Water Retention

If you suffer from a bloated, swollen tummy, you are probably wondering what causes it. If your tummy is both tight and swollen, this is known as bloating. But not all bloating is caused by water retention. Water retention in the stomach (abdomen) can cause either a tight, bloated feeling, or a puffy, ’squashy’ feeling. [...]

Water rich with oxygen and vitamins passes from your smallest blood vessels (your capillaries) into the surrounding tissues, where it nourishes your cells. But if something goes wrong with the pressure in your capillaries, or if they get too “leaky”, then too much fluid accumulates in the tissue spaces between the cells, and cannot get [...]

Some well-known causes of water retention include heart or kidney problems. These are due to a reduced ability of the heart or kidneys to do their job, and can cause severe swelling of the legs and ankles.
Weak circulation in the leg veins is probably the most common cause of water retention in legs and ankles. [...]

Medical Treatments for Water Retention
The drugs which doctors use to treat water retention are known as diuretics. There are several varieties, none of which is a cure for water retention, as they have to be taken every day.
Loop diuretics and Thiazine diuretics
These have names like bumetanide, frusemide, hydrochlorothiazide and metolazone. They encourage your kidneys to [...]

Water retention is not always easy to detect. How will you know if your fluid balance has gone wrong? It can be hard to tell if your excess weight is mostly water, since water is everywhere in the body. Even your doctor can sometimes have difficulty confirming whether you are retaining fluid.
Doctors can tell if [...]