Possible cause for Low Drain Alarm

[theone]

I have 4 drain per night with a 2000ml fill volume. When it drains to about 1680ml to 1700ml, the 'low drain' alarm will go off for EVERY drain.
It is killing me cause I have to wake up, stand up, push  my belly around to make the drain going again.

From reading from the forum, it looks like these are some of possibilities which cause the problem:

1) Catheier positioning is incorrect. I don't have these constant alarms went off when I started PD. May be constipation is causing problem with catheier. I'll try to have laxative.
2) Sleeping position is not right. May be. I will try to sleep flat instead of on the side.
3) Cycler is too high. My cycler is bit higher than the bed. So  may be I can put some big pillows underneath to elevate myself a bit higher.

What other suggestions you have to resolve this?

I am going to mode now as I can't sleep well thru the night.
Luckily, my wife continues to sleep and did not wake her up.

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Theone it's possible that your machine is set two high as I intially had the same problem when I was doing PD. I found that the  bottom of the cycler should be positioned at least at the same level as the top of your mattress but idealy slightly lower still.

If you're catheter worked during training then there's no reason to believe that it's incorrectly positioned. If this does not work then you can set the machine to tidal. The way this works is (I'm assuming you're using a Baxter machine) that the machine does you're  first fill as normal. If the machine is set at for example 80% tidal and your fill is say 2 Litres then it only tries to drain 80% of that amount before it goes on to the next fill. Each subsequent fill is then only 80% of the 2 Litre amount so as not to overfill you. Although this is a step you can take be sure discuss it with your home nurse first.

Keep us posted. 

[theone]

Ken,

Thanks for the reply.

The machine is sitting on top of the nightstand. Nightstand is higher than the mattress so that may be the problem. I am going to try lower my machine and see if that helps.

I already have my machine set to tidal for 95% when I discussed the drain pain problem with my home nurse.

As of last night, I am still waking up for every drain due to low drain alarm; I basically have to stand up, push my belly around (and soemtimes sit up on the edge of the bed) to make the drain continu. sigh.

[george40]

theone, I understand what you are going through. I posted this same situation a few weeks back.  Everything was working fine for me until one night all I got was alarms during the drain. Like yourself I had to stand up in order for the drain to finish. This continued for days. Well, recently I took an xray and the cath position looks fine. My nurse had me try tidal and drains still alarmed. They offered to have a surgeon go in to have a look.... I'm not trying to have an exploratory surgery (that's just me). So, the past 3 weeks I have been on manuals. The purpose was to see if the catheter can settle in somewhere that might be machine friendly. I will try the cycler again this weekend. I would start calling the tech support number when the machine alarms and then they may determine your machine is having problems and send you another one. I've been reading online people having problems with some of the newer baxter cyclers.  ken's tips on cycler height are good also. Manuals are working out okay for me since we just had a baby December 9th and I would have been doing alot of hooking up and unhooking on the cycler to help my wife with the baby. Keep us posted.

[theone]

george40,

This is what I have done so far.

Lower the cycler so it is now lower than mattress. It is somewhat working but not for the entire 4 cycles. So, I still have to stand up to do remaining drain in cycle 2 and 3. Actually, cycler sounds alaram when it was about 1600CC drained which is about 300CC away from the full drain.

interesting that you said the 'new' cycler seems to have problem.

I started with a cycler with no alarm problem. This alarm problem comes when they have to replace my old one (it was totally dead in the middle of the night on Sat. They have to
rush ship a new unit to me by Sat night around 11pm. A person actually deliver the unit to my house at 11 pm.  Talking about total commitment from Baxer. I am very impressed.) Perhaps this new unit is causing problem.

My wife thought that my cath may not be in right position since I may lifti some heavy objects that 'relocate' the cath position.
 (I don't think I did any heavy lifting more than 20 lbs after surgery)

I am seeing the nurse tomorrow and bring up the alarm issue.

Thanks for the info on new cycler issue; I will call Baxer up and see if they can ship me a new one to replace the current one.

will keep you all posted.

[george40]

Hi, just checking in. How did everything work out?

george40,

This is what I have done so far.

Lower the cycler so it is now lower than mattress. It is somewhat working but not for the entire 4 cycles. So, I still have to stand up to do remaining drain in cycle 2 and 3. Actually, cycler sounds alaram when it was about 1600CC drained which is about 300CC away from the full drain.

interesting that you said the 'new' cycler seems to have problem.

I started with a cycler with no alarm problem. This alarm problem comes when they have to replace my old one (it was totally dead in the middle of the night on Sat. They have to
rush ship a new unit to me by Sat night around 11pm. A person actually deliver the unit to my house at 11 pm.  Talking about total commitment from Baxer. I am very impressed.) Perhaps this new unit is causing problem.

My wife thought that my cath may not be in right position since I may lifti some heavy objects that 'relocate' the cath position.
 (I don't think I did any heavy lifting more than 20 lbs after surgery)

I am seeing the nurse tomorrow and bring up the alarm issue.

Thanks for the info on new cycler issue; I will call Baxer up and see if they can ship me a new one to replace the current one.

will keep you all posted.

[BroBrooz]

  I tell it to 'shut-up'... that works sometimes!  Sometimes 'whiplashing' the line helps...  Uusally I ignore it, it stops, and resumes its thing...The cause? dunno...  It really hasn't been a persistant problem, enough to mention it to my nurse...







EDITED:Fixed smiley tag error-kitkatz,Moderator

[theone]

george40,

This is what I have done so far.

Lower the cycler so it is now lower than mattress. It is somewhat working but not for the entire 4 cycles. So, I still have to stand up to do remaining drain in cycle 2 and 3. Actually, cycler sounds alaram when it was about 1600CC drained which is about 300CC away from the full drain.

interesting that you said the 'new' cycler seems to have problem.

I started with a cycler with no alarm problem. This alarm problem comes when they have to replace my old one (it was totally dead in the middle of the night on Sat. They have to
rush ship a new unit to me by Sat night around 11pm. A person actually deliver the unit to my house at 11 pm.  Talking about total commitment from Baxer. I am very impressed.) Perhaps this new unit is causing problem.

My wife thought that my cath may not be in right position since I may lifti some heavy objects that 'relocate' the cath position.
 (I don't think I did any heavy lifting more than 20 lbs after surgery)

I am seeing the nurse tomorrow and bring up the alarm issue.

Thanks for the info on new cycler issue; I will call Baxer up and see if they can ship me a new one to replace the current one.

will keep you all posted.

I am very happy to report that the low drain alarm seems to be going away. 

I had kinetics test done with 2.5% solution and that actually helps the draining caused the initial drain  is much better after I had the kinetics done.

And also, I have my cycler set at 85% tidal and that seems to fix the problem. My Avg Dw is 1:35 and lost DW is 0:10 for an 8 hours therapy with 4 cycles.

The cycler actually is sitting higher than my bed and that doesn't seem to be the problem; it is working fine now. I am a happy camper.

[paul.karen]

What is a kinetics test?

Glad it si working itself out.
And George i hope you are able to go back to the cycler if you decide to

[george40]

theone, 85% tidal would work for me too, but my pd nurse wont go for it. Are you getting a good clean? four manuals per day isnt bad, however Id rather do the cycler. I will bring this up with my nurse again. Im glad things are going well for you. 




EDITED:Fixed quote tag error-kitkatz,Moderator

george40,

This is what I have done so far.

Lower the cycler so it is now lower than mattress. It is somewhat working but not for the entire 4 cycles. So, I still have to stand up to do remaining drain in cycle 2 and 3. Actually, cycler sounds alaram when it was about 1600CC drained which is about 300CC away from the full drain.

interesting that you said the 'new' cycler seems to have problem.

I started with a cycler with no alarm problem. This alarm problem comes when they have to replace my old one (it was totally dead in the middle of the night on Sat. They have to
rush ship a new unit to me by Sat night around 11pm. A person actually deliver the unit to my house at 11 pm.  Talking about total commitment from Baxer. I am very impressed.) Perhaps this new unit is causing problem.

My wife thought that my cath may not be in right position since I may lifti some heavy objects that 'relocate' the cath position.
 (I don't think I did any heavy lifting more than 20 lbs after surgery)

I am seeing the nurse tomorrow and bring up the alarm issue.

Thanks for the info on new cycler issue; I will call Baxer up and see if they can ship me a new one to replace the current one.

will keep you all posted.

I am very happy to report that the low drain alarm seems to be going away. 

I had kinetics test done with 2.5% solution and that actually helps the draining caused the initial drain  is much better after I had the kinetics done.

And also, I have my cycler set at 85% tidal and that seems to fix the problem. My Avg Dw is 1:35 and lost DW is 0:10 for an 8 hours therapy with 4 cycles.

The cycler actually is sitting higher than my bed and that doesn't seem to be the problem; it is working fine now. I am a happy camper.

[Diax45]

Low drain alarms

Hi I had a lot of low drain alarms and it turned out it was the low charge of the battery on the machine. Did you know a low battery charge on your machine can help cause low drain alarms? Keep machine plugged into a heavy duty surge protector during the day. DO NOT UNPLUG. Keep the surge protector on but the machine turned off during the day. The machine remains in the surge protector and is charged all day then at night I have no low drain alarms. Hope this helps someone.   

[Cupcake]

Baxter or Liberty cycler?

[Marilee]

Diax45, that's VERY interesting!

I'm surprised that the backup battery has anything to do with the machine's function unless there's a power failure: I would have never guessed. I'm also surprised that the machine will continue to charge even if it's turned off. As Cupcake asked, Which machine is this?
My hubby uses the Baxter Amia and gets "slow drain" with nearly every cycle if he's lying down, so this is very interesting to me.

[Charlie B53]

IIRC Baxter Tech Support told me to leave the machine ON at the end of my run.  That the machine actually only charges the battery while it is turned ON.

The battery is only to preserve memory during a power outage with a MAXIMUM memory of only 4 hours.  Note that Maximum number may not be anything near what you actually get depending on battery condition.

There is no way to check battery state of charge.

[Marilee]

IIRC Baxter Tech Support told me to leave the machine ON at the end of my run.  That the machine actually only charges the battery while it is turned ON.

The battery is only to preserve memory during a power outage with a MAXIMUM memory of only 4 hours.  Note that Maximum number may not be anything near what you actually get depending on battery condition.

There is no way to check battery state of charge.

Thanks, Charlie. This makes more sense to me, and I'm glad that it's from Tech Support. We keep the machine on all the time (unless it complains and tells us to cycle power to clear an error condition, which has happened on occasion).