Diagnosed with Peritonitis

[kporter85db]

So I woke up Saturday morning with a fever of 103.3. I had chills all that evening and my joints started aching. Kinda felt like the flu. I did not have any nausea or stomach pain. I checked my effluent on the last drain and it was clear.

With such a high fever my wife insisted I go to the ER. They did CBC, COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PANEL, Chest X-ray, Blood Cultures and had a dialysis nurse come down and withdraw some fluid to test for Peritonitis. When the nurse withdrew the fluid, she even remarked that it was clear and not cloudy.

Well, after a long wait, the ER Doc came back and said it was Peritonitis. He said they found white blood cells(or maybe ELEVATED white blood cells) in the fluid.

Has anyone ever been diagnosed with Peritonitis with only a fever and no other symptoms?

[jeannea]

That sounds odd. Do you have pain in your abdomen? I understand peritonitis is very painful.

[kporter85db]

That sounds odd. Do you have pain in your abdomen? I understand peritonitis is very painful.

Nope. No pain, at all.

[tbarrett2533]

I was told by my PD nurse that she has never ever even heard of a peritonitits case with no stomach pain..... random!!

Good luck!!
and get better soon

 

[jbeany]

Can you demand a recount?

[kporter85db]

Can you demand a recount?

Actually, I am waiting on the results of the cultures. I was hoping to have results today but I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

[wbdoug]

Hello Kporter
What was the final diagnosis?
Those of us just starting pd would like to know.
I hope all is well with you and you are continuing on pd!

Thanks
Bill

[billybags]

We have had a cloudy bag and had to dash to the unit to get it checked out. There was no other symptoms. They could not understand why, when the culture came back it was clear. They gave hubby antibiotics just in case. He has also had peritonitis with out stomach pains, they said we were lucky that we had been on the ball and gone straight  in. He also had e-coli 2 years ago, got it abroad, now that was very serious, extremely painful, he had to have his cath removed and was in hospital for 3 weeks. It was touch and go.

[lmunchkin]

Kporter, my hubby got peritonitis twice.  The first time, like Billybags, we were on top of it and they immediately start antibiotics.  He had no pain whatsoever but had cloudy fluid in his drain.  The second time, he was not so lucky!  He had awful pain and very hi fever, thus ending his PD modality!
That is why we can't over emphasie the need to be sterile!  It is important in hemo too, but definately a big deal to PD even more!

lmunchkin

P.S. Trust me, you do not want any kind of peritonitis, period!!!!  Glad you are ok and apparently got to it in time.  Good Job!!   

[drgirlfriend]

That's a drag, kporter! I hope things turn out ok. Please let us know what happens.

[kporter85db]

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, but I was pretty confused by what the clinic nurse told me concerning the cause of my peritonitis. I don't think she really understood what was going on.

I had my regular monthly Dr's conference at the clinic today and got to ask the Dr about it. He said, actually, that I had three different bugs infecting me and because of that it seems as though the infection came internally, like from my intestines. I'm not exactly sure how that happened, but am glad that it was not something unsanitary I did. I do hope it is not a predictor of future events though. That could be problematic.

I do think I just caught it really early before it got too bad

[Darthvadar]

My mum is on PD... Has had three bouts of perertonitis... ALL of them caused by her intestine...None caused by her not being hygenic....

Glad you're recovering...

Darth...

[*kana*]

The one and only time I had peritonitis I never seen a cloudy bag.  Had fever and thought it was something else and by day three I got the pain.  So, perhaps they treated you before you got any symptoms other than fever or more likely the sample was contaminated. 

[drgirlfriend]

Kinda scary, but glad you caught whatever it is early!

[kporter85db]

I'm convinced it was peritonitis now. I just caught it very early. I started getting chills Friday night, Saturday morning I had a 103 fever and was in the ER an hour later.

Thanks everybody for your well-wishes and concern.

I suggest if your on PD and get a fever, have it checked out immediately. I'm glad I did.

[lmunchkin]

Excellent advise, Kporter! Temperature is a very good indicator for all illnesses not just ESRD!  Keep one handy at all times!

lmunchkin

[kporter85db]

So I got the PD fluid test report from the hospital today. I'm not sure what this all means but here it is:

GRAM STAIN   

No organisms observed
Few (2-5/oil hpf) PMN WBC's observed

FINAL REPORT   

No growth on direct plated media
1. Isolated from broth media: Gram positive cocci , Identified as: Coagulase negative
Staph species
2. Isolated from broth media: Gram negative bacilli , Identified as: Stenotrophomonas
maltophilia
3. Isolated from broth media: Gram positive cocci , Identified as: Micrococcus species
Due to fastidious growth requirements and lack of standardization of test methodology
susceptibility testing is not routinely performed on this organism.

      
SUSCEPTIBILITY PERFORMED ON - STAPHYLOCOCCUS SPECIES, COAGULASE NEGATIVE      

SUSCEPTIBILITY PERFORMED ON - STENOTROPHOMONAS MALTOPHILIA      



Does this make sense to anybody?

[billybags]

Yes that they haven't got a clue. We had the same thing and the nurse was most pissed off because it showed no growth. They like to know what it is.that has caused what ever.

[*kana*]

That is weird.....No growth means no infection, right? 
I'm sure by now you feel better.   

[lmunchkin]

I do wish they would put all this in layman's terms. They did give you antibiotics, right?
Hope you are doing much better KP.  Been thinking about you!

lmunch

[brandywine]

Can you demand a recount?

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