amia machine not really working for past 8 mos

[7up9]

initial drain is 1867ml on many nights and just to be clear Not constipated . total Uf last night was 168uf He does a manual drain in the morning of which 2432 ml will come off

He always Sits up to drain

Baxter techs Says Everybody can use the machine once problems are solved

Our PD clinic doesn’t want to do everything It can to solve the problem / nurses keep insisting he goes back to twin bags. The Twin bag system Is life sucking ….every four hours . we should dialysize to live not live to dialyze . Any professional help would be greatly appreciated

[Darlenia]

Oh my. This is really sad - it's not good when patients are ignored. I hope someone in this group can give you some suggestions how to get your Amia to perform better. My husband used a Homechoice Pro cycler, not the Amia which we really wanted. But, in any event, my husbands old style cycler did fine - no big issues during the time he was on dialysis.

Your dialysis center definitely needs to correct the situation - the center needs to either fix the Amia so it performs well, or give you another Amia, or switch you to another type - whatever works for you. If you continue to be ignored, please consult the head administrative person at your center and ask for her to remediate the situation. If that doesn't work, you may want to consider filing a complaint. All dialysis centers are required by Medicare to post complaint information on walls or in areas where patients can find it. The National Kidney Foundation also has great information online on the complaint process. See kidney.org/kidney-topics/di.... If you file a complaint, you'll get very quick action. Be prepared for that. Medicare keeps a close eye on dialysis centers. If they don't perform well, action is taken against them. Please let us know how things go with your loved one. We care about both of you.

[7up9 in reply to Darlenia]

thank you for the advice Darlenia we really appreciate it.

[Allnight]

I had trouble with my Amia machine too. The problem was position. If I sleep on my left side, there are no problems at all. On my right side, I get alarms. I dialysize at night….frim 11;30 to 7:30 am. I was getting no sleep at all. It seems it might be how and where the catheter is positioned that affects this. Have you tried other than sitting up? Have you had an X-ray to see where the catheter is. The first one I had put in was a disaster, but nearly two years with this one…..and sleeping on my left side.

[7up9 in reply to Allnight]

Yes tried on back -and right side. same dialysize at night 11:30-7:30 . had the catheter x-rayed in May they said all was good. How did you dialysize when you got your new one

[Allnight in reply to 7up9]

Same as akways. Overnight.

[Erifre]

Hi 7up9, I get how you feel, from what I read, it looks like your PD nurse didn’t add an extra drain in your dialysis program. In that case, before finishing your treatment you can have the option of getting an extra drain performed by the cycler instead of doing a manual. My husband and me went through that. I have been helping my husband with his treatment for 4 years every single day and I have experienced all kinds of crazy things with the cyclers, including swapping machines with Baxter, so if you need any help let me know, and if I don’t know the answer I can always ask to my PD nurse, she is amazing! I hope you can solve the problem. We are all here for you

[7up9 in reply to Erifre]

hi Erifre thank you for your thoughtful reply. Last night/ this morning all the drains all put up a slow flow banner at about 1870-1905 mls so no need for an extra drain obviously. He pauses the machine at the slow flow banner for 30 seconds then hits resume — this is so it won’t kick over and start filling when he hasn’t even got the initial 2000ml out, and he had to work very hard rocking back and forth to drain 2157 ish each cycle. Yes the drain takes quite long but we finally got the nurse to change the dwell time to a timed dwell (90min. Each cycle). I feel it must be his catheter. In the X-ray it’s sticking up above his pelvis. Any help from your nurse would be greatly appreciated.