to drink more or not

[marlinfshr]

Kind of lost as to what to do. Before I went into heart surgery a few weeks ago I was not retaining fluid and could drink whatever I wanted to. After the surgery it is taking forever for my kidneys to "wake" up again. My nephrologist believes they are finally dead and redid my CAPD prescription to 4 times/day.

However, I have been starting to pee this past week, not much but some. I felt perhaps 1 liter a day so I measured it starting last night and came up with exactly 1 liter in 24 hours. A far cry different from the 2 1/2 or so i'd pee before, allowing only 2 manual CAPD exchanges per day.

Now, one thing to point out is that I haven't been drinking much because I'm scared of retaining fluid and my nephrologist has me on a 1 liter/day restriction. I don't measure what I drink but it's not much more.

So, I'm wondering if I should just go for it a drink a few large glasses of water like I did before and see if the more fluid in makes more urine. I retained a bunch in the hospital after surgery because I couldn't do dialysis for a few days afterwards and it wasn't fun so I don't want to go back there again but at the same point I don't want to kill my kidneys off since I believe there is still some life left in them.

Suggestions?

[noahvale]

^

[marlinfshr]

I'm not looking to challenge myself or add any strain to my already stressed body at this time. I'm just looking for suggestions. To me it makes perfect sense that in order to make urine, liquid needs to go in. I am making urine. About a liter in 24 hours. Not much but I'm not drinking much either. In the past I would have had at least 1 large sweet tea and a big gulp as well as more glasses of water through the course of a day. Now I'm only drinking half glasses of whatever a couple times a day and a small cup of water before bed.

Reading my posts, this looks like a dumb question but seriously I am lost.

I'm sorry if it is a stupid question but this is all new to me in this damn disease. This past year I returned to my career as a charter boat mate but because of bypass surgery that got cut short and now if my kidneys don't recover (i understand they may not) I'm looking at NOT returning again next year and not being able to work at all until a transplant comes along.

Honestly, I'm worried!

[Deanne]

What is your UF? If it's low, maybe you're peeing out most of what you drink and you could drink just a bit more to see what changes. Did you ask your neph about it?

[jeannea]

On PD, I was told I could drink a liter of water a day plus the number of ounces I peed. (I can't word this right. No, I didn't drink my pee.) This appears to apply even if it isn't "quality" pee, even if it doesn't get rid of toxins. Being on PD you have the luxury of changing a yellow bag to a green if necessary. I would recommend being careful with your fluid for at least a few weeks and then checking with your doctor. Keep good records during this time of your weight and UF.

[marlinfshr]

I see the Dr on Monday. I am up to 1 1/2 liters/day. That is the amount I was peeing when she originally put me on only 2 bags/day dialysis a year ago. The numbers I can access through Davita showed pretty much the same as before except for a low albumun which I expected but I didn't really eat anything in the hospital and no meat at all.

i just hope the other numbers are still where they were and that my kidneys, though not good, just got a little "shock" from the surgery and are returning to where they were this year. I would love to be able to return to fishing next year when I get all healed up!

[cassandra]

Good luck on Monday! BTW low albumin can also cause you to retain more fluid. So if poss, eat enough protein.

[Sugarlump]

If it were me I would try a little more water say 300-400mls and see. I have found in the past that there is a correlation sometimes[b} between drinking more water and passing more urine. I also find my brain works better and I can focus/concentrate more if I drink a little more too...

[Rerun]

If he has you on 1 liter a day try 1.5 and see what happens.   Baby steps.