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I have a wedding to go to on Saturday and I just tried on the outfit I plan on wearing and I really have bloated up in the last few days (I have a cold, which might be connected to it) My fingers are swollen a little too

I get this every now and then and it isn't usually a probelm, unless I am trying to fit into a pre-pregnancy outfit.

Aside from a quick bout of food-poisoning (which I understand is not the best route) Is there anything I can take to get rid of this for the weekend? Anything I should avoid eating (pasta, bread?) Anything I should increase? (beetroot, tea, bananas?)

Help me please.... I don't want to have to buy a new outfit

erm - do you have a local swimming pool? seriously the pressure of the wter is supposed to encourage water back into the system, kidneys go into action (and hence why you always need to pee when you go swimming)

not sure if its true tho...

I have Odema and you can get tablets from Holland & Barrett for it but it can me a hundred and one reasons why it starts in the first place. The usual reason is a Salt / Potassium imbalance in the blood and you need to bring it back into balance.

Bread and pasta have nothing to do with it whatsoever, you need to make sure you get plenty of Potassium rich foods and cut out salt as much as possible.

To be honest your best bet is to go and see a GP as it can be from leakage from Varicose veins and needs monitoring etc.

I am currently on Furosemide which is a diuretic and works great albeit giving me about 3 hours where I practically have to hang around the bathroom and a bit of a dry mouth!

Movement too helps, deep muscle exercise gets the fluid out of the muscles and back to where it should be so walking is a great thing as is being as horizontal as possible as much as possible.

The swimming pool thing is also not true I'm afraid apart from the fact that is is also a deep muscle exercise which you can do walking!

Hi Ann,

Well this is going to sound like a cock-eyed answer, but yep - drink loads of the stuff itself!!

I had a write-up all about the science of water within your body cells saved on my old PC, but I have no idea where it is now!
Anyway, it got me a great grade in Uni when I did my chem degree
Anyway, to cut a very long & involved chemistry based lecture short... your body often retains water when it thinks it is starved of the stuff.... so if you increase your daily intake, it can help banish retention totally. Once your body realises that you're giving it what it wants, it will let go of the excess.
I used water extensively as a diet aid - 6 litres a day was the maximum & helps to flush the fat molecules out too - the only drawback with that was the spots - I guess the junk has to come out some way

I'm not suggesting that you start drinking 6 litres a day though!! But if you up your water intake over the next few days, you might well find that although you'll have a lot more loo trips, you'll also lose a few centimetres too - which could help you with your outfit.

The sodium imbalance can also be brought back into line by drinking plenty of water too - it's a funny thing, water.

Good luck - and have a lovely time xx

SALT - That'll be it... had a bit of a rock salt thing going on in the past week (I usually don't take salt on things) I have been having it on pasta and salads every lunch and dinner...

Right, no more salt for me....

And loads more water... when was the last time I had a glass of water? ....yup, about a week since we stopped putting drinks out at meal times (LO was drinking full cups of water or juice and not eating )


That's it guys, sorted.... THANKYOU !!!!


It isn't a serious problem, I don't get pain or anything I just get a bit bloated every now and then. It concentrates itself in my hands and baggy post preggy belly and occasionally my feet - you should have seen the size of me preggers though I was retaining water like a camel...

Was a bit disheartinging because I have recently lost a dress size and was feeling good about it, this morning I was feeling just all fat and yuk in my posh garb

Dandelion leaf salad. If you've got any growing yet!

Don't like them much, though I don't think it was the young leaves before.... do I have any growing... do I ever Yup I'll try Dandelion and rocket salad tomorrow then

There you - sorts out your ankles and your weeding in one fell swoop

We aim to please

lol I was going to suggest Dandelion tea - but fresh as salad is probably best, any herb called piss-a-bed has got to work eh?

Yes Annpan - this will definitely help - homeopathic Apis - no I'm not being funny (for water retention take apis!) - It's what my homeopathic doctor prescribes. You should get it in B**ts - a tiny phial of white tablets for around £4.
IP - seemed like a good sign off

Just went to find my phial - it reads APIS MEL 30c.
Good Luck!

Have you tried the salad yet?

No I will try to tomorrow.

Hi Ann

I suffer with bloating too due to IBS - here's a few tips that I use.

1 cup Epsom salts in the bath - or if you're not having baths due to saving water, just bathe your feet in them to relieve puffiness. Alternatively, try a few drops of grapefruit essential oil.
first thing in the morning, have a pint of warm water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed in it
dandelion/nettle tea
Avoid a lot of yeasty or fermented foods and moulds - cheese, mushrooms, Marmite - if you love your bread, try soda bread instead and avoid anything fizzy.
Brown rice, oddly enough!
Switch to Lo-salt - potassium rich
Good acidophilus supplement - Holland and Barrett do one and it's best kept in the fridge.
If you have dodgy digestion, try peppermint oil supplements.

Nettles nettles nettles! Lots of nettles! I don't like the taste so I mix nettles & peppermint together, yummy & effective. Even stopped me having water retention when I was pregnant :)