General Stanley McChrystal is credited with stating “Don’t follow my orders, follow the orders I would have given you if I were there and know what you know.” I only wish that Fresenius followed such a dictum with its “tech support.” My continuing frustration with Fresenius’ tech support is their total lack of empathy, understanding, and certainly action on my behalf as a result of continuous drain alarms from their Liberty Cycler, taking place over half the time.
Their position seems to be if you can get through a night of treatment, REGARDLESS OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF DOING SO, that’s good enough and they wipe their hands of any further responsibility, caring, or interest. Dealing with Fresenius “tech support” is worse than sticking your finger into a cloud; at least with a cloud, you may end up with a moist finger.
For those of you not familiar with a Peritoneal Dialysis treatment here’s a short primer. For me, the Fresenius Liberty Cycler, a computer-controlled pump and drain system, upon attachment to my stomach catheter at night, checks to see if I have any fluid that needs to be drained, then pumps in two liters of special fluid (fill), that it times to stay in my stomach liner for two hours (dwell), then pumps this fluid and any extra it has pulled out (drain). It accomplishes this over four cycles which takes upwards of eleven hours to accomplish.
So in the normal operation of the Cycler, I have four drain cycles. This is where my cycler has difficulty. More often than not, during the drain cycle, the cycler does not, can not, will not or something else not operate as designed, and it throws a Klaxon-like alarm where I have to wake up, get out of bed to push buttons on the cycler to reset the alarm and drain cycle. From experience, I know that I cannot just jump back in bed but must remain in an upright position for it to complete the drain cycle before I can get back in bed and attempt to go back to sleep. This can take anywhere from 20 minutes or less to accomplish. Only then can I get back in bed and attempt to return to sleep.
Keep in mind that I am not the only Liberty Cycler user experiencing such alarms!
Erin Davis writing in the 8/7/2023 issue of diaTribeLearn wrote an article titled “Sleep Hygiene; A Checklist for People with Diabetes.” Erin states “
“You may have noticed that when you have a bad night’s sleep, your blood sugars are high. It’s not just a fluke. Sleep, or lack thereof, impacts blood glucose levels, and in turn, glucose can affect sleep quality.
While you’re sleeping, your body is performing serious maintenance. Say if your sleep is interrupted – due to something like waking for a baby or dealing with continuous glucose monitor (CGM) alarms – you may find it difficult to manage your blood sugar. “
I’m laying the foundation that Fresenius’s adamant refusal to alleviate my cycler alarm situation has consequences beyond lack of sleep; Fresenius may well be the cause of my demise at an earlier date than God has planned. God help us all (Especially those of us using Fresenius’s Liberty Cycler!)
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