I have been on the Fresenius Cycler for 1 week. The first night I had 17 alarms. I dont have as many now because I’m up all night changing position so my times im exhausted. It happens on fill and drain. My CAPD went just fine. What can I do? Im not constipated.
Hi Karen. When you say you’re not constipated, are you having regular bowel movements daily? Daily intake of your stool softener prescribed by your nephrologist and exercise helps to prevent constipation. When your machine raises an alarm, what does it say on the screen? Do you know if the alarm occurs during the start of the fill/drain, during (halfway through) the fill/drain or at the end of the fill/drain phases? It may be alarming due to the location catheter tip. During the fill and drain phases is there a position (when laying on your bed) that works? Or you are constantly having to change positions throughout the night? Sorry for the multiple questions just wanted to gather more information to pin point what could be causing this alarm issue, 17 is a lot of alarms for one night. Hopefully your nurse is also helping you out with this issue.
I go every morning. Alms soundart,1/2 way through, towards the end.
I am a social worker, not a nurse or doctor. I’ve heard of patients having occasional alarms with the cycler, but what you describe is not common. Have you talked with your home training nurse and described what alarms you’re getting, when they happen during the fill or drain cycle, and what if anything you’ve done that stops the alarm? Sleep is important so it’s important to get to the bottom of the alarms. Even when you have a bowel movement every day, it’s possible to still be constipated. It’s also possible that your catheter is not in the correct location, which could be learned from a KUB can determine if that’s the problem. Some people have had relief from changing the height of the machine to the height of the bed.
Here’s are a couple of blogs by doctors about problems with PD that may give you and your nurse some ideas of how to address the alarms you’re having.
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Flow problems - https://www.renalfellow.org/2018/11/20/lets-talk-about-peritoneal-dialysis-post-2-when-theres-no-flow/
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Infusion pain - https://www.renalfellow.org/2018/12/06/lets-talk-about-peritoneal-dialysis-post-4-not-drain-pain-but-infusion-pain/
And here’s a blog from the Home Dialysis Central site about PD cycler pain.
I hope these help you and your nurse resolve these problems so you can get a good night’s sleep.
It alarms at all different times. I went and had my catheter checked. Everything was good. They moved it about 2 inches checked for fibrin. The alarm says slow drain. My fill time has been 10 min since the catheter check. I take miralax daily. Karen
Hi Karen. Has there been less occurrence of alarms since they checked and moved your catheter? Or are you still being bothered by multiple alarms at night?
I still get alarms . Last night I just had 2 but that was because of slow drain and i stood on my head to stop the alarm and finish the drain.
Hi Karen,
How are you doing now? Are you still having alarms or is your dialysis going smoother?
Its going a little better. I still get alarms for slow drains 2 or 3 a night. I move around to get them going again. Sometimes they do and sometimes I move around until the drain is done. It can be exhausting. I don’t want to complain to much because I dont want to go back to CACP. I had to leave birthday party’s, picnics, any family get-togethers before anyone else. Don’t want to go back to that again. Karen