ascites query

Greetings Group.

I retain water in my ankles, legs and belly, but I have never had enough fluid in my belly to necessitate paracentesis.

But, I have gained several pounds in the last few days. Granted, I've been under stress due to other iife issues and that makes me eat. Several pounds is not that unusual for me when I am under stress.

I take lasix and aldactone daily, but again, over the last few days, I have not been as strict as I should be with the salt retention.

But I definitely look like I am pregnant, though my ankles are as thin as they get. For me, it seems odd to have no edema in my ankles, while I can see how large and round my belly has become.

I feel tired and sluggish all the time. I definitely feel like my belly is full of something. When I am hungry, it is like I don't have much room in there. I must take small meals. I drink probably about six cups of watery beverages every day. Like, watered down iced tea, juice or vitamin water. I like everything I drink very watered down.

is this normal for a sick chick like me with esld (caused by aih)

Susan

Hi Susan -

The simple answer is: yes, you can have ascites without the peripheral edema. How advanced is your ESLD? You mention AIH, which is typically treatable as you know, but did they catch it only after it had done some chronic, fibrotic damage?

I struggle with ascites constantly and maintaining the proper amount of dietary protein and salt is a daily challenge. I weigh myself every day so I can monitor things but I'm not able to use the diuretics much any more to change the water retention progress.

If your kidneys can handle it, your doctors maybe considering boosting your dosages of lasix/aldactone. But maybe it's a food binge affect too? Hopefully that might be partly to blame here.

Do you happen to know if you have an enlarged spleen as well and/or a low platelet count? Have you noticed any GI bleeding? These would be clues to the nasty portal hypertension creeping up on you.

I have all the above so my decompensated ESLD is obvious. You mention fatigue but that's something that wasn't a problem for me until these past several years. Kinda strange how the flavor of advancement varies for each of us.

My hep told me to simply use my body as a gauge for water intake - drink only when thirsty, don't force or casually drink at all. It's worked well up to now but my kidney has slipped into acute kidney failure/HRS so I'm relying on paracentesis for the primary water reduction control method (but only when it gets out of hand).