Would anyone be willing to share their experience with weight gain during PD? I’ve heard it’s a definite possibility. Is it something that can be avoided, or is it a certainty? How much weight are we talking? I’m getting married soon and want to look as good as I can for my honey. Unless things really take a turn, I shouldn’t have to start dialysis until after the wedding in September. If it looks like I’m taking a nose dive, I’ve told Eric we’re immediately going to the nearest courthouse, romance be darned!
Welcome to Home Dialysis Central! I am not a dialysis patient but worked in dialysis for years before working with this website and other projects for Medical Education Institute.
I had a number of patients who did not gain weight with PD. Some exercised to keep their abdomen relatively flat (ask your doctor or nurse what exercises you can do safely on PD and whether to exercise with fluid in or not). I’m sure those that didn’t gain weight were careful about how many sweets they ate and how much fluid they gained. By eating healthy and watching empty calories they avoided the dreaded PD weight gain.
FYI – The reason why some people gain weight on PD is because PD solution uses a sugar solution to pull off extra fluid. The different types of PD solutions have 1.5%, 2.5%, 4.25% dextrose. The lowest concentration is needed to if you need to pull off only a little fluid (low fluid weight). A higher contration is needed to pull off more fluid (higher fluid weight). If you use the highest sugar content AND you eat sweets, you’re more likely to gain weight. By the way, when you learn PD, you learn how to decide which solution to use based on your weight, blood pressure, and edema (swelling). It sounds like you’re motivated to look and feel good for your wedding so if you need to start on dialysis sooner, you can still enjoy a romatic wedding day, complete the wedding dress, flowers, and happy guests.