Diuretics or Paracentesis

[zvhipp]

Hello, I am curious to know if anyone has experience of lowering tense (6-9ltr) ascites through diuretic and bringing it under control. And if yes, how long it took and which diuretic/dosage was used.

My father is currently on Torsemide 10MG once a day only and he has tense ascites (I guess about 7ltrs). The doctors had lowered dosage to 10MG from 20MG. It may be because his Kidney GFR is 30 (its been going on between 30 to 44, and was told diuretic will raise a creatinine bit - 2.21 in his last report). But that's how it has been since he was perscribed torsemide with his blood pressure medicine and was taken off from lasix 1 year back- he did not have water retention present at that time after first paracentesis in last february.

First they did not suggest paraecentesis and after lowering torsemide to 10mg his abdomen kept growing bit quicker. Finally, I asked them to take a look again as he kept on gaining weight. Now they are saying, its fine he can get paracentesis done.

Can anyone share their experience if they had severe ascites and diuretics helped it without the need of paracentesis with time/dosage it took.

Also, does milk instead of water is better? or it will be considered in fluid which have to be controlled? I was recommened by several physicians to prefer more milk over water. Thank you.

[Stizzer]

4 years ago I had very severe ascites and was being drained of 12-15 litres every 7-10 days. Diuretics may have helped but I needed the drains. Had my transplant 06/12/2016 with only a few days left to live. The real scary thing was I didn't really feel ill, very uncomfortable but not too I'll. Take care and do what is asked of you if you can.

[zvhipp in reply to Stizzer]

Thank you for reply. I live in India and things here work differently so always curious to know experiences of others. My father can not have a transplant due to his age 59 & being diabetic, hypertension and ckd on top of cirrhosis. Insurance doesn't cover but 2-5% of all the medical cost anyway, so it would have been complicated if there was a chance of it. Doctors here do not spend more than 3-5 minutes with patients to answer our queries, forget about hoping to get any satisfatory answer which will give us some hope or positivity on how to deal with this. All they do is see the reports, ask to carry on with vitamins, visit again after month with fresh LFT reports - same cycle has been going on since past year and half. This is the reason that often I have to search for answers and lot I have understood which has been helpful for caring him at home to keep him healthy.

Thanks.