Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis (EPS)

[Mymomisawarrior]

My mother was diagnosed with EPS a few weeks ago. She has been on peritoneal dialysis for a while now. She has been on this round of dialysis for about 3 years now. EPS is a potentially lethal disease that affects patients on PD, Her PD catheter was removed and she now gets HD 3 times a week and since she began getting prednisone her conditioned was improving and she seemed to be getting back to normal. Yesterday she started having some abdominal pain and all signs point towards the EPS. Does anyone have anything to say about EPS? For example the time it took to see improvements and what treatments where used? If the EPS was ever fully eliminated and how long it took. I'm terrified of losing my mother especially because I am away at college 3hrs away and I would never forgive myself if anything happened to my mom while I was away. I want to do more for her. She is still at the hospital and she was actually scheduled to be released pretty soon. I trust her doctor, I just want to make sure that everything possible is being done to help me stabilize mentally. I am optimistic but Google searches pull up reports that only scare me more.

[MooseMom]

Funnily enough, I was just reading about this on Renal Fellow Network, and here is the link to that information..

http://renalfellow.blogspot.com/search/label/peritoneal%20dialysis

Perhaps you can submit a question for the author of this particular blog posting.

[Mymomisawarrior]

thank you very much for the link 

[M3Riddler]

thank you very much for the link 

If you would like to know anything about EPS - Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis, Feel free to ask me. I was diagnosed with it a little over 5 years ago. It is a harsh condition an can be very painful. It is very rare and is difficult to diagnose as not many docotors, let alone nephrologists know the symptoms and can recognize it. I was lucky enouph to have a nephrologist that was familiar with it..... I am currently on prednesone 10mg and tamoxafen 10mg - 2x per day for the treatment.

///M3R

[billybags]

How strange to hear about this. My husband has not been well since he had his heart attack and I have written on different posts about his symptoms, Arthritic knee, pains in his flank, his GP says it is pain from his knee. We have a wonderful neph who has sent him for a ct scan to see if he has got ESP, it is the first time I have heard about this. He has been on PD for just over 2 years and I have done a little research about this. He had the scan last week and we have not heard any thing yet because the neph would have phoned us. So fingers crossed.

[AguynamedKim]

I just saw this article that talks about using Prednisone and MMF to treat EPS:

http://web.me.com/rogerrodby/RUMC_Renal_Resident_Orientation/Reading_List_files/SEP%20AJKD%2008.pdf

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis is a rare, but potentially lethal, complication of peritoneal dialysis.
Treatment of patients with encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis is controversial. Conservative treatment carries
a poor outcome, and immunosuppressive drugs are now used frequently. Most commonly, these immunosuppressive
regimens include steroids with or without azathioprine or cyclosporine. Mycophenolate mofetil is
a reversible DNA synthesis inhibitor that frequently replaces azathioprine in renal transplantation because of
its improved immunosuppressive potency and better side-effect profile. We report 3 cases of encapsulating
peritoneal sclerosis in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients for which an association of
prednisone and mycophenolate mofetil significantly modified the evolution of the disease. All 3 patients
showed significant improvement within a month and are still alive more than 2 years after the diagnosis of
encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis. None experienced a relapse or abdominal symptoms, and body weights
are stable. This is the first report of 3 cases of successful treatment of patients with encapsulating peritoneal
sclerosis with prednisone and mycophenolate mofetil.

[M3Riddler]

How strange to hear about this. My husband has not been well since he had his heart attack and I have written on different posts about his symptoms, Arthritic knee, pains in his flank, his GP says it is pain from his knee. We have a wonderful neph who has sent him for a ct scan to see if he has got ESP, it is the first time I have heard about this. He has been on PD for just over 2 years and I have done a little research about this. He had the scan last week and we have not heard any thing yet because the neph would have phoned us. So fingers crossed.

billybags....i wouldnt worry much about your husband having EPS...If he had it, it would get much worse in a short time without treatment. It would have nothing to do with his knees.... EPS is where fibrotic tissue builds up in your peritoneum and the scarring can be very painful cuaing small bowel obstructions along with other complications.... If your husband has ever had peritonitis, EPS is much worse....

///M3R

[billybags]

Thanks M3Riddler, he has had peritonitis and yes it was painful. Scan showed nothing but they have found out after 3 months he has a trapped nerve in his back and that is where a lot of problems are stemming from. Pains in his legs, his flank and the pains are knotting his stomach up. Waiting for a referral to a neurologist.