Pain

[Acardet]

Another night and I can’t make it off the initial drain part on my pd machine because of pain I really don’t want to end up iN the hospital during this pandemic .Im not gonna finish dialysis today it’s been hours and my machine keep beeping n I’m still in initial drain no way to bypass it

[HealthBuddyMelissa]

There has to be someone you can contact to help you troubleshoot issues with your PD. I would recommend you do that to get proper assistance with this issue.

[ed9sal in reply to HealthBuddyMelissa]

I had the very same issue during the last part of the drain. I found that reducing the rate of outflow towards the end of the drain cycle removes the pain.

I have used both, the manual twin-bag method as well as the bedside automatic machine.

The Baxter system of manual twin bags has a valve attached to the catheter that comes from the abdomen. This valve is to open and close by turning the collar to allow dialysis fluid into the peritoneum from the bag, or to drain the peritoneum into the waste bag. But you can adjust the collar during draining, to reduce the rate of outflow until you feel no pain. You know when the drain is complete by feeling the outside of the drain tube for warmth. If it is warm to the touch, that's because it is still draining. Once you feel that it is not warm to the touch it means that the peritoneum has drained fully.

For the automatic machines, the one by Baxter does not allow the drain rate to be changed (reduced), so the sucking effect causes the pain. But the machine made by Fresenius (Germany) is sophisticated with a touch display that can be programmed to use one of the lower rates of outflow (their term for drain). My nurse set it for an outflow rate that suits me very well and I never know which part of the cycle is currently on, because it is silent and unobtrusive. All the customization details are held in a credit card sized card which you insert into ant Fresenius machine and it works for you. However, the drain rate is fixed throughout the cycle, and cannot be adjusted to have an increased outflow in the beginning and a decreased outflow towards the end. So the drain just takes longer and the total dialysis time is lengthened overall. Very small price to pay for the huge improvement in drain-pain.

Try o get onto a Fresenius machine for relief.

All the best in your treatment.

[Acardet in reply to ed9sal]

Thank you so much