by definition that degree of weight loss has to be water weight. it is dehydration and with all the problems you have had losing weight this is just kind of rude of someone, maybe god. did they do vital signs on you, orthostatics? that should have showed something. you take the amount of weight lost and divide it into what you weighed before to get the percent dehydration. maybe they looked at the wrong person's labs??? because actually what I am worried about is acute renal failure. severe dehydration that goes untreated can damage your kidneys. If you had diarrhea, that is not associated with a kidney infection. if you still have physical signs of dehydration, I would go back to the ER. maybe a different one.....

Thanks. I think I will get it checked out again. I still feel pretty blah. I don't feel sick but feel dehydrated. Only my body could be dehydrated and retain water at the same time. I gained back about 1/2 of what I lost pretty quickly so I figured it was water weight I lost.
Thanks again!

That's what happens to me when my electrolytes are off, including the diarrhea. Low potassium would be serious, so I'm assuming they tested for all that.

You are on Diamox or Topamax? Both could give you kidney stones. Passing a kidney stone could make you feel all of those symptoms and more. They say it doesn't make your actual kidney hurt but I swear sometimes mine ache. I get a lot of them. Most of them are very small and no big deal - I get nauseated, bloated stomach, backache, loss of apetite, at the last stage it feels like a bladder infection x 1000 with jagged little stones passing the last fraction of an inch. The bigger ones are pure hell, but that's another topic. Think you might have passed a small kidney stone?

If you aren't retaining water eat some potato chips with your water. The salt will help. Diamox makes my body pee off salt so I crave it and my dr. says to eat plenty of it. But everybody is different.

If you are feeling like your potassium is low and you are in metabolic acidosis go RIGHT AWAY to your doctor or hospital. If you are drinking lots, peeing lots you are at high risk for an imbalance and that's SERIOUS. My main symptoms is exhaustion and muscle weakness, difficulty breathing, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, and zero apetite, It feels like I have the really bad flu, with the exception of the breathing. That's the one symptom that tells me it's different.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/242975-clinical

Ugh, so not fun! I can't believe they couldn't have had the courtesy in the ER to throw a liter of fluids your way, is that so much to ask since you've gone to the trouble of going there?! Sheesh.

Both good answers above.

If you are burnt out on Gatorade here are a few alternative recipes that contain a bit more nutrition:

http://foodbabe.com/2012/07/10/the-secret-behind-gatorade-how-to-replenish-electrolytes-naturally/

http://www.thetaylor-house.com/homemade-gatorade-recipe/

Hope you feel better soon!

So I was at the doctor picking up my meds and decided to pick up my labs from when I was at the ER. I can't get in to see the doctor for 3 weeks (love govt healthcare!) so it doesn't mean much other than to inform me. Most everything feel into the normal category but just barely meaning my sodium was the last number in the normal range before being considered low, same with potassium. Chloride was the last number before being considered high. However my CO2 levels were at 18 with 23 being low normal and my GFR was in the mild to moderate deficiency range.....all that yet he said I was normal and didn't need fluids. Correct me of I am wrong but doesn't that sort of look like metabolic acidosis?

18 is low but not horrific. yes metabolic acidosis. I am not following your other descriptions. just tell me the actual numbers for all the values. what is your BUN and Creatinine?

BUN 10 with normal being 9-20
Creatine 1.01 with normal .52-1.04
NA+ 137 normal 137-150
K 3.5 normal 3.5-5.3
Chloride 109 normal 98-110
CO2 18 normal 23-30
CA 9.6 normal 8.4- 10.6
GFR NAA- 71.8 60-89ml/min mildly decreased GFR
SPO2 - 90-92 varied throughout the hour I was there.

So given my labs I was "in the normal range" but barely and given the clinical signs he really should have given me fluids. My kidneys are starting to feel better but I am still so tired.

you are tired because you are hypoxic. your labs are completely acceptable. there is something wrong with your lungs. WTH??? the only good thing is that your bicarb is low. see, if you were really bad, going into respiratory failure, your CO2 would go up, and to compensate your bicarb would go up too. maybe it's your lungs that hurt and you are just feeling it in your kidneys. I know you've said before that your O2 drops in sleep but now you are low during the day. when are they going to deal with this? can you get your O2 checked tomorrow and get seen by your doc?

When I called today it they told me 3 weeks was the soonest they could get me in. If it is my lungs it is probably because of my allergies, unless my lungs are failing for some other reason. No one believes me just how bad they are and how hard it gets to breathe when the pollen gets bad. Right now our pollen is so high. You can see it floating through the air. Even on Allegra, Singular, Optivar and Nasonex I still have all the symptoms of bad allergies (scratchy throat and ears, random hives all the time, black circles under my eyes, etc)
I will call back tomorrow and see if they have any cancellations but I am not expecting much, I can't even get a referral to ENT or an Allergist anymore. I hate this place so much!

look, with an oxygen level of 90-92, you should probably be in the hospital. that is VERY borderline. you need oxygen and you are at risk of going into respiratory failure at any time, especially if you are feeling short of breath. go back to ER if you are having difficulty breathing. you should be on prednisone, with what you are describing. that is the only thing that might stop a downward spiral and justify not admitting you. my concern, after what you've told me in the past, is that when you go to sleep your oxygen is dropping into the 70s-80s.

Agreed, that is a concerning oxygen level. You don't have any other underlying health conditions that relate to it? Non-smoker? In the hospital we would only consider 90-92% to be an acceptable range in someone with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and the majority of the people who fall into that group are over 60 and long-time smokers.

Yes, three weeks is too long to wait. I hope you will get a more proactive ER doc this time. Keep up posted!

No long term conditions other than severe allergies, chronic sinus infections and allergy induced asthma...but doctors here in LA won't give me an inhaler for that only my doctor that I had in CO treated for that, she also insisted I carry an epipen due to the severity of my allergies. My doctors here tell me I don't need one..."everyone has allergies."

Still trying to get in sooner but no luck and can't go back to the ER cause my husband is TDY at the moment and I have little ones.