Thursday, May 12, 2005
Low salt girl
I awoke yesterday morning to ankles the size of ...well, maybe not tree trunks but definitely branches. Thick branches. Or what we call in nurse's lingo "pitting edema". In other words, if you press on the swollen spot, it stays indented. Not much, but enough.
I showed them to one of the girls at work and she flipped out. My pressure was 134/77, which is fine but a touch high for me, who usually runs between 110-120/65-70. Anyway, I called my OB's office. They shocked me and actually had Dr Delivery himself call me back at work! I spoke to the Man, not a mere flunky. Anyway, the Man was concerned. First he reassured me it was not preeclampsia because it just doesn't happen this early in pregnancy (15.5 weeks) in singleton pregnancies. HUGE sigh of relief.
But I now am on orders to 1)Cut back the salt. 2)Drink 3-4 liters of water a day. I already drink 2-3. He nicely said in a stern voice "we recommend FOUR". *sigh*. Four it is. Like I'm not in the bathroom enough. And 3) elevate feet whenever possible. Did I mention CUT BACK THE SALT. No prepared foods. No *sob* cheeses. No *sob* pickles. Those are two staples of my diet these days. I mean, pickles of all varieties - tomato pickles, pickled carrots, beets, cucumbers ... I'm an equal opportunity pickle eater. I won't even get started on the cheese thing. Let me just say "low fat feta". *sigh*.
So I am officially a low salt girl. And my manager has really been trying to help me out by not having me stand a lot, which is nice (and almost unheard of in nursing).
It's not gonna be easy so wish me luck. And my ankles look a lot better this morning.
Argh.
PS- the bunny is brownish-black. I know he looks mutant purple but he is brown. Sorry. It would be nice to have a purple bunny.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I'm glad to hear the swelling is going down. I so know about the pickles and cheese thing - if I didn't know any better, that's all I'd eat (that and marinated roasted red peppers). My strategy is to grab a yogurt every time I start dreaming of salty goodness...it's worked, although certainly not as satisfying!
Pickles are a staple of pregnancy! Very sad. Here's hoping the swelling goes down!
I had pretty bad swelling with my first pregnancy, though it started a bit later. By 6 months I had to take off my wedding ring and by 37 weeks I couldn't wear any of my shoes. I never had high BP so it was not pre-eclampsia but it was scary and, most of all, terribly uncofortable.
So this time, I'm keeping my feet up all the time while I'm at my desk and trying to drink more water. I don't like to drink lots of water and I am only drinking about 1 litre now but I know I have to start drink way more before I start swelling again. And I guess I'll have to cut back on the salt too, ughh.
Hang in there!
Post a Comment