IV fluid weight gain

give it a few days to a week.

Trust me... it's all water weight. Give it time because it does take a while for it to shift. You'll feel like the Michelin Man for a bit. Hope you're feeling better.

IV fluids are sodium based It will come off.

1 liter of extra water will put 2ish pounds on ya, so yes, IV fluids can pack on weight! Normal saline does have sodium in it, but it should be at the same level as the normal fluids in your body, so I wouldn't expect much water retention from that amount, but definitely enough for you to notice, especially if you wete dehydrated. You'll pee it off before you know it.

Not to be too gory, but what goes in must come out. It you track your output AND your input you'll see if you're holding onto more water and gaining weight that way.

Thanks for the responses. I think also I've been a bit less active than usual. Can't wait to get back to the gym!

Thank you thank you all for sharing your experiences here! I started tracking my weight on new years day, and then on Jan 8th I developed appendicitis. Despite throwing up everything I'd eaten that day (and having my appendix removed the next evening), I weighed myself after 24 hours in the hospital attached to an IV to find I'd gained 8.5 pounds! Very frustrating after having lost most of my holiday weight due to good tracking and my new fitbit. It sounds like it will probably take longer than I'd like to lose it all, especially since I won't be able to be as active as I usually am, but its comforting to be reminded that it's all water weight so I will eventually pee it out. :-)

I am so glad I found this. I was admitted into the hospital Saturday night for Kidney stones (worst pain known to mankind) I was 163 pounds and looking quite fit. I was released Monday at 1pm. I felt really bloated. I was on an IV the whole time. When I got home I weighed myself.....And I was 180 pounds!!! Up 17 pounds!! I am so frustrated because I follow Paleo. I feel so fat but I know it will go away.

So glad I found this. I had my parathyroid out Friday. Came home today 9 pounds heavier! Had nothing but liquids! So depressed.

Thank you very much, I do focus on getting healthy. I am healthy. I have lost 85 pounds since April 1, 2013. I must watch my weight every single day without deviation. Yes, it bothered me that I had put that weight on in such a short period of time--hospital or no hospital. I was on a liquid diet for 2 days, and I felt it had something to do with the parathyroid being removed. It was a feeling I had and a feeling I shared. When you are a person like myself, and this is the only thing that has worked, and I had worked this consistently, things like this do freak one out. I am fine with my recovery, but obviously my weight gain upset me. I was not complaining about my health. After reading similar cases of the "water" weight gain I felt much better and am glad that I came to this site to see what was up. That is what the message boards are all about.

I had a brief, but life-threatening emergency immediately following my surgery. They ran my fluids at a high rate for a while. I don't know if the doctor forgot to lower it or the nurse didn't do it, but when I woke up the next morning I was visually swollen and felt like...I can't even describe how it felt, lol. When you're doped up on morphine and have pain inside from the surgical manipulation and outside from the big old gash and your complaint is that you feel swollen, that's some swelling!!

I never checked my weight through all that, but am sure I gained a ton.

Once the fluids are stopped, it begins to go away.

Just drink normal amounts of water and wait a few days.

I am also very happy to have found this post. I had 3 extended stays in the ER, hooked up to IV, over a 4 day period due to kidney stones (as someone else has already mentioned: worst pain ever!!!!!). In 4 days I had only eaten a few Saltines because I had to eat something to take the antibiotic I was prescribed. Was in too much pain, and too nauseous from the pain meds, to want to eat anything. Yup, stupid as it sounds, I'm thinking that the "payoff" for all the pain and suffering will be to have dropped a few pounds (which I know always comes back in these circumstances), so I was shocked when I got on the scale the morning I had to get dressed to see the urologist, only to see that my weight had gone up 5 pounds from the weight I was at just prior to this all starting. My jeans were less than comfortable, and I felt (and still feel) like an over stuffed sausage. It's obvious from reading all of these posts that this is par for the course. Today I was down 8/10s of a pound, so I only have 4.2 pounds to go to get back to where I was before all of this started (which I thought was a bit too high, but I'll take that number over this one). I'm bummed that it sounds like this is not going to drop off as quickly as it was put on, but I just need to have some patience and hope I can figure out what I can wear to work on Monday! Thanks, everyone, for sharing your stories!

I did stay off the scale for a few days, so I was just going through my normal "pre-shower routine" on the first day I felt better. Not where my priorities should be, I agree, but out of curiosity I wanted to see what changes had taken place! Glad I did, because now I know how IV fluids affect weight (gain)!

This is such a frustrating post, not for the subject, I've found that really helpful and found all the answers I had been looking for, but for the two idiots that have commented on it basically belittling people for feeling bad about worrying about their weight. I'm in hospital for the 12th time over an 18th month period and because of fluids my weight has gone up yet again. I don't know this from stepping on the scales every day, I know this from doctors weighing me every few days to keep an eye on my conditions. Weight issues don't all come down to somebody being vein and wanting to be skinny that's where people are quick to judge. When I leave this hospital I still won't be healthy, I have life long health issues to come to terms with so sorry if gaining extra weight and struggling with pains in my joints on top of that dont seem very appealing to me. Like the person said above, why can't we have a little hope that after all the pain and suffering we've been through we could have at least one positive out of it and have lost some weight? I think we deserve it!