Peritoneal dialysis pain - is this normal

[denman]

My wife is on overnight APD - She gets considerable pain on the last drain each morning - is this usual for this type of dialysis?

[Hardworkthisbeingpoorly]

Yes I had the same thing when I was on the last drain , it also hurt on my first drain as well but for some reason now after been on PD 4 years I don't get any pain at all now . Maybe I have got used to it or I just don't notice it as much . I thought it was a terrible pain until I got peritonitis then the drain pain was nothing compared with the pain from peritonitis . . It may just fade away the pain if it doesn't go see your doctor about it

[denman in reply to Hardworkthisbeingpoorly]

Thank you for your helpful insight. My wife has been on Baxter APD overnight for just over 2 months. The initial drain and final manual drain have always been somewhat painful and she got used to that. However, just over a week ago there was blood in the drain bags and she visited hospital where they did a flush to ensure there was no more blood which was clear. The following day a planned PET? peritoneal test using an additional fluid bag was done. Following few days she experienced severe pain on the last programmed drain (8 of 8) and not just the final manual drain. This pain continued well into the day down her left side. She is now having a final 'fill' that stays in all day. I just wonder if the tube has moved and is impacting on muscle/flesh/nerves and whether this can be identified with a scan of some sort.

[justagirl]

I don't do PD but have heard that this can be caused by draining the fluid out too quickly and the tube touching her body where there are lots of nerves I would mention it to a doctor or nurse and hopefully they'll be able to do something to help xx

[denman in reply to justagirl]

Many thanks for your response. I am not sure if the speed of drain can be changed on the Baxter APD machine.

[Hardworkthisbeingpoorly]

It's a difficult one this ! And I am no expert to say exactly what could be the problem ! But I would suggest an x-ray to find out exactly where the tube is . Maybe it's positioned itself under the bowel in which case your doctor should prescribe some strong laxatives to empty the bowels and hopefully the tube may reposition itself ! Picolax usually works for me. But I hope she gets rid of the pain soon because there is nothing worse ! Unless you get peritonitis which is excruciating ! Good luck ! Oh I was messing about with my Baxter APD machine the other day and there is a setting on there that changes the comfort level ! Maybe you could speak to your renal nurse on her next visit and mention about the comfort level on the machine . Mine is set to 36 . Good luck anyway