Tpn and weight gain

[tishbite]

tpn and weight gain

I'm currently 113 pounds and am having surgery on the 14th, in 5 days. They are trying to get my albumin levels/general nutrition up before before I have the surgery to get some of my ileum/colon removed. How much weight do you think I will gain from the 5 days on tpn before the surgery and the 3-7 days after the surgery.

 

[braveheart]

My guess is your doctors want your blood test to get better results. Meaning higher levels of proteins, iron and albumin you mention.

TPN is full of vitamins and very easy to diggest.

 

[mikeyarmo]

I think it really depends how malnourished and dehydrated you are. For example, some of the weight you gain could be "water weight" that comes from rehydrating your body.

Therefore, I think it is a real possibility to gain a few pounds on TPN. If you are very dehydrated, I think you could even see something close to a 10 pound gain. The only other times I have heard of such a weight gain is when someone I knew came back from an all-inclusive Mexixo vacation .

Personally, after about 2-weeks on TPN I gained about 5 pounds.

 

[Starla86]

I was TPN for 9 days after my resection and I gained almost 50lbs. Now I am sure that some of that weight was from me swelling from surgey and water weight bc I was really ill going into the hospital. After they took me off they put me on lasiks to get some of the water out. Once I got out of the hospital I lost all the weight plus about 10 more lbs. So said all that to say dont really worry about it, you need to be as healthy as possible for surgery so you can heal quicker. Good luck with everything and keep us posted!!

 

[Sailorluna]

Hi,
I also was on TPN to get prepared for resection. Mine was June 2010.
I was on the TPN for about 8 days before and 4 days after the surgery.
Mine was primarily to get my protien back up it was very low. I was so swollen with water from toes to hips it was amazing. When I left the hospital I was 155 lbs two weeks later (much of that on lasiks to get the water back out) I was down to 125 lbs.
They said that when your protien is crazy low your cells have a hard time keeping water and it just fills you up.

So... I guess what I want to say is yes you may gain weight from the TPN but it is likely to be temporary. I found that after a couple days on it I had a shocking amount of energy as my body got more normal. Funny how you can be so far off from normal and not realize it.

One of the things I learned the hard way when going through this is walking. If you get up and walk around (dragging your IV tree with you) it is a good thing. Before your surgery it will help you avoid those evil tummy shots (heprin I think) to ward off blood clots, after the surgery it will help your bowel wake back up and get you out of the hospital sooner.

Good luck with the surgery. All will be well. Hugs!

 

[tishbite]

so far it has been 24 hours and i have gained 2 pounds. i'm totally down for the weight gain. i'm just hoping it's something that isn't drastic. bummer news though, my boyfriend just called me before he had to go to work and told me out cat has eaten string again. this is the third time now and we can't afford another surgery or any more medical bills. why does this have to happen now right before i get my surgery when i can't do anything about it. the stress is killing me and i am afraid he either wont make it because we can't afford to take him in or we will have to give him to a shelter. ughhhh life can be so mean.