS

Tameka that has to be the longest sentence ever written?!

TamekaS profile image
TamekaS

I'm sorry, I speak my responses because I know I can talk alot, and it doesn't put punctuation in unless I say period, if I say comma, it will write comma instead of placing one. And it's easier to get my thought out when I speak than type. But did I answer ur question with my long sentence?

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