How much water are you drinking? I drink at least 8 glasses a day- with the heat it's more like 10-12 a day now. Funny that the best thing for water retention is to drink MORE water

You need to go to your doctor and have him check you out. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure several years ago that started out exactly as you described having noticed a puffy feeling in my hands and feet. I ignored it and one more I woke up and my entire face was swollen and I could barely open my eyes. Do yourself a favor and go get checked, if you have undiagnosed hypertension this could be a lifesaver.

green tea is sometimes helpful.

Thank you huntress for your concern... I did called my doc today, I take a slew of medications include blood pressure meds (had heart attack in Nov) I'm hoping for an easy fix.. Thanks !

I've always read that celery, parsley, asparagus and lemon work well as diuretics. I never seem to have asparagus lying around when I want to lose a little extra water, but lemon water does nicely, but I'd suggest that you be really careful and run any remedy - even food past your doctor or a hospital dietitian.


With blood pressure and other cardiovascular meds (and some others, also), even foods can interact with medication. For example, before I was on blood pressuer and statin meds, grapefruit and grapefruit juice was my favorite natural diuretic of choice, but now I'm on a couple medications that can interact with grapefruit. They used to think that a small amount of grapefruit or grapefruit juice was safe, but newer research found that even a small amount can create a deadly reaction. From what I understand it accelerates the absorption of a medication in such a way to amplify the breakdown of the medications which means that a person can actually "overdose" on a normal dose of medication.


Even extra water can be unsafe if you're on a potassium-sparing blood pressure medications (and most blood pressure meds are), or naturally tend to have low blood sodium. My mom and I both tend towards low blood sodium levels. For example normal blood sodium levels are 135-145 (mEq/L) and mine at my last blood draw a week ago were 139 - this is actually a bit "high" for me, as often my numbers are actually under the normal level (and my doctor will actually recommend I eat a bit of "extra" salt). I do wonder what my blood levels would have been if hubby and I hadn't gone to a chinese food buffet a couple days before the test). At any rate, my mother and I have been told never to exceed 3 quarts or liters of water a day (I sometimes push it, but only if I've also had quite a bit of salt - "water poisoning" is almost always a result of too little sodium in the blood - but it can be other electrolytes also, much more rarely though).

Someone else mentioned green tea - I've used that successfully. (If you haven't had green tea before, FYI don't use a white mug. It stains like crazy.)

Well that's funny... I brewed a huge pitcher of green tea this morning after mentioning I hadn't had any in weeks but its sitting in the frig ... maybe we're onto something here... time to pour myself a tall glass...

OT: Around Christmas on Ebay, I bought a set of 4 vintage frosted ice tea glasses, complete with tall spoons... loved em' just remembered them... Thanks guys......

I don't know if any of your meds are new or changed recently. But some blood pressure meds can have swelling as a side effect. Your kidneys can respond to the lower blood pressure by retaining water.

Pure cranberry juice makes you go to the washroom a lot, but don't buy the Ocean Spray stuff, it has sugar and other junk in it. I buy Knudsen, it's expensive but you need very little diluted in water, it's very bitter, but you get use to it. You could add sweetener but I found the diuretic effect didn't work as well when I added sweetener.

lemon water is what helps me more than just water alone--also, slice thinly some cucumbers and put into a pitcher of chilled water--I swear it makes me feel better and gets rid of fluid..

This may sound strange, but I've found watermelon to be a good diuretic. You have to eat at least a quarter of a melon though if you want to lose large quantities of water (1 lb worth). Your situation is a little odd because of all the meds you're on. Be careful before trying anything...

I can't explain this one, but CANNED asparagus (which is mushy and not particularly great to eat compared to fresh) has miraculous properties, at least for me and my mom. It's negligible in calories, and one can has caused me to drop (I kid you not) three pounds of water in 24 hours. I reserve this one for mission-critical events.

Food poisoning and lots of water....works *every* time. (I am still recuperating 2 days later).....(and this of course was meant as a joke).

Seriously, I gave up salt and eat only fresh foods ( when I am NOT sick and no packaged foods) now so it helped reduce water weight a lot. Lots of water helps too.

thank you all for the help... I think the green tea is working... I do feel better today... my rings fit better... and now have an bunch of good advice.. thank you everyone...