It is now five weeks post open heart surgery. In an effort to drain the fluid off my lungs and from around my heart, Dr. Blake, my Cardiologist, still has me on boo coos of diuretics. I'm getting concerned though because I've been waking up every morning with severe cotton mouth, muscle cramps in my feet and hands, and continuing weight loss (now I'm all of 118 lbs.).
Dr. Blake told me last week when I saw her that I could try stopping the Furosemide at night. However, she said to be careful since she didn't want to see any new fluid retention.
Here is what happened: I stopped taking it the first night, and nothing changed. Same weight, same cramps, same cotton mouth. The second night that I stopped taking it, no cramps, no cotton mouth, but I gained a pound and a half, and hurt like crazy all the next day from the increased fluid retention in my lower right lung area.
The renewed fluid retention scared the the Bejesus out of me, so, I resumed taking the night dose of Furosemide. After only one night, my weight dropped back down to 118 lbs. and the pain subsided to tolerable levels.
Dr. Blake said that I might be one of those people that has to wean off the diuretics very, very, very slowly. My plan now is to take the Furosemide every other night to see if I can begin to get off the stuff. How wonderful it will be to get off all this medication.
Have any of you experienced anything like this? From what I've heard, it is a delicate balance and your body has to be retrained to take over managing its own fluid levels.
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