Painkillers for Drain Pain

[Dora86]

Last night I suffered excruciating drain pain through all 8 hours of dialysis this has never happened to me before. All day my stomach has felt tender and tight. I never ever take painkillers for anything but last night was horrible. Does anyone know if painkillers would help or I am open to any other suggestions. Many thanks

[RhenDutchess123]

Did you leave the specimen clamp on the drain bag tubing open by any chance ?

Sometimes if my tummy is sore after my treatment , my PD Nurse recommends that I use a lower Solution bag for a few nights. . You might check with them to see if they think that could help settle it down...they also let me sometimes use a tylenol for pain...but you need to okay that with them first...Sorry you are hurting...get better soon

[Hidden]

Something is wrong. Call your Nephrologist or go to the hospital. It shouldn't hurt like that. I was 16 when I had horrible pain from PD. My Dad called the Nephrologist and he told us to meet him at the hospital. Various things were wrong and while they figured it out, I was given a shot of Demerol every 3 hours. I eventually switched to HD which was better for me. Things were so much better in 1979 in regard to pain relief and attention to patient needs.

[Hidden]

You definitely don't want to take the pain killer route. Your pain is indicative of something else. You may have to clear your bowels or you may have fibrin and need to use heparin in your solution. These are two possible culprits. When I have experienced pain, I try a few things like disconnect, walk around and/or use the bathroom. If pain continues after reconnecting, I disconnect altogether and inform my dialysis team the next morning. The usual recommendation is to work on bowels. After eliminating possible influences like these, we have made a change to the PD cycler program so that it draws fluid in a different manner. This is only done at the recommendation of a nephrologist in consultation with a nurse who guides me through the PD reprogramming process. Hope this is of value to you. Avoid additional meds, especially pain killers which tend to lead to constipation, creating more problems for you. Best wishes!😊

[WYOAnne NKF Ambassador]

You should be calling the nurse assigned to your dialysis needs or your nephrologist. Instead of worrying about pain meds, you should be finding out the cause of your pain. Maybe your solution needs to be changed, an infection, or the catheter has changed position, etc. Don't wait call now.

[RonZone]

Dora, I want to THANK YOU for posting this topic. I am supposed to be starting PD sometime in the near future and having notes like this give me realistic expectations and information on what to be aware of that can go "south" with PD, so I can be somewhat prepared for it if and when it happens. I know there's no way to predict something like this happening, but actually knowing that it might helps me to have an awareness and be ready to act. And thanks to the folks who are responding to your note, I will also have a plan of action ready. I've read in other threads where some people have to have their tube repositioned, but also information about "fibrin" that I had no clue about until I read it on here. And about pain meds causing constipation etc.

So PLEASE write again and give us an update on what you found was the cause of the pain and what eventual solution you and your neph and nurse etc come up with. Those of us following in your path are deeply interested in all solutions for issues that can crop up with PD.

[Dora86 in reply to RonZone]

I'm glad this post has helped you. I wish when I had started dialysis I had known about this forum. I have learnt so much.

[MerciBeaucoup12]

I agree w/ BlySkyAngel. I had some intense drain pain as well but when my PD nurse recommended I focus on clearing my bowels (Miralax), drain pain significantly decreased. I’m general, it’s a good idea to communicate that you are having drain pain to you nurse and nephrologist. Sometimes they focus so much on the labs (e.g. potassium levels) and forget that the patient may be experiencing discomfort.

[Dora86]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I rang my nurse specialist, she suggested I take an extra laxative temporarily to see if that helped. Also at the time I was ill with a cough and cold so hadn't been out on my long dog walks so much.Luckily that did the trick. INext time I go up to hospital will explain to me how use Heprin for fibrin.