swelling from fluid overload hiding?

[gothiclovemonkey]

I have quite a bit of fluid on me, from being a bad girl, of course!
My legs rarely ever swell! Which is great, buuuut, it seems to all go into my abdomen? does anyone else have this?
my doctor doesnt seem to understand this, but i can feel it! i see it too!

[RenalSurvivorDotCA]

I rarely get swelling in ankles, but it sure shown on my face (around eyes) and belly too. If I wore jeans to dialysis they would fit fine; when I'd walk to the scale my pants would be falling down. LOL

[SteveK87]

I think it would be typical to go to the abdomen.  I think wherever it can go it will go.  My wife shows the most on her face, ankles, and abdomen.  Her ankles are the easiest to spot because she won't have any definition on her off days but once she does treatment for a few days she will have the definition of the tendon showing.  That is what we usually look at the most to see if she really is retaining fluid.

[amanda100wilson]

I was on PD until recently and thefluid all went to my abdomen and face, in fact, I don't think that it was extracellular fluid, it was all within the cells.  I looked pregnant and felt miserable every time I looked in the mirror.  Don't think that medical staff believed me when I said this.  Then a few months ago I switched to in-unit and then  to NxStage.  The fluid has just come off me, I've lost 20 lbs and gone down two sizes in jeans.  A recent comparitive photo really shows the difference.  I have a waist again, not  bad for a nearly 50 year old woman, my face doesn't look all puffy and I don't look pregnant.  A great excuse for going clothes shopping!

[gothiclovemonkey]

When I did PD, all the fluid came off like crazy, it was awesome! HD is just so rough, in so many ways. and even taking off 6k, i still have another 10 or so, but i cant convince my dr~

[jbeany]

When I did PD, all the fluid came off like crazy, it was awesome! HD is just so rough, in so many ways. and even taking off 6k, i still have another 10 or so, but i cant convince my dr~

Maybe try what I did:

Set your own goals - the nurses can be trained, if you smack 'em in the nose often enough with a rolled up lab report.  (You do have a right to set your own treatments, but many of them forget that.)  Then start working your way down gradually.  Asking them to take an extra 10 off all at once will get them all huffy.  Try saying you think you have lost body fat, and you would like to challenge your dry weight by .5 at a time.  If they don't see you as a "She's gonna crash instantly" problem, then it's easier to get them to stop fighting you.  If the first .5 works, repeat the process every new session by aiming for you new, .5 lower each time goal.  It won't take all that long to get the extra fluid off.   Then, if it works well, you can get the doc to start lowering your recorded dry weight.  I started doing it so frequently when I was really losing weight that I was often several K lighter coming in than my dry weight was supposed to be when I left.  The doc just didn't adjust the charts often enough to keep up.  Eventually, my nurses learned to stop consulting my chart for a dry weight and just asked me what I wanted that day.

Do yourself a favor, and be as good as you can on fluid gains, too.  Many centers don't want to set the daily pull higher than 6 total - it's too easy to crash.  If you can manage to only put on 4 or less, then your body will have a much easier time letting go of the extra fluid.  It was a pain to lower my fluid amounts, but it beat feeling like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow man all the time.

[gothiclovemonkey]

part of the prblem i do admit is entirely my own. I am constantly thirsty, ive tried the tricks of the trade to no avail. i am still working on it, and it would help emensley if i lived on my own, and didnt have a sweet dad who tries to help but constantly puts salty foods out for dinner, then i feel terrible for not eating what he or his wife has made

[RichardMEL]

part of the prblem i do admit is entirely my own. I am constantly thirsty, ive tried the tricks of the trade to no avail. i am still working on it, and it would help emensley if i lived on my own, and didnt have a sweet dad who tries to help but constantly puts salty foods out for dinner, then i feel terrible for not eating what he or his wife has made

Your health is more important than your pride or feeling bad. I think just simply explain that you shouldn't eat the salty chips or whatever (but it's fine for them to go ahead if they like) and that you need to be mindful of these things for more than one reason (fluid, dietry restrictions etc).

You shouldn't feel bad for putting your health first.. there are ways to be tactful/polite to educate others without hurting their feelings. At the very least you shouldn't eat all of it.

And try to use more willpower with the fluids since you know you're drinking too much. I *know* how difficult it can be at times... trust me.... but it's for the greater good/long term health.

incidently my fluids always went to my waist,abdomen area. My legs didn't really swell up at all, nor my ankles.

good luck.

[gothiclovemonkey]

sadly, ive told them many times what i cant have. and some times, if its eally bad, ill simply say i cant and eat a pbj. but it seems 6/7 nights are something i probably shouldnt have. usually when they give me choices i try to pick the lesser of evils lol

fluid restrictions are hard, i do better if i DONT measure, for some reason when i feel restricted im more likely to "cheat" and waaaaaaay over do it.

[Riki]

My fluid always goes to my upper legs.  When I first started hemo, and I was in the hospital, I think that the nurses there replaced any fluid they took off to prevent me from crashing, because I was so sick.  The problem with that is that I had so much fluid on my upper legs that I couldn't walk.  I could barely pull myself into a standing position, and I used a walker to get around.  Once I was home, and into the unit I'm in now, it took about a week of treatments, and I no longer needed the walker.  I lost almost 30lbs while I was sick, but you wouldn't have known because of all the fluid.  In the 3 years since then, however, I've, unfortunately, gained most of it back. *L*