Hello,
I have been doing Pd for the last eight years, without any real problems. I switched to the Liberty cycler about 14 months ago , and everything has been fine, until recently. First I am not sure if my problem is because of the cycler or not, but wanted to throw anything in that has changed. For the last two+ months, on and off, I have been getting cramping above my belly button, that feels like someone is trying to wring my stomach out.The first time this happened I was placed in the hospital, and they initially thought I had periodontists. They treated me as if I had, even thou the culture came back negative. While in the hospital I was on the older type cycler that uses gravity. Now it has come back again, clueless to me what triggered it, but I am attempting to avoid going in to the hospital. I have had and upper and Lower GI done as well as an Abdominal scan done, with no abnormal results found. I am at a a lost and my nephrogist is at a lost as well. Any ideas anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Spencer Dukes
Hi Spencer,
Sometimes getting a diagnosis can be the trickiest part. Is ANYTHING different since the symptoms started? Did you change medications or start a new one? Solution strengths? Diet? Your exercise regimen? Have you had more alarms with the cycler than you used to? Have your drain amounts changed? For now, until you get some answers, try keeping a very close record of exactly what is happening:
– Does the cramping occur every night, or just some nights?
– Where are you in the cycle when it occurs? Is it always the same place?
– Does anything make it better? Worse?
You might also post this question to Judith Bernardini, our expert PD nurse, who may have some other ideas for you. You can do that here: http://forums.homedialysis.org/forumdisplay.php/18-Judith-Bernardini-PD-Nurse
Hi again, Spencer. I had dinner tonight with a PD nurse, and she thought you might have an umbilical hernia. If the doctors were looking for peritonitis, they might have missed a hernia. We have an article about hernia here: http://www.homedialysis.org/resources/tom/200808/. Ask your PD nurse to check you for this if it sounds like what you might have.