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I need Ideas so I can swim

Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 6:18 pm
by Dan
We have a pool and we are going to the lake for our holidays. I want to swim but I am nervous of getting peritonitis. Does anyone have any good ideas or experience on what has worked for them to keep the pd site dry? i did try yesterday but it took me about an hour to get myself all taped up and then I was still nervous. Has anyone had peritonitis and what are the early signs? Thanks

Hiya Dan

Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 7:23 pm
by Elaine
Hi,

Its dificuilt trying to swim without gettin exit site wet/contaminated. We tried stoma bags 4 my daughter etc but sadly these didnt work :( They wouldn't stick to her skin, we tried many times etc! :cry: Even in the bath we had problems :( So we gave up on it. She was on p/d for 18 months and now been on haemo for a few weeks. But everyone is different and it works for some people I believe - good luck.

Yes my daughter has sadly had a nasty bout of peritonitis, it was not nice at all although I think hers had been brewing for some time despite many visits to hospital.


Some of signs peritonitis

Nausea & viomiting
abdominal pain and or cramps
temperature/fever
exhaustion
bak pain


Worth chekin with Drs n providing p/d sample if in any doubt ;)

Hope this helps u & good luck - Drs can prescribe antibiotics if required ;)
But urgent treatment often/usually required


good luck 2 u Elaine Uk :roll: :wink: :lol:

Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:09 pm
by Hal
Hi Dan,

There a few here who have swam and successfully kept their exit site dry - hopefully they will provide information here shortly. I haven't tried it myself yet.

The main signs of peritonitis, are a stomach ache which does not go away or is very severe, cloudy dialysis bags (as apposed to clear), an elevated temperature.

If you have a bad stomach ache which does not clear up within a couple of hours, you should do a manual exchange and check the drain bag for cloudiness. Even if it is not cloudy and your stomach ache persists you should call your dialysis unit right away.

Your dialysis unit should be able to give you some leaflets and proper procedure for preventing and detecting peritonitis.

Regards,

Hal.

Swimming

Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:26 am
by R30
Hello Dan
In the UK, we have a dressing called Tegaderm which is a very thin, sticky plastic covering. I use about five or six of these when I have a hairwash, but have been told to use the same if I wish to swim. If these are available to you in Canada, then I would try to obtain some (I have only had a problem with the exit site getting wet once, and that was because I failed to cover the whole tube properly so water travelled back to the hole.) Generally, I double up the tegaderm right over the exit site, and then tape the whole tube around my stomach, making sure there is plenty of overspill at either end to prevent water travel inside.
Hope this helps.
Ruth

Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2004 6:38 pm
by gary in bc
Hi
I use a speciial waterproof surgical cover, available from Baxter. They are about 5 inches by 10 inches. I roll up the external part of the catherter and put this over it. It is very thin, and sticky. I would make sure to shave the area it covers well before using it. Bin there not nice.

I kayak, and end up wet a lot. I have a large jetted bath, and also use it for that on occassion. I have done this for a couple years, and never had a problem with any moisture on the exit site at all. (I even tried scuba diving again, but the pressure wasn't tolerable, so I guess that's out. I was ok for up to about 12 feet, so if you're planning on diving, keep that in mind. By 25 feet it really hurt.)

I believe my neph would have a cow if he knew this, so I just keep it quiet.

take care
Gary

swimming

Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:39 pm
by amanda in CA
Paediatric colostomy bags are great for putting over the catheter site since they enclose everything. Most of them have a self-sticking piece but you could also get stomadhesive which helps them stick. Amanda

peritonitis signs

Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:42 pm
by amanda in CA
Hi, I had peritonitis twice last time I was on dialysis. The first time I felt fine first thing in the morning and by lunch time felt like I had the flu. When I did an exchange the bag was cloudy and then later my temperature went up and I got the shivers.

The second time I just had a temperature and a cloudy bag. Amanda

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 8:50 pm
by Alex
Hi, my wife was on CAPD for over 3 years and regularly used the Tegaderm dressings that R30 reffers to for swimming and for having a soak in the tub..she used a dressing 6" by 8" that ensured adequate coverage of the exit site and never had a problem with leakage. These dressings were obtained on prescription from her pharmacist.

Tegaderm Transparent Dressings are manufactured by : 3M Health Care, St Paul, MN 55144-1000 (USA) 1-800-228-3957

Swimming on PD

Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2004 2:28 pm
by Julie
Hi Dan,

My husband, David, and I just got back from 2 weeks in France on holiday where we stayed in a villa which had its own pool.

David has been on PD now for 9 months and was desperate to swim, so on advice from others here and from his PD nurses, we got hold of some Tegaderm Transparent Dressings (made by 3M) in 6 inch by 8 inch size.

Basically, you coil up the PD tube and tape it down using normal micropore tape and then stick the Tegaderm dressing over the top of the whole thing making sure it's got a good seal all the way around.

Well, it worked a treat. He'd put one on in the morning after disconnecting from the cycler, and leave it on all day, so he could dip in and out of the pool. He had no leaks whatsoever. Then he took it off in the evening to have a shower. Once or twice, he even left it on and had a bath in the evening, which was complete heaven for him - his first bath in 9 months. :)

The only down side was that, using it every day has made his skin a little red and slightly sore from peeling it off, as it is very sticky. But he said he would do it all again.

Of course, if you were only using the Tegaderm once or twice a week, then even this shouldn't be a problem.

I believe Tegaderm is available on prescription, although since we left it to the last minute, I ended up buying them from the pharmacy and they had to get a special delivery of the size he needed - and they cost £4.20 each!!!! I bought 14 of them - one for each day we were away - so it added up a bit! But, worth every penny in David's case, as he just loved being able to swim every day.

Good luck.

All the best,
Julie
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