I’ve been doing PD for just a few weeks. I am a small person and still have a lot of residual function, so they said I could drain and do my aerobic exercise and then fill up in the morning. I typically do about 30 minutes on an elliptical machine and/or treadmill.
Yesterday, my 1st fill/drain after my workout was pretty bloody (cherry cool-aid color). The next drain was the same and the next two were a little better, but still watermelon colored. I called the clinic and they said to avoid exercise until my drains cleared (and of course, I’m using heparin in every bag now - what a pain !)
Has anyone else had problems with exercise causing bloody bags? If so, what have you done about it? I REALLY need to exercise to keep my cardiovascular disease under control. I had a triple by-pass last year since the kidney disease had clogged up most of my major arterties. I’ve been told that my exercise is essential so I don’t want to stop.
Hi Nan, and welcome to Home Dialysis Central. I’m glad you found us! I’m not on PD and not a nurse, but did go back and check through thousands of emails from a couple of patient mail lists for you. Several possible causes for bloody bags turned up:
– Recent PD catheter placement (you did say you’ve only been on PD for a few weeks, so this could be the case)
– Ovulation
– Menstruation
– A cyst somewhere in the peritoneal cavity
– Peritonitis
In several cases, using heparin for an exchange or two seemed to take care of the problem. You didn’t mention your age, so you’ll have to think about whether you might be ovulating or menstruating. Your concern may or may not be related to your exercise.
Other folks will hopefully chime in here, too. Exercise is vital, and you do need to be able to continue it. If this keeps up, ask your PD nurse & nephrologist again. We’ll ask some of our PD experts if you continue to have the problem.
Dori - thanks for the info…Pretty much the same as what my research turned up. Bleeding has been going on for over 2 days (9 exchanges) with some improvement (I rate the color on what I call the “kool aid” scale. I’ve gone from black cherry, to fruit punch, to watermelon and now approaching pink lemonade).
I’ve ruled out menstruation as I finished my last cycle last week and have no vaginal bleeding. My catheter was actually placed in 2000 and was just unroofed two weeks ago (I now hold the record for how long a montcrief has been in place and still works), so bleeding from the catheter cuffs should not be an issue.
My current guess is some capillary damage from the exercise (or the fact that my vascular system is pretty damaged) or stretching from bending over to dry my hair :rolleyes: I’m very active and have been doing a lot of cooking, laundry, hauling kids to/from school etc. I normally work full time, but since I’m home on medical leave I’ve been trying to do more of the chores at home. I’ll be back to work next week unless this bleeding becomes a real problem.
My clinic seems completely unphased by this - I’m wondering how long bleeing can be ignored? At what point do you decide to do something beyond heparin?
Hoping to hear from others on this one. Nan:rolleyes:
Hi, my name is susan . i have been on pd for about one year now. i get bloody bags when i ride my bike. it is just from the catheter rubbing inside your membrane. make sure you have a bit of fluid in you so it has some bouyancy. it also depends on the exercise. some exercises should not be done or rather modified. so this is normal.
[QUOTE=senderob;12676]I’ve been doing PD for just a few weeks. I am a small person and still have a lot of residual function, so they said I could drain and do my aerobic exercise and then fill up in the morning. I typically do about 30 minutes on an elliptical machine and/or treadmill.
Yesterday, my 1st fill/drain after my workout was pretty bloody (cherry cool-aid color). The next drain was the same and the next two were a little better, but still watermelon colored. I called the clinic and they said to avoid exercise until my drains cleared (and of course, I’m using heparin in every bag now - what a pain !)
Has anyone else had problems with exercise causing bloody bags? If so, what have you done about it? I REALLY need to exercise to keep my cardiovascular disease under control. I had a triple by-pass last year since the kidney disease had clogged up most of my major arterties. I’ve been told that my exercise is essential so I don’t want to stop.
Thanks. Nan
Feeling frustrated ! :eek:[/QUOTE]
I’m on Coumadin, so I get bloody bags from time to time. I’m on the cycler and am dry during the day. They said that being dry could be causing it. Bc the tube is rubbing against the peritoneum. When there’s fluid in there, the tube floats and doesn’t rub the sides as much. Maybe you could try just a little fluid in while you exercise…like 5oomL?? That’s what I’m about to start doing; 500 mL during the day instead of empty bc I just went through a 5-day bleed. Shannon
Thanks all…I tried leaving 400 - 500 ml in the last time I exercised and had no bleeding (I am however holding on the excuse that the bending and twisting required to do laundry is a problem - with 3 teenagers and about 12 loads of laundry a week, I need some extra leverage to get them to pitch in) :rolleyes:
:eek: