Quote:
Originally Posted by Snoopy
It's important to see your doctor if the edema continues. There are medical conditions that can cause edema and it would be a good idea to rule out those medical conditions.
I dealt with edem on a daily/nightly basis for quite a few years (nothing helped). There was not a medical reason for the edema. I normally drank 60oz of water daily. Several months ago I became more thristy and have been drinking 80 to 100oz a water daily.
Not long after the fluid intake increased my edema disappeared and has never come back. Even though I thought 60oz of water was good, it apparently wasn't good enough.
Since I had such a drastic increase in thirst I saw my Doctor as that could be a sign of Diabetes. I do not have diabetes and my PCP told me the amount of water I am drinking is not excessive.
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My MS doc explained to me that the swelling is due to the nerves not signaling the veins and lymph system to pump the fluids back up so they can be eliminated. I use a combination of compression socks (moderate compression, as the really snug ones are too much of a struggle to get into!), increased fluid intake, and elevation . . . but none of it works very well. Exercise will help, because it will cause your heart to pump more, but most of us hurt too much to walk on our sausage-feet.
A drop in barometric pressure, or a low system moving in can also trigger more problems with swelling, because low atmospheric pressure allows tissues to swell more. Ask anyone with arthritis . . . that's why it flares when rain is imminent!
Aggravating as heck, this is the one issue I had hoped I could resolve, since there is no cure for any other of the zillion issues I deal with daily. Between the pain and the swelling, there isn't a pair of shoes anywhere that I can walk in anymore.
If you have ever worn rock-climbing shoes, that is what even the best fitting shoes feel like now . . .
