Help!!! How do I keep my water weight down?

[arwen2424]

Good Lord!!! It's impossible! I keep going for hemodialysis on M, W, F and I keep having to extract more than 3 kilos! I'm in trouble now coz it's Saturday night and I've already gained 2 kilos! (despite my best efforts to drink less).

I have half a cup of water with breakfast, lunch and dinner. And teeny tiny little sips in between should I feel thirsty, which is common these days coz we're going thru a heat wave. The nurses have already warned me that my heart can no longer handle 3 or more kilos cos my bp keeps dropping to dangerously low levels towards the final hour of dialysis.

Help!!!  should I give up drinking water altogether. Oh, btw, I do urinate quite a bit in the mornings when I wake up but apparently it's not enough.

[Dianejt]

Your foods you are eating also have to be taken into consideration for fluid content. Soups, fruit etc have volume. The renal diet is tough. Good luck getting this under control.

[Rerun]

If it is hot go sweat some of it off.  It is amazing how much 5 minutes of sweat can be.

Best of luck.

[arwen2424]

  I'm doomed! It's only Sunday night and I've gained 2.5 kilos! Yaaaaaaaah!!!

Plus I was 0.2 above my dry weight so I'll have to take off at least 2.7 kilos.

Oh Lord!!! I've tried so hard and I'm still as heavy as ever. I don't know what to do anymore!!!!

[Zach]

Have you tried limiting the amount of salt you eat?

[RichardMEL]

You'll have to take off more than 2.7, because you need an extra bit (~0.5) for the washback, so more like 3.2, plus whatever else you gained overnight.

You're in a very hot and humid country (Malaysia) and I would think wandering around outside for an hour or two should help with that fluid. Back in 2007 I flew to Singapore to fly on the A380. I spent maybe 2.5/3 hours walking the streets of Singapore - I swear I lost ~3kg just sweated out. I know that's pretty gross to contemplate, but I had a big frosty mug of beer when I got to the airport, and boy was it refreshing and I did not feel guilty. When I got back home after my trip, including drinking champagne and stuff on the plane, I was only 1.7 or so over. That was sweet!

I definitely agree exercise is a good way to help control the fluids. Also remembeing all the foods that have fluid in them which does include obviously soups, ice cream and even the water absorbed in pasta/rice when cooked, or the natural fluids in juicy refreshing fruit(and don't forget the potassium content there, also!).

over a D weekend, 3 kg over is not that unusual. indeed I've seen guidelines that say 2kg over between normal treatments and 3 for weekends is "acceptable" - re your cramping have you had a BVM or other measurement done to see if your dry weight is correct? You could have put on some real body weight and you may be getting too much fluid taken off making you too dry. I'd ask for that to be checked also, if possible.

Zach's comment about salt is also pertinent.

[VictoriaG]

my husband has a cup of cofee in the morning and eats a few small sugar free popsicles during the day to quench his thirst. he manages to keep his gain under 2, usually even on weekends. also he is on a low sodium diet.

[RightSide]

Eliminate all salt from your diet.  And I do mean all.
Eliminate all unnecessary sources of sodium from your diet.  That means no breads that have too much sodium.  Stop eating eggs; eat other sources of protein that have less sodium.

My sodium intake is less than 1,000 mg/day.  And at that low level, even my damaged kidneys can still excrete fluid.