Doctors do sometimes limit fluid intake along with diuretics. They also sometimes do the opposite. It just depends on the situation and your history.
What is the diagnosis related to the fluid? Is it another cardiac issue other than Afib? Do you have other diagnoses that complicate all of this like pulmonary or renal issues? Are you weighing yourself at the same time each day to watch for the fluid change?
Are you walking or doing some other type of movement? This helps mobilize the fluid out of some of your tissues. For instance, if your legs are swollen, walking around helps force the excess fluid out of those tissues and back into the circulatory system where it can then be excreted by your kidneys.
I guess at this point I have more questions than answers. I think I would ask the cardiologist the questions I mentioned before, along with asking what exactly are my diagnoses, what will we do to improve my breathing, why am I not seeing a fluid loss on these meds? How is the fluid restriction going to help since it doesn't seem to be working? What about my kidney function?
If the doc draws blood for lab work as I'm sure is likely, I would ask for copies of the labs and if you don't start feeling better, it's time for a second opinion. Then you can take the most recent labs with you.
Are you also seeing a pulmonologist or is this strictly thought to be cardiac? Often a pulmonologist will have different ideas about treatment than the cardiologist would. The problem is the specialists often think mostly about that one organ that is their specialty, rather than your entire self. That's the good and bad of a specialist. So the cardiologist sees you as a heart and vessels, the pulmonologist sees your lungs and vessels, the nephrologist sees your kidneys, etc. But they sometimes forget all the systems interact and in addition there is an entire person carrying those organs around who feels crummy. Sometimes you have to remind them of that.
If I can help explain anything further, please let me know, and if you want to discuss anything after your appointment, I'll be happy to do so. I looked for a good guide to help explain all of this for you, but there tends to be a lot of medical jargon involved. If I find one that makes sense to a normal person I will link you.
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Hi Tod
Doctors do sometimes limit fluid intake along with diuretics. They also sometimes do the opposite. It just depends on the situation and your history.
What is the diagnosis related to the fluid? Is it another cardiac issue other than Afib? Do you have other diagnoses that complicate all of this like pulmonary or renal issues? Are you weighing yourself at the same time each day to watch for the fluid change?
Are you walking or doing some other type of movement? This helps mobilize the fluid out of some of your tissues. For instance, if your legs are swollen, walking around helps force the excess fluid out of those tissues and back into the circulatory system where it can then be excreted by your kidneys.
I guess at this point I have more questions than answers. I think I would ask the cardiologist the questions I mentioned before, along with asking what exactly are my diagnoses, what will we do to improve my breathing, why am I not seeing a fluid loss on these meds? How is the fluid restriction going to help since it doesn't seem to be working? What about my kidney function?
If the doc draws blood for lab work as I'm sure is likely, I would ask for copies of the labs and if you don't start feeling better, it's time for a second opinion. Then you can take the most recent labs with you.
Are you also seeing a pulmonologist or is this strictly thought to be cardiac? Often a pulmonologist will have different ideas about treatment than the cardiologist would. The problem is the specialists often think mostly about that one organ that is their specialty, rather than your entire self. That's the good and bad of a specialist. So the cardiologist sees you as a heart and vessels, the pulmonologist sees your lungs and vessels, the nephrologist sees your kidneys, etc. But they sometimes forget all the systems interact and in addition there is an entire person carrying those organs around who feels crummy. Sometimes you have to remind them of that.
If I can help explain anything further, please let me know, and if you want to discuss anything after your appointment, I'll be happy to do so. I looked for a good guide to help explain all of this for you, but there tends to be a lot of medical jargon involved. If I find one that makes sense to a normal person I will link you.
Good luck. I hope you feel better soon.
October 4, 2010 - 6:38amThis Comment
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