Shoulder pain during PD

Air in the cycler lines is a problem for my 97 year old mother-in-law during home dialysis. We have been doing home PD for just about 3 weeks now. She experiences strong pain in her left shoulder. May have no significance, but she has a pacemaker on the left side as well. We have tried multiple suggested solutions such as, priming lines multiple times, changing bed positions (raising legs & raising head), getting out of bed, sitting in recliner & applying heating pad to shoulder. Nothing seems to relieve her shoulder pain. I notice the dialysis bags have bubbles in them from the very beginning. Is there some special technique to remove air from bags and/or from lines?

Here’s a blog on the Home Dialysis Central site that describes various kinds of pain during PD and what others have done to relieve the pain. It discusses air in the lines and shoulder pain. If you haven’t done so, you might want to ask to talk with the clinical nurse at the company that made the PD machine. S/he may have other suggestions.

I had the same type of shoulder pain from air bubbles in the beginning of my treatment. It wasn’t until my Dr and clinical nurser used Extraneal as a last fill that my pain stopped.

I was having problems with the initial drain and the machine was sending solution back into me along with the air bubbles! by having extraneal (1000mg) the initial drain takes all the bubbles along with the extraneal. Made a huge difference!!