cycler alarms

[Ohio Buckeye]

I have been on the Baxter cycler for a week now and am having trouble with frequent
alarms going off.  It is usually low drain or check patient line.  I check the lines, bags,
clamps, etc. and have yet to find a problem.  I usually just hit go to restart it if it doesn't
on its own.  Today i had a minus dwell time of 1.05, other days -32, -27 so I am losing
dwell time because of it.  Have any of you experienced this and do anything to correct
it.  Otherwise, I find the cycler great as I have more  freedom and don't feel so hurried
and rushed all the time. Is this just a common thing I need to get used to? 

[angieskidney]

I was on the Fresenius Newton IQ CCPD so I don't know if it would alarm for the same reasons. I found that at first there were lots of alarms but over time they become less often.

[goofynina]

My cycler rarely alarms,  if i am laying on the tube and it is kinked it alarms then, or if i forget to open a clamp somewhere, but other than that, it's quiet as a mouse (with the exception of a few gurgles here and there)

[Ginger]

O.B. Have you contacted your PD nurse about this? Maybe you have fibrin threads beginning to clog the tube, or maybe you lay on the tube enough to occlude the tube so it doesn't drain well or maybe you have omentum beginning to cover the tube, or maybe your tube has migrated out of position. Then again maybe you need a new machine!!  The cure for fibrin is a bag or two with heparin added to dissolve it. In the beginning, I had to use one bag with heparin in it and had no drain problems after that.  If it is omentum, the cure is more complicated. If the tube migrated, you could try draining in different positions or may need the tube repositioned.

Anytime I get negative drains, it is usually that I have been laying on the tube to occlude it enough so that it does not drain well but not enough occlusion to set the alarm off. I have been on the cycler for 2yrs and have had few to no problems. I wouldn't worry too much about losing dwell time too much unless it occurs all the time. A week is a short time for PD and your body is still probably getting used to the whole set-up.

You could also try the Baxter support center phone number on the top of the cycler to see if they have any suggestions about the alarms on the cycler if they are the same alarms repeatedly.

Hope you get the dwell/drain problem ironed out soon. I agree about the freedom of the cycler!!

[MelissaJean]

I have been on the Cycler for three weeks.  My alarm always goes off because I have a low Initial Drain.  Not sure why,  but I will hopefully find out next week.  When I sleep on the side of my catheter my "check patient line" starts to beep.  Could that be setting off your patient line alarm?

[goofynina]

Hi MelissaJean,  When you hook up to your cycler are you empty?  or do you have solution in you dwelling?  My initial drains are always under 10 cuz i am (well, supposed to be) empty when i hook up,  how long are you on your cycler? i am on it for 10 hours and then i have 1 drain, 2 hours after i get off.  I am a wild sleeper and my alarm rarely goes off, i sleep on my stomach but to the side i have my catheter in (does that make sense)?  i am on my stomach but on my side?? oh heck, i dont know how else to describe it, lol, but my alarm doesnt go off then either.

[Panda_9]

If you have fluid insitu all day and then when you hook up at night and have a low initial drain, it may be that the amount of time the fluid is insitu all day, is too long, and it is reversing and travelling back into the bloodstream/tissue. I would discuss this with your PD nurse.

[angieskidney]

I did find that how you lay is important to your initial drain.

[MiSSis]

I've been using the Fresenius PD+ cycler for 3 years now and also had problems with alarms at first.  I found I was a "slow" drainer and had to add minutes to each drain.  My machine is now set for a 35 minute drain; sometimes I need all of that and other times not.  I've found it helpful to sleep with a pillow at my side, kind of leaning over on my side into the pillow.  This helps me to keep my lines straighter, without kinks that can prevent draining altogether.  Sometimes it's just a matter of adjusting a few things that will make all the difference for you.  Everyone here has offered some great suggestions and I hope you find one that works for you. 

Good Luck.

[Ohio Buckeye]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions.
Last night went well with no alarms at all.
Had a +10 dwell time also.
Really don't think I did anything different tho.
Maybe we're just etting used to each other.
My manual drains with capd were always pretty quick and I have
never seen fibrin yet.  I don't think I have a drain problem.
Will see how it goes.  I usually try to lay on my back or left side.
I'm afraid to lay on my stomach.
Thanks again.

[MelissaJean]

Hi MelissaJean,  When you hook up to your cycler are you empty?  or do you have solution in you dwelling?  My initial drains are always under 10 cuz i am (well, supposed to be) empty when i hook up,  how long are you on your cycler? i am on it for 10 hours and then i have 1 drain, 2 hours after i get off.  I am a wild sleeper and my alarm rarely goes off, i sleep on my stomach but to the side i have my catheter in (does that make sense)?  i am on my stomach but on my side?? oh heck, i dont know how else to describe it, lol, but my alarm doesnt go off then either.

I do have fluid in me when I am done with the treatment.  Also my UF at the end of the treatments is negative...not sure what that means.  I am going to see my first doctor... finally.... this Wednesday to get more answers.

[Ohio Buckeye]

I had another night with no alarms but like you I came up with
a negative UF.  I didn't think that was likely so I did a manual drain
and I drained out 2365.  I have no idea how that happened. 
My prescription calls for putting 500 back in at the end (not sure why) so I
drained that + lots more.  I don't understand how that much fluid was left
there.  I think I'll do a manual drain everytime.  I'm sure it wasn't negative since
when I weighed I had lost 4 lbs.

[mmmmdeedee]

My drains always depend on how I'm laying. If I'm flat on my back - I get the low drain alarm. If I lay on my side, it does okay.

Also, if my UF is not at least between 200 - 800 mls off, I do an extra manual drain just to get the every little bit out. I'm kind of obsessive / compulsive over this.

It's kind of weird looking when I do it. I'm rolling around in bed by myself trying to find the "good spot" for drainage. I'm sure my roomate probably thinks I'm having a good ole' time!

But I hate to leave any in because my body absorbs it all during the day.

Hope you're getting all this figured out. The first 2-3 weeks for me were toughies. Stretching my abdomen out, bloated, and the alarms!

But it gets a lot better!

[angieskidney]

The first 2-3 weeks for me were toughies. Stretching my abdomen out, bloated, and the alarms!

But it gets a lot better!

Ya my body will never be the same from 5 years of that lol

I found that doing more "exchanges" was better for your clearances.