Edema Online Support Group

For the last few years I have been experiencing swelling in my legs, feet, and my hands. More often than not, when its (edema?) active, it's excruciating. Very painful. Is this normal? thats my first question.

And my second question is why in the hell is this happening to me?

I'm 50 yrs old and before this came along, I was in really good shape and had the whole world in front of me.

Because of all this, Ive become reclusive, exhausted, and worst of all, depressed. In essence, I feel like I am dying.

Now there is a little more to my story, and I have seen several doctors (the diuretics etc), but this is the base to my misery.

This is the first forum I have joined and I just want to see if anyone relates to my situation. Forgive me if I'm to vague and if I am, please ask any question. I'm all ears.

Thank you and God bless everyone in here.

Welcome to the group! Edema is usually the result of some other issue. It has been associated with heart, kidney and liver issues. It can also be a side effect of other medications you may be taking. I'm glad that you have seen your doctors but maybe you should press the matter with them a little more It sounds like the diuretics are not working so your doc needs to do something more to figure out the source of your problem. What other meds do you take? How long have you been experiencing edema?

When I have had my bouts with edema in the past it was usually painful and zapped all my energy just to move around.

I can definitely relate to your situation and hope that you can get some relief!

There is a whole lot to the beginning of all of this, and I'm a writer, so it would be waaaaayyyyyy too long to explain in a first post.

Suffice to say, after an ankle break, knee surgery and severe arthritis development, I began noticing pitted edema many months ago. I would sit cross-legged on the bed or floor and when I moved, there was a huge indentation on my shin where the heel of my foot on my other leg had rested. It would stay for a couple of hours.

(Side note....for the record...I'm an idiot sitting her writing when I could be catching up on a few z's.)

Well, it started with my mother's knee replacement 3/20 of this year....I was on my feet along and my ankles and feet were swollen pretty badly each night. Came home after 3 nights and thing seemed to ease a little. Well, my husband underwent colorectal cancer surgery on the 10th. I'm on my feet almost all day and into the night. I grabbed a shower a couple of days ago and my ankles and feet actually scared me, they were so big. Of course, I've been fighting high heart rate and high BP. They had me on metoprolol, which made things go haywire at first. then they put me on atenolol and a diuretic.

Kk...I just wanted to introduce myself. Hope to speak to you guys more later!

Hugz,

Zin

Welcome to the group! I'd give you the same advice that I posted to Tina: be careful until you fully know what is causing your edema. Given that you are on your feet so much, that contributes to the excess fluid in your body accumulating in your legs. Your BP and heart rate could very well be the source of your edema but only your doctor can (and should!) confirm this. First thing I would do is go back to your docs and see if there is any changes to your diuretics that might help. Meanwhile you should try (easier said than done) to get off your feet. When you are sitting, keep your legs elevated--if possible try to elevate your feet higher than your pelvis.

Keep coming back! Feel free to ask questions of any members as you read thru some of our old posts. I generally check in a couple of times of day so hopefully I can also be of assistance.

I am 33 years old and live in Washington state. I too have been having trouble with edema for some time now that I think about it. I'm thinking about a year or so. I recently had surgery on my knee and that's when it really started. I have gained about 20 lbs since then. I work at a law firm so I sit all day. I must have went to the doctor 5 times before they finally said go to a rhuematologist so I did. I was just diagnosed with fibro. My blood pressure was good, my liver and kidneys were fine. They gave me a water pill. That was a quick fix but didn't solve the problem. I would suggest talking to your doctor regarding your edema, it may be something else that's cause it. It may be something you are eating, it could be anything. I gained about 22 lbs in one week from it. After taking the water pill I lost it all but like I said it's not a long term fix. It's really uncomfortable and painful. None of my clothes fit half of the time either which is really hard because of my job I have to have professional clothes on.

Good luck with your battle, keep us posted on what your docs say.

Welcome to the group! I'm not sure where you are at in your treatment of the fibromyalgia but my limited knowledge of the disease is that both edema and pain are two of its primary symptoms. Have you talked to your rheumatologist about these symptoms?

Just FYI edema is usually an indicator of some other condition so treating the underlying problem and trying to eliminate the excess fluid in the system are the best course of treatment.

I just found out a week ago today that I have it. The reason I went to the rheumatologist is because of the swelling, pain and weight gain. My sed rate was at 40 at the begining of April and now they are at 55.5 so they are checking me for that as well. They are testing me for food allergies other than wheat (they know I'm allergic to that now). Hopefully we can get to the bottom of what's going on and soon!!

Happy Friday!!

Well, keep us updated on the allergy thing...that's a pretty interesting thought.

Hugz,

Zin