Was wondering where in the body your excess fluid tends to sit before your next dialysis session. I would have expected mine to be around my ankles where it used to hang in the bad old days, but now I am wondering if it can reside around my stomach area or am I just feeding my face to much?? :o
Maybe a bit of both. It’s an interesting question.
I have the same problem. Nephrologists almost invariably say that excess fluid settles in the ankles and feet and not in the stomach. Well, maybe eventually, but for me, the excess shows in my abdomen long before it gets to my feet. If I happen to drink a lot, like during the off-days, by the time I get to starting my dialysis setup, I’m really bloated in the abdomen and yet my ankles aren’t swollen at all. We have no formal fluid limit on daily nocturnal at least, but I find that anything above a 2 litre gain starts feeling like a lot. There’s no problem removing it overnight though. Even a 2 litre gain translates into a UF rate less than 350ml/hour.
At the same time, a person on nocturnal hemo will almost certainly gain weight - because we feel like eating more, and because we can. So, it’s pretty easy to gain weight if we don’t keep an eye on calories. I know that my middle age weight goes directly to my stomach.
So for me at least, it is a combination of both weight gain and fluid accumulating in my abdomen for some reason.
Pierre
In winter time, it hangs around my head and eyes… 
…very little around my waistline…seldom in my legs unless I do 3-4kilos…
In Spring or summer, dang it evaporates too quick…need to drink lots of water, barely use any UFR…
My Dr. once told me that if I didn’t get all the weight off that eventually it would build up around my heart and or lungs but mostly the heart.
He said take a balloon and blow it up then let the air out. Then do that again and again after a while look what happens to the balloon. That is what he said happens to your heart with too much fluid. :shock:
It sure does not look pretty
Of course, that’s heart enlargement, but there’s good news for daily-short and nocturnal patients…the fluid is beeing removed daily and not left in there long…
Another worst case scenario is calcification…
Plus, it gets at the extracellular fluid more than conventional dialysis does.
Pierre
Spot on ! Oh well, looks like it’s time for some retail therapy and some new roomier jeans… :x
Thgat’s exactly what happens to me. And this has started only after I switched to short daily. When I was on thrice a week, fluid used to fill around my ankles, lungs and heart. But now my stomach starts bloating up!
Have you talked with the doctor or your training nurse about about where you’re retaining fluid now vs. when you were doing conventional HD?
It’s not easy living with a fluid restriction. Have you talked with the dietitian about your diet and any tips he/she can suggest that will help you avoid too much fluid?
How much fluid do you drink per day and/or weight gain do you have between dialysis treatments?
Do you have diabetes? If so, is your blood sugar under control? If not, getting it under control may help your thirst.
Have you considered doing nocturnal hemodialysis? Messages posted by patients on this site indicate that this treatment option allows people more flexibility in their fluid limit.
You might want ask your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist if any drugs you’re taking have a side effect of fluid retention or dry mouth. You can look for drug information on on http://www.medlineplus.gov or http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/index.html.
I’ve not yet talked to my doctor about this. I’m not diabetic. I’ve stopped measuring my fluid intake after switching to daily but I have a weight gain of about 2-3 kgs between treatments. I am still dialysing in center. I’m waiting for my dialysis machine to arrive. It should be here in about 10 days and then I plan to dialyse at home - first 3 hours daily and then as I get more comfortable, nocturnal. I will talk to my doctor about the drugs. Thanks.
I didnt know you could do daily treatments??? The only time we were told to do daily was if our leakage alarms werent working.
I used to collect fluid around my ankles but since swapping from PD to HD its started collecting around my abdomen. I only get it in the legs if Im mega overloaded, which had only been twice I think.
I wake up with puffy eyes and hands, but it goes after a few hours. I was told if you dont retain fluid in your legs that you have a good heart? Thats what one of the registrars or cardios said. But the thing is, they always check your ankles for retention, and dont ask where it tends to collect.
I’ve always had a tendency to collect excess fluid in my abdomen, no matter whether I was on 3 times per week or daily. You’re right, nobody in nephrology seems to care too much unless it’s around the ankles.
Pierre
I wish that part of patient education would be for staff to tell patients where fluid commonly collects. Staff should ask patients where they usually notice fluid so if they’re feeling ankles that aren’t swollen, they don’t assume there’s not much fluid on.