Fluid retention

[Rentzi]

I am hoping some of you can shed some light on this. Since my husband finished the prednisone, he has been retaining lots of fluid in his lower legs. (Plus2). He has been elevating them and wrapping them with ace bandages. They go down some at night but fill up in the day. We are three months post ATG. His recent counts are wbc 1.8, hg 8.3, anc 860, platelets 40. It has been two weeks since his last transfusion but numbers seem stagnant. It is so hard to be patient. Oh, his creatinine was 1.6- slightly elevated. I think he was dehydrated from the traveling to Mayo clinic. Please advise on the swelling. Thank you.

[DanL]

I have experienced some swelling from steroid use. The best success I have had is to rub myfeet nightly and use an upward stroking motion to push the fluids back toward the upper body - gently, drink water with lemon or lime juice added in, get some exercise daily to keep everything moving, and reduce salt intake - also check potassium levels as low potassium can cause retention. The lemon juice works as a natural, mild diuretic. My feet were swelling from a normal size 11 to about a size 13 daily for a few weeks, they are down to swelling just a bit each day, and the neuropathy that i was experiencing has declined substantially to where I am back on the treadmill daily. Also, there are some socks that you can get at Walgreens, I forget the name, but they are therapeutic, very tight socks that are supposed to help with fluid retention in the feet and ankles, they are worn during the day and removed at night.

[Chirley]

I have swollen legs too because of the intravenous steroids. They settle a little overnight and swell during the day. Other than taking diuretic tablets (which I can't do due to low potassium and low blood pressure) I haven't been given any treatment advice except compression stockings.

Well, it's over 30 degrees C here at the moment and I've decided I'll just tolerate the leg swelling.

I may just try the lemon/lime in water though...thanks for that tip. Even though I do take extra salt to increase my blood pressure so I'm not sure it will work.

It can't hurt to try.

[Cheryl C]

Chirley - I believe that licorice tea (or perhaps just plain licorice) can raise the blood pressure.

[Chirley]

Thanks...I love licorice.

[Marlene]

Make sure it's real licorice candy though. Many have no licorice root in them and just use flavorings.

I love the stuff too.

[dfantle]

Cheryl, Chirley & Marlene, FYI, Licorice contraindicates with Cyclosporine (as well as some other medications) & and can cause serious side effects. You can find a number of posts on this on the Internet.

My pharmacist warned me about this when I first started taking cyclosporine. Just a reminder when people make recommendations on any site to always do your own homework to make sure there are no contraindications. This is because the person making recommendation doesn't know what medications you're on & what is OK for them may not be for others.

[Chirley]

Thanks....luckily, no cyclo for me.

[Cheryl C]

Well said, dfantle. As I'm not on any medication at present I was not aware of that. Re licorice, I think the tea which is made from the root is the best option, as the other licorice has high sugar content and for those of us with low white cells this can compromise our immune systems.

[Marlene]

We are fortunate that John's not on any meds either. Makes life a lot easier.