Need help with medication side effects

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MichelleP418
MichelleP418 Posts: 54 Member
in Motivation and Support
I have an issue with medication side effects and weight gain. My doctor prescribed me 2 medications, one cause’s water retention and constipation. GREAT! NOT! I do not want to take anymore pills. I was wondering if there is anyone out there might have a natural way of getting rid of the excess water and cure the constipation. I have gained 6 pounds in a week due to both meds. I am not getting discouraged because I know what comes on; I will eventually get off again…. Thank you in advance for any help :)

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  • admegamo
    admegamo Posts: 175 Member
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    The best natural thing to do for water retention is to drink more water.
    As for constipation eat more foods with fiber in them.
  • sobriquet84
    sobriquet84 Posts: 607 Member
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    what are the meds?
  • MichelleP418
    MichelleP418 Posts: 54 Member
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    Carafate (ulcer) and the other I can not remember but it is like Docxosodium (pain killer)
  • wamydia
    wamydia Posts: 259 Member
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    Some meds will cause this no matter what, but something you can try is to eat a lot of natural fiber and drink plenty of water. It's really important to do both and not just one or the other. If you eat a lot of fiber and don't drink plenty of water with it, it can actualy make constipation worse. If you drink lots of water and don't eat fiber, you'll just pee a lot. You can find lists of high fiber foods with a quick google search.

    For water retention, drinking plenty of water helps, but you also want to monitor your sodium and potassium intakes. Again, it's important to do both. Lowering sodium can help people that are senstive to water retention, but you also have to get enough potassium to make it be really effective. It has to do with the biochemcial balance in the body and the cellular pumps that control the amount of water that your cells retain. I think the recommendation right now it 3500-4000mg of potassium/ day and that's actually pretty easy to get because there are a lot of high potassium foods out there. It's a little tough to track in MFP, though, since many people don't enter potassium numbers when they put a food in the database. You will probably want to create your own foods if you're going you're going to track it. For sodium, most people should be good in the recommended 2000-2500mg range, but you may talk to your doctor about going lower if you feel that you need to. Also, getting regular light exercise, like walking 30-60 minutes a day, can help water retention by getting the muslces all over the body to flex and help move excess fluid along so that it can be disposed of.

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