Kidney Patient Guide

Hi everyone,

My first question the new board!

Anyway, I've been doing APD for 4 months now and its going well. I seem to have settled down and most nights it works well and I drain well and get added dwells.

However, about once every week or so I seem to have trouble draining and end up having to get out of bed or shift around to drain. I'm pretty sure I'm not constipated, so I'm actually wondering if I'm a bit dry.

My ankles are dry in the morning but if I increase my weight a bit they end up slightly swollen by the evening - is this normal ???? I'm wondering if I'm a bit wetter then I won't have this problem, but I'm conscious about carrying more fluid than necessary.

Does anyone else have this problem as well ?

Thanks,

Hal.

Hiya Hal in reply to u post Rachael has same drain probs too at moment as she is fairly steady with her weight at mo maybe a little dry compared to 'usual'. Rach had to leap outta bed to try n drain on her 'doggy lead' as she calls it LOL sooo frustrating n annoying. Specially wen shes just about dozin off to sleep- zzzzzzzzzz noddy land LOL
I think also her Peritoneal dialysis gets confused wen draining as on initial drain -draining around 500mls then of course 2 dry to drain for first drain hence takes ages to drain n machine alarmin!!
Over past few days has only drained on initial drain then minus on her total Ultrafiltration!! dooooooooooohhhhhhh

Oh the joys of juggling on APD!!

Good luck speak to u soon Elaine & Rach

Hal,

Three thoughts about drainage problems (cut and pasted from one of the websites):

Constipation. The pressure of the PD fluid in the abdomen can cause bowel movement to slow down and increases the likelihood of constipation. Constipation can cause the bowels to press against the catheter and interrupt drainage and can also cause catheter displacement inside the peritoneal cavity (see below). To avoid constipation, PD patients are required to take laxatives.

A build up of fibrin (a white substance which is a form of protein). The PD nurse may add a drug called Heparin to the fluid bag in order to dissolve the blockage.

Catheter displacement. This is when the PD catheter moves into the wrong position. Sometimes the catheter will "float" back into the right place naturally, but if not, a minor operation or manipulation under X-ray may be required to correct the position of the catheter.


Personally, when David has this problem and moves around a bit it usually fixes - and there's blobs of fibrin in the bag th next morning - I think that's why moving around helps - it dislodges the blobs.

Speak to you soon,

Lots of love,
Julie
X

Hi, Hal, glad to hear that things are generally go well with PD. I get fluctuations in drainage. I must admit that sometimes I wake up in the morning feeling like a water bed and pretty full. When I check the individual UF values I will sometimes have a negative UF on the 3rd fill. In such cases I do a manual drain before the final fill, mind you it's a bit of a bummer if I haven't drained much and have slept through until completion of the therapy, so then I do a guesstimate manual drain and then I don't know how much is then left from my last fill. As long as your blood pressure is fine, there is no problem in being a little on the 'wet side'. I tend to purposely be otherwise I feel dizzy. love Amanda