Ascites

[Guest guest]

Glad to have you, Tracey. So sorry for the reason you joined. When you feel

comfortable, do introduce yourself to the group.

My husband, , had ascites just about a year ago. His feet and legs were

very swollen. When they performed paracentesis, they removed about 7 liters

of fluid from his abdomen.

The usual treatments are:

-- taking a diuretic

-- careful monitoring of potassium and other electrolytes since, as the

fluid leaves the body your electrolytes can become dangerously low

-- low sodium diet

-- elevation of the legs/feet. When was in the hospital they used

these " compression boot " on him. I'm not sure of their real name, but they

were hooked up to a motor that caused them to compress from toe to knee,

pressing the fluid up and, hopefully, out. They also had him wear

properly-donned support hose.

says he thinks the feet elevation very important for him. He suggests

that you lie with your head at the foot of the bed. That way you can stack

up pillow and so forth against the wall or headboard, and they have support

so they don't fall.

After the paracentesis, they cultured some of the fluid to see if there was

an underlying infection and luckily there was not. I think this is standard,

and I remember at the time that had an elevated white blood cell

count, so an infection was suspected.

's doctors actually wanted to perform a second paracentesis, but he

balked, so they never did. Over a period of a couple months the ascites went

away and it has not come back. I remember a period of measuring 's

ankles and tracking their size day to day to make sure the ascites was

abating. I think it was during that time that gave up drinking

completely (necessary whether drinking caused the cirrhosis or not, unless

for some reason your doctor orders otherwise).

The bottom line is that if the ascites can be controlled, then you make it

go away, it's a good thing.

I hope you find this helpful.

Dorothy

> Thanks for having me!

> Does anyone know about Ascites? Anyone have it at this time?

> Is there a prognosis with it?