quick shifts in wet weight?

[RichardMEL]

Hi all,

I've had 2 reasonably bizarre sessions in a row that I can't quite figure out and the nurses have offered me very little by way of possible explanation.

Last Tuesday my wet weight was 1.4kg over - no problem

Last Thursday my wet weight was 1.6kg over - no problem

here it begins...

Last Saturday I was 0.3kg over - YES! 0.3! I re-weighed myself 3 times, then pointed it out to the staff and they got a chair scale for me to use - exact same result.

Now, before I went to dialysis, feeling I was not too much over (but not that little!) I had a 330ml bottle of a beverage I really shouldn't drink (so shush, don't tell!!! ). So how could I be just 0.3kg over when I'd prob. drunk 2l in the previous 2 days, while passing ~1l maybe a bit less. I expected to be ~1.5kg over as with the previous days. I hadn't drunk or eaten more (or less) than usual and it wasn't overly hot.. so that was very odd. The nurse suggested I must have lost some dry weight... well OK, but what over a kilo or more in a couple of days?

So anyway that became a very easy session, we took 0.6l off and so I left about 200ml under my dry weight. No problem.

So, skip through the weekend and to Tuesday's session... I drank and ate again about the same - certainly not a heap more despite the nurse joking that I could drink an extra beer that night.

I was 4.1kg over!?!?!?!!!

Now I am pretty careful with my fluids (I am sure my family thinks I am anal at times) - I keep track of how much I drink, I use containers of known sizes so I know how much there is (eg:I have a 300ml bottle of water at work) and so on. I usually keep my fluids to approx 1l/full day off dialysis, and 500ml on an evening after I finish dialysis... so I was expecting to be around 2.5-3kg over when I checked in. There was no way that I had 4l of fluids in the 2 days, and that's not taking into account all the fluid I passed...

So I got this whole lecture from the nurses "don't drink so much! don't binge!" - and the thing is I didn't... unless someone snuck in during the night and stuck a funnel down my through while I slept...

Now the thing is these two experiences make little sense to me.. *If* I had taken off weight before the previous session, I don't see how I would have put ON a couple of kilos in the next few days...

So anyway I am a bit confused, and a little concerned... has anyone else had anything like this happen and any ideas? I'm almost afraid to drink anything much at all before the next session.. which I know in my head is crazytalk, but I just can't account for the big increase to be 4kg over (and I suffered through the treatment today on the very verge of cramps, but the nurse used a neat profile on the machine that took a bunch off, then rested, then back on again.. and that seemed to work for me without any serious pain).

So.. any comments from the gurus out there? Or am I worrying about nothing and it's just too very weird things in a row?

(oh incidently I do use scales at home to monitor my progress, but they aren't too reliable..I have found when I use them and I put fluid on they register more than the actual gain for some reason, so often can end up 1kg over what the unit scales say).

[kitkatz]

Okay.  I see the conundrum and feel for you.  However, remember women can put on four to ten pounds or more of water weight during their time of the month.  So if it close you can be putting wieght on that will come off in a week or so.  Just keep near to your dry weight and don't get too upset over it.  I find that I gain an additional pound or two and lose it over the month.

[susie q]

It may also make quite a difference if you wear heavy or lighter clothing ... 

[RichardMEL]

Umm KitKatz... that would make sense.. but I'm not a woman... at least last time I checked anyway...

And re clothing.. I am always careful to wear the same types of clothes (jeans, same shoes, polo top or t-shirt) when I weigh myself... even if it is cold etc and I wear a jumper (sweater to you northern types ) I take it off before weighing. I have even gone to the extent ot making sure I have the same stuff in my pockets.. eg: i take all coins and change out, have my phone and wallet in...

so I would guess the variation between sessions in terms of my clothes would be ~50-100grams maybe 200g at the most if I wear a heavier polo or a lighter T.

Did I mention I was kind of anal about this? LOL I try to keep conditions as similar as possible between sessions so to avoid stuff like that.

So, given that it's not my time of the month (unless I've been invaded by an alien or something that's changing my gender) and my clothes were essentially static... I'm still confused! LOL

[kitkatz]

Ummmm....Oops!  Like I looked up the skirts???

[RichardMEL]

hmm I may have Scottish blood but you won't see me in a kilt anytime soon.. specially at dialysis.. it's too cold there ... and I'm not shaving my legs OK?! *grin*

My scales suggest I am ~1.5kg over currently so fingers crossed for tomorrow I will ~2kg or less.

[AlasdairUK]

It could be what ever you ate had a high content of water or something left in a pocket or even good old fashioned human error and you drank more than you thought. It happens to the best of us. As Kitkatz mentioned just stay as close to your dry weight as you can and remove the extra half a kg on the next visit.

[BigSky]

It can vary on the weather and how just a little extra sodium in the diet.

Hot or dry weather tends to make one expel extra fluid.

Cool or wet weather tends to make one hold onto extra fluid.

Combine that with just a little extra sodium and one will hold all fluid they drink and fluid that is in food itself.

Of course if you exercise or do any type of activity out of the normal in different weather conditions will also have an affect on fluid retention also.

[RichardMEL]

I can deal with being say 500ml over by way of the occasional "extra" sip I might have, but no way in h@!$ would I have drank over an extra litre or two of fluid. Like I said, I monitor it pretty closely to the almost point of obsession which is why I was so surprised. weather has been pretty neutral (~20C) and I didn't have any rice or pasta or anything unusual diet wise.

I'm not going to go off the deep end about this, but it was just weird COMBINED with being so "low" the session before - thw two together just don't make any sense

so yeah maybe I made an error, but I don't see how.

Oh well I will see what the scale says in a couple of hours.....

[JerseyGirl]

Hi there -remember salads and fruits metabolize out to liquid - maybe you went out to eat and had a big salad?  Or extra fruit?

[RichardMEL]

No and no.. I am not a salad person and the only fruit I eat is apple, and haven't had that in a while :O

Anyway all better today... gained 1.6kg but was over by 1.8 due to coming off a bit over last time.

hope it stays that way

[kitkatz]

WE had the scale in the dilaysis center go nuts for a few weeks.  It wieghed you in at 2 pounds over, a whole kilo, the dry weight.  I had to put the extra weight ino the calculations.

[JerseyGirl]

If you think the scale is off at your clinic, have a staff person weigh a 1L bag of saline on there and see if it weighs 1.KG - 1000cc = 1 KG = 2.2lbs.  Easy way to calibrate!

[RichardMEL]

Well sometimes it has come up with some suspect readings, but seems OK with a big fat reset.

In my case I didn't believe the readings so much that we used a different set of scanes and weighed twice to be sure. Unfortunately the two sets agreeed.

I know my home scales are off by at least 0.5kg so I calculate that in (they are only cheap, I really should upgrade now that it is far more important to me).

[kitkatz]

Sometimes your body just goes crazy with weight. Remember dialysis screws with everything.  I usually wait it out (No pun intended there.).  Your body will adjust and so will you mentally.  I have had screaming fits (quiet ones) over my dry weigth and what that damned scale has said!

[MattyBoy100]

Hi Richard,

Don't worry too much.  When I started dialysis about 5 months ago, my dry weight was 75kg.  I wasn't very well then but after a few weeks of treatment my weight started increasing and I am now a healthy 77.5kg dry weight.  All I'm saying is your weight will fluctuate for a while but give it a few weeks and your body will settle down.

I used to religiously measure out my fluids as well.  I don't anymore now though cos I can pretty much guage how much fluid is in the cups or glasses I use.  Don't let measuring fluids become an obsession! Just try and keep a figure in your head of how much you've had.

And as mentioned before, take into account what clothes you are wearing when you weigh yourself.  I went to get weighed in my unit with a fleece on and the nurse made me take it off to weigh it.  I was surprised to discover it weighed 0.5kg on its own!!!