Stinging port

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anonymous

New member
I was put on home ivs yesterday, tobramycin and meropenum. I tolerated the first dose fine, but last night (my second) I took the meropenum no problem but when it came to the end of the tobramycin it began to feel uncomfortable around the site. My mum then gave me my last flush and heprinse(heplock)and after that went in it got really sore.
Then this morning, the same thing happened, meropenum fine, but I only got 0.5mls in of tobramycin in before it STUNG like mad.
Had it checked out, its not blocked, could it be an allergy to tobramycin??
Any info is much appreciated, thanks, Shamrock x
 
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anonymous

New member
Have them check to see if you are getting a blood clot. I get them all the time. They will put you on a blood thinner while you are on the IV's.
 
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anonymous

New member
Thanks for the reply,
Would that involve taking blood from my line? If not, great, but if it does, my line doesnt give blood back. Shamrock x
 
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anonymous

New member
You should definitely tell your dr. or home care nurse about the stinging. I assume you are flushing with 10 ml saline in between meds? Even though it is most convenient to do them together, you might try putting 15 minutes or more between them. Also, I assume the meropenem is iv push. Make sure you are putting it in slowly enough - over 4 or 5 minutes. Also, ask your pharmacist or dr. if you can try to switch the order of the antibiotics, or slow the rate of the tobramycin down, or have it diluted more. Watch tobramycin - read the side effects and make sure you don't show any. I know lots of meds have mild side effects, but tobramycin is not a med you can ignore the mild effects. Sorry, not trying to sound bossy - I'm just so tired - my husband was up ALL night coughing and is not doing to well. We have done his home IV's for almost 2 years now (about every 6 to 8 weeks) so if you are fairly new to this and want to talk to me, email me at standinginthegap4greg@hotmail.com. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon! jan

PS - what do you mean your line "doesn't give blood back?"
 
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Purplelungs

New member
also i would check and make sure the needle is right in the middle of the port. sometimes they can go in sideways or a little to much to the side and not go into the port right and someitmes causes a leak....when you flush is it harder than normal? does the needle look centered and straight? thats another thing i would look at. but what the previous poster said sounds something to look into first. it is very important that the meds dont go in to fast if they are on a pump because the port line is only so big and if you try to force something in to fast sometimes it can leak back out the port part....now i know the previous poster is meaning something else...but i have had nurses try to flush my port to fast and it has caused some leaking, a few times made the port kinda "pop" up...the port rose a little bit cus they forced so hard the flush went around my port instead of in it. it hurt and stung then. so now i hate it when nurses flush...i have always liked to do it myself anyway. just another thought is all.
 
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anonymous

New member
To the anonymous poster with the coughing husband, yeah Ive been doin these home ivs, like you, every 6-8weeks, for the last 2-3 years. (More frequently this last year) Ive taken tobramycin a lot before (its usually one of the ones Im on.) We've been doing the flushes and everything and taking the meropenum over 5-8minutes (it takes AGES!!)Don't worry, you didnt come across as bossy, I feel that way myself when I get no sleep due to coughing! I hope your husband feels better soon

Was at the hospital today, had the port dye-flushed under xray. Definately not blocked.
Purplelungs, they said that could be the reason, that its not in straight or its touching the wall. Anyway, Im just suspicious 'cause it always hurts toward the end of the ivs, or like this morning, when I'd got .5mls of tobramycin.
I've since taken the needle out and they're putting a new one in 2moro. Shamrock, x

Oh and what i mean by my line "doesn't give blood back" I mean when you put a syringe in it and try to draw back for blood, you cant get any.
 
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WinAce

New member
That happens with mine, most of the time. Often, it'll give a drop or so back, but there's no guarantee. On rare occasions, it'll work enough to give a blood test. I'm on the same IV Tobramycin and Meropenem myself at the moment, and had to insist on an IV pump to inject the latter over an hour, because it was too unreliable otherwise, and gave me side effects like severe, mind-bending nausea before. Is getting a pump to administer it more slowly a viable option for you, or will insurance be a bitch?
 
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anonymous

New member
If you don't mind me being nosy - what germs do you culture? My (45 yr old) husband has pseudonomas, stenotrophomonas and b. cepacia (I don't know if I spelled everything right). It's the cepacia that we are trying to combat all the time. He's down to one intermittent iv antibiotic (meropenum). <33% FEV. He's also on the tx list, and we are hoping he gets bumped up May 4th when the UNOS reallocation rules go into effect.

The home nurse agency taught me how to access his port both for flushing and iv use. Only once have I 'missed' and got it in a little too close to the edge (just trying to miss the center a little - it looked so sore). That's the only time I couldn't get a blood return, so I changed it right away and it was fine. I was so upset that I had to stick him twice, but he says I do great and he'd rather have me do it than the nurses. Plus it frees him up from his schedule so he doesn't have to hang around the house waiting for them to come access the port.

What are purple lungs?

Hope everything works out for you now.

Take care,
Jan
 
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WinAce

New member
Yeah, B. cepacia is a real meanie. It takes one heck of a round of antibiotics to put that sucker down, even temporarily. If you don't mind me asking, Jan, where's your husband listed for transplant? UNC? This is technically off-topic, so if you don't mind answering, you can email me at allan_glenn@hotmail.com (thanks).
 
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anonymous

New member
Winace, I live in Ireland where healthcare is free, so the pump thing is not a problem. But heres the weird thing, now i think Im allergic to meropenum!! I had a sort of, "it all makes sense now" moment yesterday. 2weeks ago I was on these 2antibiotics (my first time been on meropenum) but I was REALLY sick! Im talking temperatures, needing o2, the whole lot. The strange thing was I never ever get temperatures or fevers.
But yesterday...2nd day of meropenum, I developed a temperature of 38'1 which is kind of high.
I culture pseudemonas and my pfts on Monday were 30%. Hopefully they'll go up if I can get rid of this infection!
Wish me luck as I go to have my needle put back in.! Shamrock, x
 
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anonymous

New member
Oh and I forgot to say, its been 24hrs since my last dose of mer. and today, I have had no temperatures...Shamrock x
 
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WinAce

New member
Merrem sometimes gave me fevers, too. Low ones, though, usually not going higher than 99.5 (F). I don't think it's necessarily indicative of an allergy, and this time around, it doesn't seem to be causing any problems. Ask your doc about the allergy thing, as they can do an annoying skin-prick test and find out for sure. Good luck.
 
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anonymous

New member
hi shamrock, i live in ireland as well but i'm a foreign and im gonna start having appointments here for the 1st time , i would like to know how things work here, cf related, just to have a general idea. my email is veramolko@hotmail.com so contact me if you can just so we can talk a bit about it. thanks.
 
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anonymous

New member
Ok problem is solved (I hope anyway) Had needle put back in today and everything is fine. Must have just been the positioning of it. Does anyone know if u can take colomycin neb and iv together. (not at exact same time, but can you do both?)
Vera, my email is down at the mo, so i cant email you, but if you dont mind me asking, how old are you and where are you coming from? Shamrock x
 
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anonymous

New member
Anonymous can you email me at shortangel@aol.com. I am 14 years old I have had a liver transplant because of CF,and now i have developed lung problems similar to your husband.I am also taking the same antibiotics through the I.V. I was wondering if your husband developed b cerpasia when he got the other two bacterias.One of my doctors keeps on mentioning that i may have b cerpecia, but i haven't been tested for it.So when you have the time please e-mail me.Me and my grandma are curious.Oh,we also live in Levelland,Texas. Thank you !~Elinda~!
 
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anonymous

New member
Anonymous can you email me at shortangel0591@aol.com. I am 14 years old I have had a liver transplant because of CF,and now i have developed lung problems similar to your husband.I am also taking the same antibiotics through the I.V. I was wondering if your husband developed b cerpasia when he got the other two bacterias.One of my doctors keeps on mentioning that i may have b cerpecia, but i haven't been tested for it.So when you have the time please e-mail me.Me and my grandma are curious.Oh,we also live in Levelland,Texas. Thank you !~Elinda~!
 
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