Cloudy Fluid, Belly Pain or Exit-Site Redness on Peritoneal Dialysis: Why Not to Wait

The bag comes off the drain line at seven, and she does what she has done every morning for two years: holds it up to the kitchen window. Usually the print on the cereal box behind it reads clean through the pale yellow fluid. This morning the letters blur. Her stomach feels fine, mostly. The exit site looked a touch pinker last night, but she had tugged the tubing getting into bed. The temptation is to run another exchange and see.

That pause, between noticing and calling, is where peritoneal dialysis infection signs do their damage. Peritonitis, an infection of the lining that the whole therapy depends on, grows in warm sugar water by the hour, and the first hours are the ones in which treatment at home is most likely to work.

This explainer walks through what cloudy fluid, belly pain and exit-site redness mean, what the unit will do when you call, and why the people who do best are the ones who pick up the phone before they feel ill.

Which peritoneal dialysis infection signs should never wait?

Three places can get infected on peritoneal dialysis, and each announces itself differently. The fluid you drain can turn cloudy, which usually means white blood cells have rushed into the abdomen to fight bacteria: that is peritonitis, an infection of the peritoneum, the thin lining that wraps your abdominal organs. The exit site, the spot where the catheter leaves your skin, can become red, swollen, tender or weepy. And the tunnel, the short path the catheter travels under the skin, can turn sore or puffy even when the surface looks calm.

The peritoneal dialysis infection signs that matter most are cloudy drained fluid, new abdominal pain or tenderness, fever, nausea or vomiting, and any pus, spreading redness or pain at the exit site. Mayo Clinic lists infection as one of the main complications of PD, alongside hernias and weight gain from the sugar in the fluid, and peritonitis is the one most likely to end a person’s time on the therapy.

Why the urgency? The dialysate, the sterile sugar solution you run into your abdomen, is warm and rich in glucose. Bacteria introduced through a touch contamination or a tracking exit-site infection find it an excellent place to multiply, and the peritoneum is not a spare part; it is your filter. Each episode inflames that membrane, and severe or repeated episodes can scar it so that it no longer exchanges fluid and waste efficiently. Infections caught early are generally treated with antibiotics added to the dialysis bags; infections that have had a day or two to establish are more likely to need admission, catheter removal and a temporary switch to hemodialysis. The call takes a few minutes. The delay can take the catheter.

How peritoneal dialysis actually works, and why the lining is the weak point

Picture the peritoneum as a living mesh threaded with tiny blood vessels. A soft silicone catheter, placed in a minor surgical procedure, sits in the lower abdomen with its tip resting in the pelvis. Through it you run in dialysate, a sterile solution containing glucose or a related sugar and a balance of salts. The fluid dwells for a set time while two things happen. Diffusion lets waste products such as urea and excess potassium drift from blood into the fluid, because they are more concentrated in blood. Osmosis, driven by the sugar, pulls extra water across the membrane. Then you drain the fluid, now carrying waste and water, and run in a fresh bag. One fill, dwell and drain is an exchange.

The NIDDK describes the whole sequence as something most people learn to do themselves during a period of training with a dialysis nurse. The attraction is obvious: no needles, treatment at home or at work, and a steadier pattern than fixed clinic sessions.

The vulnerability is just as obvious once you see the plumbing. The catheter is an open door between the outside world and a sterile body cavity, closed only by a cap, a connection system and your technique. Every exchange is a moment when a stray fingertip, a cough over an open line or a damp cap can carry skin bacteria inward. Bowel organisms can also cross the gut wall during severe constipation or diarrhea. Clean hands, a mask where your unit asks for one, and an unhurried connection are not rituals; they are the membrane’s main defense, and the reason training units spend so long on them.

What are the three types of peritoneal dialysis, and does the type change infection risk?

Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, CAPD, is the manual version: you do the exchanges by hand through the day, with fluid dwelling in the abdomen between them. The NIDDK notes that most people on CAPD do about four exchanges a day and that each takes roughly 30 to 40 minutes, mostly draining and filling. Automated peritoneal dialysis, APD, sometimes called continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis or CCPD, hands the job to a machine called a cycler that performs several exchanges while you sleep, often leaving a last fill in place for the day. The third pattern is a combination: a cycler at night plus a manual exchange in daytime for people who need more clearance.

Which carries more infection risk? The honest answer is that the evidence does not point decisively to one. APD involves fewer connections per day, which in theory means fewer chances for touch contamination, but the cycler lines bring their own steps and the tubing stays attached for hours. Observational studies have reported lower peritonitis rates with APD in some programs and no difference in others, and the comparisons are muddied by who gets offered which modality. What the data consistently show is that technique, exit-site care and the handling of connections matter more than the label on the box.

For infection signs, the type changes what you see rather than whether you look. On CAPD you inspect four bags a day in daylight. On APD the cycler drains overnight; many units ask you to check the morning drain and to look at the effluent, the drained fluid, against a light before discarding it. Whatever your schedule, the question is the same at every drain: is this clear enough to read print through?

Who is usually offered peritoneal dialysis, and who is asked to wait

Peritoneal dialysis suits people who want treatment at home, who travel or work hours that make fixed clinic sessions hard, and who still make some urine; preserving that residual kidney function is one of the therapy’s quieter advantages. It also suits people whose blood vessels are difficult to access for hemodialysis, and children, for whom a home routine can protect schooling. The Cleveland Clinic frames the choice as one about lifestyle and medical fit rather than one option being better overall.

Some people are asked to wait or to consider another route first. A freshly placed catheter needs time for the cuffs, small fabric collars that anchor it under the skin, to heal in; the NIDDK advises that dialysis through a new catheter usually begins after about two to three weeks, although urgent-start protocols exist. Large unrepaired hernias, recent major abdominal surgery, dense scar tissue from past operations, a stoma close to the proposed exit site, or an active skin or abdominal infection are common reasons a team suggests delay or hemodialysis instead. Difficulty seeing, limited hand dexterity or memory problems are not automatic barriers, but they change the plan: a trained partner or assisted PD may be arranged.

After an infection the same logic applies in reverse. During peritonitis, dialysis usually continues with antibiotics in the fluid. If the catheter has to come out because an infection is not clearing, or because the cause is a fungus, people are generally moved to hemodialysis for a period and the team decides later whether a new catheter is sensible. Who returns, and when, depends on how the membrane has recovered and what caused the episode. That judgment sits with your nephrology team, not with a timetable.

Cloudy peritoneal dialysis fluid: what the bag is telling you

Healthy effluent is pale yellow and clear; most units teach the newspaper test, holding the bag against a page and checking that you can read the print through it. Cloudiness means something has joined the fluid in enough quantity to scatter light. The most dangerous addition is white blood cells, the body’s response to bacteria, which is why peritonitis is the first assumption whenever a bag turns milky, hazy or grey.

It is not the only cause, and knowing the others stops panic without encouraging delay. Fibrin, the protein that forms strands and clumps like egg white, can make fluid look stringy rather than uniformly cloudy; it is common and usually harmless, though a team may want to know. A pink or blood-tinged bag in a menstruating woman is often linked to ovulation or a period. A faint milky look can come from fat in the fluid after a very fatty meal or, rarely, from a lymph leak. A reaction to a new catheter can cause eosinophilic peritonitis, an inflammation with white cells but no infection, which still needs a sample to tell apart. Certain blood pressure medicines of the calcium channel blocker class have also been reported to cause cloudy fluid without infection.

None of this changes what you do. Guideline groups ask that cloudy effluent be treated as peritonitis until a laboratory says otherwise, because the first hours matter and the test is simple: a sample is sent for cell count, Gram stain and culture. Do not pour the bag away. Clamp it, note the time of the dwell, and bring it or a sample as your unit instructs. Cloudy fluid with no pain is still cloudy fluid.

Belly pain on PD: peritonitis or something else?

Peritonitis pain is usually spread across the abdomen rather than pinpointed, often arrives with cloudy fluid, and may come with fever, chills, nausea or vomiting. The belly can feel tender to press and sore to move; some people describe pain on filling or draining that they never had before. Mayo Clinic and the NIDDK list abdominal pain alongside cloudy fluid and fever as the core warning signs. Pain can also be mild or absent early on, which is why cloudy fluid alone is enough to act.

Not every ache is infection. Drain pain, a sharp pull at the end of outflow when the catheter tip touches the bowel or pelvic wall, is common and usually settles when the team adjusts the drain settings or leaves a little fluid behind. Fluid run in cold cramps the gut. Constipation is frequent on PD because of fluid restriction, phosphate-binding medicines and reduced activity, and it causes bloating and pain; it also slows catheter drainage and, when severe, lets bowel bacteria cross into the peritoneum, so it is both a mimic and a risk factor. Hernias at the catheter site, groin or navel appear as a bulge that aches with standing. And people on dialysis still get appendicitis, gallstones, pancreatitis and diverticulitis, all of which can produce cloudy fluid too.

The distinction you cannot make at home is which of these you have. Pain that is new, worsening, or paired with any cloudiness, fever or vomiting needs the unit’s number that day. A rigid, board-like abdomen, pain so severe you cannot stand straight, or vomiting that stops you keeping fluids down belongs in an emergency department. Let the team decide whether the sample, an examination or a scan comes first.

PD catheter exit site infection: redness, crusting and the tunnel beneath

The exit site is where the catheter emerges from the skin, usually below and to one side of the navel. Beneath it lies the tunnel, a few centimeters of catheter running under the skin between the outer cuff and the muscle layer. A settled exit site, months after placement, looks unremarkable: pale or faintly pink skin, dry or with a tiny amount of clear crust, no tenderness.

A PD catheter exit site infection changes that picture. Redness that spreads outward beyond a narrow rim, skin that is warm or swollen, pain when you clean, and discharge that is yellow, green or thick rather than clear are the signals that matter. Pus is the strongest of them; a positive swab without pus or redness often reflects skin colonization rather than infection, and teams try not to treat swabs alone. A tunnel infection may show as tenderness, swelling or a cord-like firmness along the catheter path, sometimes with fluid that appears at the exit when the tunnel is gently pressed. Because tunnel infections sit next to the cuffs and track inward, they are the ones most often linked with later peritonitis.

Daily care is where most of the prevention lives, and it is undramatic. Hands washed and dried before touching anything near the site. Cleansing with the agent your unit has chosen, in the order you were taught, then patting dry. The catheter secured so it cannot tug or twist; a pull at the exit is one of the commonest preludes to infection. No scissors or pins near the tubing, no ointments the unit has not approved, and showers rather than baths, with the site protected as instructed. If what you see in the mirror differs from last week, photograph it and call. Early exit-site infections are usually treated with antibiotics by mouth; tunnel infections and failures to settle are when teams start talking about revising or replacing the catheter.

Exit-site, tunnel and peritoneal infection at a glance

Side by side, the three infection patterns look like this. The table is a guide to what you might notice and roughly what follows; it is not a tool for deciding at home which one you have, because the sites overlap and one often leads to another.

Where	What you notice	Common sources	Usual first steps by the team	Why it cannot wait
Peritonitis (the fluid)	Cloudy or hazy effluent, diffuse belly pain, fever, nausea; pain may be mild or absent early	Touch contamination at a connection; an exit-site or tunnel infection tracking inward; bowel bacteria during constipation, diarrhea or bowel procedures	Effluent sample for cell count, Gram stain and culture; antibiotics usually added to the dialysis fluid before results return	Inflames and can scar the membrane; delay raises the chance of catheter removal and a switch to hemodialysis
Exit-site infection	Spreading redness, swelling, warmth, pain on cleaning, yellow or green discharge or pus	Skin bacteria; pulling or trauma to the catheter; damp dressings; swimming or bathing without protection	Swab for culture, review of site care, antibiotics usually by mouth	Untreated, it can extend into the tunnel and from there into the peritoneum
Tunnel infection	Tenderness, swelling or firmness along the catheter path; sometimes fluid at the exit when pressed; the surface may look normal	Usually an exit-site infection that has tracked along the catheter toward the cuffs	Culture, often an ultrasound of the tunnel, antibiotics; catheter revision or replacement if it does not settle	Sits beside the cuffs, is hard to clear, and is a common doorway to recurrent peritonitis

Two features are worth underlining. Fever is not required for any of these, and pain is not required for peritonitis; the fluid often speaks first. And the arrows run one way, from skin to tunnel to membrane, which is why teams care so much about a patch of redness that a person might dismiss as tape irritation.

What happens when you call: how peritonitis on peritoneal dialysis is confirmed and treated

Calling the unit with a cloudy bag sets a well-rehearsed sequence in motion. A nurse will ask about the color, when it started, pain, fever and whether anything went wrong at a recent exchange. You will be asked to come in with the bag, or to send a sample. In the laboratory the effluent is checked for its white cell count and the proportion of neutrophils, the infection-fighting cells that surge in bacterial infection; a Gram stain gives an early hint of the organism type, and a culture, which takes a couple of days to grow, names it. Peritonitis on peritoneal dialysis is usually defined by at least two of three findings: symptoms such as pain or cloudy fluid, a raised white cell count with neutrophils predominating, and a positive culture.

Treatment almost always starts before the culture is back. Antibiotics are added directly to the dialysis fluid so they bathe the infected membrane and reach the bloodstream through it; the initial choice is designed to cover both skin organisms and gut organisms, then narrowed once the laboratory reports. The exact medicines, how they are given and for how long are decided by your nephrology team according to local guidelines and your history, and this article deliberately gives no doses or schedules. Many people are treated without admission, adding the antibiotic to bags at home after training. Some need a hospital stay for pain, vomiting or because they are unwell.

Fluid that clears over the following days is reassuring. Fluid that stays cloudy beyond the interval your team sets, repeat infections with the same organism, or growth of a fungus are the situations in which international guidelines favor removing the catheter to protect the membrane and the person; the Cleveland Clinic describes catheter removal as part of managing peritonitis that does not respond. Hemodialysis bridges the gap, and a new catheter may be discussed later.

The days and weeks after an infection: what recovery usually looks like

Most episodes of PD peritonitis are managed with a course of antibiotics measured in weeks rather than days, with the exact length set by the organism grown and how quickly the fluid clears; your team will tell you the end date rather than leaving you to guess. In the first couple of days expect frequent contact: calls or visits to check pain, temperature and the look of each drain, and sometimes a repeat sample. Dialysis usually continues throughout, occasionally with shorter dwells or adjusted glucose strengths, because an inflamed membrane leaks protein and lets sugar in faster, which can make fluid removal harder and leave you puffier and more tired for a while. Appetite often dips just as protein losses rise, so dietitians commonly loosen protein limits during and after an episode.

Every episode should prompt a root-cause review, and good units run one without blame. Was there a break in technique, a wet cap, a pet in the room, a dental procedure, a bout of constipation or diarrhea, a bowel scope without the usual precautions? Retraining is routine after an episode, not a judgment on you. Exit-site and tunnel checks are repeated, because an unnoticed tunnel infection is a common source of recurrence.

If the catheter had to be removed, the weeks look different: a hemodialysis access, usually a neck catheter at first, regular clinic sessions, and a conversation some weeks later about whether a new PD catheter makes sense. Many people do return to PD; whether you can depends on how your membrane has recovered, which the team assesses with follow-up tests rather than assumptions. For a single, promptly treated episode, the realistic expectation most teams describe is a return to the routine you had before, with closer attention to the step that let the bacteria in.

Does peritoneal dialysis make you tired, and when is fatigue a warning sign?

Yes, many people on dialysis feel tired, and the NHS lists fatigue among the most common side effects of both hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. The causes stack up. Kidney failure lowers red blood cell production, and anemia leaves muscles short of oxygen. Waste products that dialysis clears incompletely sap energy. The glucose absorbed from each bag adds calories but blunts appetite for real food, so protein intake and muscle can quietly fall. Cyclers alarm at night. Fluid restriction, long medicine lists, low mood and poor sleep each take a slice. Living with PD, as people describe it, is a routine that works well on most days and a grind on some.

Ordinary fatigue has a pattern: it is familiar, it fluctuates, and it does not arrive with new symptoms. The team can often ease it by treating anemia, adjusting the dialysis prescription, checking thyroid and vitamin levels, reviewing medicines that sedate, and looking at sleep and mood. None of that is something to change on your own.

Fatigue becomes a warning sign when it is new and steep. Feeling suddenly drained, shivery or achy in the hours before a bag turns cloudy is a story unit nurses hear often; the infection is under way before the fluid shows it. Tiredness with breathlessness, swollen ankles or a jump on the scales suggests fluid overload, which is urgent in its own way. Exhaustion with nausea, confusion or a racing heart can reflect high potassium or infection spreading beyond the abdomen. The rule of thumb is simple: tired like yesterday, mention it at clinic; tired like never before, especially with fever or belly symptoms, call today.

What people often get wrong about peritoneal dialysis infection signs

The most common error is grading cloudiness. People tell themselves the bag is only slightly hazy, or that it was clear two bags ago so this one is probably fibrin. A laboratory can grade it; a kitchen window cannot. Any bag you cannot read print through is a call.

Second is the belief that pain is the real signal and cloudy fluid without pain can wait until clinic. Peritonitis frequently begins painless, and by the time the abdomen hurts the infection has had hours to multiply. The reverse myth is also common: belly pain with clear fluid must be something else. It often is, but a hernia or appendicitis still needs the team.

Third, running an extra exchange to flush the cloudiness out. It dilutes the sample the laboratory needs, delays the call, and does nothing to the bacteria. Clamp, keep, phone.

Fourth, redness at the exit is just tape. Sometimes it is; adhesive irritation tends to match the shape of the dressing and spares the catheter opening itself. Redness that hugs the catheter, feels tender or weeps is not tape, and photographing it today and tomorrow settles the question faster than hoping.

Fifth, leftover antibiotics from a previous episode. Starting them at home chooses a medicine for an unknown organism by an unplanned route, masks the culture and can push the team toward catheter removal when the picture becomes unreadable. Never start, stop or change any medicine around an infection without the prescribing team’s instruction.

Sixth, that one episode of peritonitis means PD is over. It usually does not. Many promptly treated episodes are managed without stopping PD, and what ends the therapy is more often delay, recurrence or a fungal cause. The NIDDK and Mayo Clinic both describe infection as a manageable complication rather than an inevitable exit.

Questions to ask your care team

A dialysis unit’s phone number should be the easiest thing in your house to find, and the questions below are the ones worth asking before you ever need it. Write the answers down; a cloudy bag at six on a Sunday morning is not the moment to search for them.

• Exactly how do I reach the team out of hours, and who answers?
• How should I store and transport a cloudy bag or sample, and how quickly do you want it?
• Which changes at my exit site do you want to see the same day, and which can wait for clinic?
• Should I photograph my exit site each week so we have a baseline?
• Do you want me to wear a mask during connections, and does that change for a cycler?
• What is your advice on showers, baths, swimming and hot tubs with my catheter?
• What should I do before a dental appointment, a colonoscopy or any procedure that enters the bowel?
• How do I manage constipation, and why does it matter for infection?
• If I ever had peritonitis, how would treatment be given, and would I stay on PD during it?
• How often will my technique be reviewed, and can my partner be trained as a backup?

Ask as well how your unit tracks its own peritonitis rate; well-run programs audit every episode and will tell you what they learned. The answers will differ between teams, and that is fine, because protocols reflect local organisms and resources. What should not differ is the message that the call is always welcome and never a nuisance.

When to call your doctor

Call your dialysis unit the same day, including nights and weekends, if you notice any of the following. Do not wait for the next exchange to confirm it.

• Drained fluid that is cloudy, hazy or milky, with or without pain.
• New or worsening belly pain, tenderness, or pain on filling or draining.
• Fever, chills, nausea or vomiting, or feeling suddenly unwell for no clear reason.
• Redness spreading from the exit site, swelling, warmth, pain on cleaning, or yellow, green or thick discharge.
• Tenderness, swelling or firmness along the catheter under the skin.
• A known break in technique: a dropped cap, a touched connector, a leak or a split in the tubing, even if the fluid looks clear.
• Fluid leaking around the exit site, or a catheter that has slipped or been pulled.

Go to an emergency department, or call emergency services, if you have a rigid or board-like abdomen, pain so severe you cannot stand upright, repeated vomiting so that you cannot keep fluids down, confusion or drowsiness, a racing heartbeat with faintness, breathlessness that is new or worsening, or a fever with shaking chills. Tell them you are on peritoneal dialysis and give them your unit’s number; sepsis and fluid overload are both emergencies in which the first hour matters.

Between those extremes sit the things to raise at clinic: fibrin strands in otherwise clear fluid, drainage that is slow but complete, a pink tinge you can link to your cycle, mild drain pain, constipation, or fatigue that is familiar. When you are unsure which category you are in, call. Every decision about tests, antibiotics and the catheter rests with your treating team; your job is to give them the chance to make it early.

Frequently asked questions

What is it like to live with peritoneal dialysis day to day?

Most people describe a routine rather than an ordeal: exchanges or a cycler built around work, school and sleep, with the freedom of treating at home and no needles. The trade-offs are storage space for supplies, a daily hygiene discipline that cannot slip, fluid and diet rules, and the constant small act of checking each drained bag. Clinic visits are usually monthly, and the team adjusts the prescription as kidney function and lifestyle change.

What are the three types of peritoneal dialysis?

Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) is done by hand, with several exchanges spread through the day; the NIDDK notes most people do about four. Automated peritoneal dialysis (APD or CCPD) uses a cycler machine to run exchanges overnight. The third pattern combines the two, with a cycler at night and a manual daytime exchange for people who need extra clearance. Your team chooses based on membrane tests, lifestyle and how much dialysis you need.

How do you flush a PD catheter, and should I do it to clear cloudy fluid?

Flushing is part of the trained exchange or cycler set-up, not something to improvise. New catheters are flushed by the unit to keep them open before dialysis starts, and the fill-and-drain of each exchange rinses the catheter in routine use. Never run extra exchanges to clear cloudy fluid: it dilutes the sample the laboratory needs and delays treatment. If drainage is slow or the fluid looks wrong, clamp, keep the bag and call your unit.

Does peritoneal dialysis make you tired?

It can. The NHS lists fatigue among the most common side effects of dialysis, and on PD the causes include anemia from kidney failure, incomplete clearance of waste, sugar absorbed from the fluid dulling appetite, broken sleep from cycler alarms, and low mood. Familiar, fluctuating tiredness belongs on your clinic list. Sudden, severe tiredness with fever, nausea, belly discomfort or breathlessness can signal infection or fluid overload and needs a same-day call.

My dialysis fluid is cloudy but I have no pain. Can it wait until morning?

No. Guideline groups ask that cloudy peritoneal dialysis fluid be treated as peritonitis until proven otherwise, and pain is often absent in the early hours when treatment works best. Clamp the bag, note the dwell time and call your unit’s out-of-hours line now. The laboratory will check the fluid for white cells and bacteria, and the team will usually start antibiotics in the dialysis fluid before results return.

Can I shower, bathe or swim with a peritoneal dialysis catheter?

Showers are generally allowed once the exit site has healed, with the site cleaned and dried afterward as taught. Soaking in a bath or hot tub is usually discouraged because still, warm water carries bacteria to the exit site. Swimming is a conversation with your team: some units permit chlorinated pools or open sea with a protective dressing, and most advise against lakes and rivers. Follow your unit’s specific guidance rather than general advice.

Is a little redness at the PD catheter exit site normal?

A faint pink rim that has looked the same for months and does not hurt is often just a settled exit site. Redness that spreads, feels warm or tender, weeps yellow or green fluid, or appears alongside swelling along the catheter under the skin points to a PD catheter exit site infection or tunnel infection. Photograph it and call the same day; early exit-site infections are usually managed with antibiotics by mouth and review of site care.

Will peritonitis on peritoneal dialysis mean switching to hemodialysis?

Not usually. Many episodes are managed on PD with antibiotics added to the dialysis fluid, and people continue their exchanges throughout. The Cleveland Clinic and international guidelines describe catheter removal, with a move to hemodialysis, for infections that do not clear within the interval the team sets, for repeated infections with the same organism, or for fungal peritonitis. Whether a new PD catheter is placed later depends on how the membrane recovers and is the team’s decision.

Why is there blood in my peritoneal dialysis fluid?

A pink or red tinge is common in women around ovulation or a period, and can follow a strain, a cough, heavy lifting or a knock to the abdomen. It is usually harmless and settles within a few drains, but your unit will want to know, especially if it persists, is heavy, or comes with pain or cloudiness. Bloody fluid that also looks cloudy, or arrives with fever, is handled as possible peritonitis.

What should I do if I think I contaminated a connection during an exchange?

Stop and call your unit before continuing, even if the fluid looks clear. A touched connector, a dropped cap, a wet line or a split in the tubing are exactly the moments that lead to peritonitis, and many units will change the transfer set and may give a short preventive course of antibiotics decided by the prescribing clinician. Reporting a slip is never treated as a failure; it is the single most useful thing you can tell them.

References

• Peritoneal Dialysis, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH)
• Peritonitis, Cleveland Clinic
• Dialysis: Side effects, NHS
• Peritoneal dialysis, MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.