Need help with oral hydration ideas.

[Naturelover]

Neurologist says concussion is significant so all GI work up has been put on hold for now. Surgery canceled, reschedule date on hold as well.

I am relying heavily on my IV hydration now. My stomach isn't burning so badly now and my esophagus is getting some much needed healing time as well.

However, I am still fighting dehydration. My doc and home nurse are trying to get me to catch up on my IV fluids. Kinda hard when I have doctor visits left and right due to the effects of the concussion. The neurologist wants me to continue my physical therapy since I have gotten weaker due to the inability to function for over a week after getting the concussion. The docs are keeping a close eye on me. The vascular doc found a third blood clot not caused by the accident. It was found three days before the accident. There are so many physical symptoms when you have a concussion. It's frustrating and painful.

Any ideas on how to improve my hydration orally? I have no desire to drink fluids. I think it's due to all the pain caused to my stomach and esophagus from drinking fluids. My GERD and GI acid levels just won't stop when I have something to drink and the stomach pain and esophagus pain is a real deterrent to oral fluid intake.

 

[Earnellzwifey]

First off sorry you are feeling so badly.

Second: Do they have you on any medications for the GERD?? i.e. prevacid or pilosec.

Third have they looked at your vitamin levels recently? like potassium or magnesum. when these guys are out of wack you can not avoid dehydration.

I do not know your whole story but do you have non-stop d's or severe vomiting that is contributing to the dehydration.

I know you said that you do not like to drink fluids do you think you might be able to get fluid via ng tube as well as iv until you can tolerate drinking more orally?

I do have a personal question for you. I am already on a lot of supplements to keep my levels in check and I drink enough fluid ie water and gatorade daily to support a whale but yet I still end up dehydrated at least once a week and need to go to the er for iv fluids.

With that said how are you able to get IV fluids at home? I actually posted a question about this the other day. I am so sick and tired of the constant er trips just to get iv fluids.

I hope things start looking brighter for you soon and I hope at least one of my suggestions might help.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I concur on getting your electrolyte levels checked - potassium, magnesium, sodium, and I think there's at least one more that I'm not remembering. Personally, I lose sodium really easily and that makes me super dizzy. I could drink water all day, but if my sodium is low then I feel dehydrated and crappy anyway. When my sodium is low, and this is gross but it works, I drink a teaspoon or two of soy sauce. Yuck, but full of sodium, and it instantly makes me feel a lot better.

As for things to drink, if you need electrolytes, there's a few options. I prefer pedialyte to gatorade, and I like the generic Walgreens store brand as opposed to the name brand. The grape one and the clear one are pretty gross, but there's one that's orange (it might be called mixed fruit or something non-descriptive like that?) and that's my go-to. If you do gatorade, rain berry is my favorite flavor, it's way better than any other type of gatorade at least in my opinion. It's a light purple color (not to be confused with grape!). Both pedialyte and gatorade are fairly high in sugar, but you can dilute them in water to make them less sugary. Broth might be good to drink too, if you do canned broth it'd get some sodium into you, otherwise you could make broth at home in a slow-cooker which is always nice and makes the house smell so lovely. Tea is good too, I don't do caffeine and I don't like fruit teas, and I can't do peppermint because of my GERD, so I stick with either herbal chamomile or ginger teas. They're yummy and very soothing on my tummy - ginger in particular is very helpful if you're nauseous. I hope that helped a bit, and that there's something there that you can drink. Hang in there and feel better soon!

 

[Naturelover]

Earnellzwifey,

I have an implanted port in order to do daily IV therapy at home. I used to have a PICC line, but ended up w/two blood clots and cellulites infection at the PICC line site. The implanted port is so much better than a PICC line. I love it.

To keep up on electrolytes, I previously did one of two things, either I took a whole scoop of the powdered Gatorade and mixed it in 8-10 oz. of water and drank it or I would make a jello using the clear Knox Gelatin mix and a scoop of powdered Gatorade. Gatorade makes my stomach burn so I stoped it.

I have always had significant constipation. oo: I have been taking laxatives lately to get the bowels moving. GI doc told me to take them every three days, but that seems to be too long for me. I am taking them daily at night so that hopefully I can have a bm in the am. All the cramping etc is wearing me down.

NG tube doesn't sound like a good idea to me. It's fluid in the stomach that causes problems. GJ-tube might work but I'm not ready to go there yet. I had an endoscopy shortly before the accident and several things were found w/the stomach as well as inflammation of the esophagus. I was really counting on the colonoscopy to show something and get a diagnoses. I have to wait for the neurologist to clear me for sedation.:yfrown:

I take Nexium for the GERD. So far it seems to be the only Rx that helps.


Cat-a-tonic,

How are you? I've missed chatting w/you. Concussions and computer light do not mix. Ouch! The light hurts the eyes. (Photo phobia)

I've stopped taking the vitamin C because it causes my stomach to burn.:mad2: I really need the vitamin C to help w/immunity. My GI doc said no tea of any kind. Not even decaffeinated.

My daughter has noticed that I have been pale lately. I see my pcp today. She might have blood work drawn next time my home nurse comes out next week. I know she will have the nurse draw blood for my PTINR levels. I can't believe that even with being on the warfarin, the two blood clots from May have not fully dissolved and a third blood clot was found. The vascular doc wants my INR to be between 2.5 and 3.5. Good luck in that happening. My liver is being weird in how it is processing the warfarin. I was having great difficulty getting my levels up to 2.0 and keeping it there much less having higher INR levels.:yfaint: I had a thoracic outlet syndrome test done this past Monday. The doc's office called and wants me to make an appt for mid Oct. to discuss my options. I take it to mean they found something. Just don't know what. I'm concerned that the three blood clots could show a false positive on the TOS test. I will ask my pcp later today.

In some ways, a GJ-tube would be nice because then you don't have to worry about the fluid going into the stomach. It can go straight to the jejunum. You can also have a portable feeding pump that you wear like a back pack or carry. I'm just not there yet. I don't think it's time to take that leap.

You're right, gross but smart move w/the soy sauce. It has a ton of sodium.

It is thundering and raining here. Guess that's why the rsd was acting up last night. Sleep issues were bad enough with the rsd. Bummer. Now they're even worse with the concussion. I am exhausted but couldn't sleep a wink last night. It wasn't for the lack of trying though.

My pcp thinks that my lung issues are being caused by reflux aspiration as well as muscle atrophy. She wants me to see a pulmonary specialist and have a bronchoscopy done. Scary test if you ask me. Especially if you have very reactive airways.

There is so much going on right now that my head is spinning. Literally! I discovered that I can't bow my head for prayer because it causes my head to spin. :yfaint: What a bummer.

I'm tired and I do believe I'm rambling. Sorry.

Thanks for the tips gals.

 

[Earnellzwifey]

one more question if you dont mind?:worthy:

what kind of laxative do you use?

My mom have hep c, chirossis of the liver, and liver cancer. I gues you can imagine it dont work to well. She gets backed up wit toxins not filtering out and it causes her to act all crazy. literally losing her mind.

her dr put her on krystalose to flush her liver. when she start to fly off the handle we mix up a cup in 4 oz of water (it taste pretty good i used it when i had the big c.) then after a few trips to the loo she is back to normal. oo:

only problem is that it can cause some bloating so I do not know if this might be an option for you or not. Just thought i throw that in there since you have the liver issue going on. :hug:

 

[Naturelover]

I don't have any liver issues thank goodness.

I use the women's ducolax laxative.

Krystalose, lactulose not an option. Just makes me bloat up and nothing more.

 

[Earnellzwifey]

sorry wrong post. I really need to stay off here while on morphine.