Swelling of the legs

[metrogirl]

More specifically the lower part of the leg and foot. Any thoughts on what it could be? I am going to call and make an appointment with the doctor, I'm just trying to get an idea of what might be going on.

 

Oh and it's the right leg and foot if that makes any difference.

[Hope75]

Sometimes a blood clot in your leg, called a Deep Vein Thrombosis, can cause swelling of one leg over the other, or an acute musculoskeletal injury (i.e. sprain or strain) can cause it.

 

Do you have any pain?

 

Definitely call your doctor and make an appt right away.

[metrogirl]

Sometimes a blood clot in your leg, called a Deep Vein Thrombosis, can cause swelling of one leg over the other, or an acute musculoskeletal injury (i.e. sprain or strain) can cause it.

 

Do you have any pain?

 

Definitely call your doctor and make an appt right away.

 

Not constant pain....My leg will start to hurt a lot if I'm on it too long. I had a torn ligament in the knee some time back but it seemed to have healed.

The swelling has been going on for a couple of months, at first it was just a little swollen, now it just seems like it's a little more swollen than before.

 

I noticed I also get a weird sensation in that leg.

[Hope75]

I would definitely get that looked at ASAP. What you describe could be a DVT, but obviously I am not a doctor and cannot diagnose anything.

 

When do you have an appt?

 

Do you smoke, or take birth control pills?

[greywolf]

Could be a sign of heart, liver, or kidney disease. Although it's odd that it's only in one leg.

[metrogirl]

I would definitely get that looked at ASAP. What you describe could be a DVT, but obviously I am not a doctor and cannot diagnose anything.

 

When do you have an appt?

 

Do you smoke, or take birth control pills?

 

No I don't smoke, never have and not taking birth control pills.

 

I just called the doctor to make an appointment but they are out to lunch.

 

I will try back when they re-open.

 

The DVT things sounds kinda scary.

[ghost69]

you are forming cankles. jk metro.

 

it could be a cholesterol problem. perhaps the veins are getting a bit more constrictive to that area. definitely get checked out asap.

[BetterKarma]

Here's a website that might give you more insight. However, I do recommend that you call your doctor.

 

link removed

[metrogirl]

Here's a website that might give you more insight. However, I do recommend that you call your doctor.

 

link removed

 

great! thanks for this........

 

A lot of good info here.

[Hope75]

Yes do let us know what they say, hopefully it is nothing serious!

[metrogirl]

Yes do let us know what they say, hopefully it is nothing serious!

 

I will update when I find out......

 

Thank you.....

[15 Storeys High]

A DVT usually gets warm around the area of the swelling too.

[just M.E.]

This can be a sign of poor circulation, actually I have trouble with low blood pressure and do have swelling in my feet when inactive, my veins bulge and I have fluid retention in extremities. Not enough blood pressure to keep the blood from tending to pool in the feet when inactive. My veins can look like ropes also. Actually makes for some great parlor entertainment, drop my hands to my sides and my veins fill up, get huge and ropey, raise slowly to above my heart and they drain back to the heart. I don't think it is harmful, just big pipes. Oh yeah, and don't stand up too fast.

 

While pregnant I had a tremendous amount of this and in normal blood pressure situations it is very dangerous but my was so low they couldn't prescribe the normal meds for this so I just had to look like a water balloon. I got all the nice comments about how fat I had gotten.

 

Does your weight fluctuate up and down? Ask your doctor about fluid retention and poor circulation also. My mother recently had stents placed in her leg arteries and didn't even realize she had poor circulation, until they tested her before knee replacement.

[tiredofvampires]

That could be due to low blood pressure? Gee...I didn't realize that. I suffer from low BP, too and while I don't have ropey varicose veins (I do have some spider veins...that runs in my family and I don't want it to progress to the deeper ones), only in the last year I started to notice fluid retention around my ankles, which scared me because I never saw that on myself before (but have attended to older/sick folks who did and they all had pretty bad health status.) What's more, my lower limbs would get super achey when this happened. This was during a period when my exercise levels just plummeted. It wasn't warm around any particular spot and it was bilateral, so I wasn't too worried, but it was a bit worrisome.

 

They worked me up for DVT, I didn't have it. But now I seem more prone to it, like if I'm at the computer too long, or not active, or have a seat that's bad for me (cuts off the circulation around my upper legs).

 

What is that swelling anyway...lymph?

 

I wonder if exercise, which I'm trying to do more now will PREVENT it from happening. Seems I'm more susceptible to it happening even though I've been more active lately.

 

I wonder how much the low BP factors into that. I've found exercise improves low BP as well. I hope this is something that can be reversed.

 

Strangely, none of my doctors said anything about fluid retension, low BP or what to do if it's poor circulation (other than exercise, but you can have poor circulation even so, right?) Something to think about, not sure how to remedy that! Thanks for the good post, M.E.

 

Good luck on the DVT thing, metrogirl, and keep us updated.

[15 Storeys High]

^ The low bp thing.....your feet/ankles and the lower part of your leg are pretty far away from the heart. In order to get blood to pump around the body the blood pressure has to be above a certain level. If yours is low it's harder for blood to get back to the core from the feet/ankles especially if you're standing or sitting with your feet on the floor so you start to get a backlog down there and fluid can build up in your subcutaneous tissues as a result. Exercise and moving around increases your heart rate, which will get your blood flowing quicker. When you're sitting down try and raise your legs to encourage any peripheral fluid to drain away.

[greywolf]

^ The low bp thing.....your feet/ankles and the lower part of your leg are pretty far away from the heart. In order to get blood to pump around the body the blood pressure has to be above a certain level. If yours is low it's harder for blood to get back to the core from the feet/ankles especially if you're standing or sitting with your feet on the floor so you start to get a backlog down there and fluid can build up in your subcutaneous tissues as a result. Exercise and moving around increases your heart rate, which will get your blood flowing quicker. When you're sitting down try and raise your legs to encourage any peripheral fluid to drain away.

 

Actually there is no blood pressure at all in the veins. The veins use a skeletal muscular pump to pump the blood back up. This is why they recommend that you get up and walk during long plane rides. Becaues the blood can't return to the heart without the muscles pumping them up.

 

EDIT: Or it uses gravity to return the blood from the head.

[15 Storeys High]

There is venous pressure in the veins. It isn't as high as arterial pressure but it's there.

[princess_summer_blue84]

could be poor circulation as well. Have you notice discoloration in your foot and leg? Does your job require you to stand on your feet a lot? That could be another reason as well.

[metrogirl]

Thanks for all the useful information.

 

Usually my doctor is booked months in advance but I was able to get a last minute appointment that someone had just cancelled so I will see the doctor this Monday.

 

The lower part of the leg is still swollen, I do get this warm sensation in the leg and i have noticed more of strong tingling sensation in the leg.

 

There is some discomfort but not terribly painful at the moment.

 

Thanks to everyone.......I will let you know after I see the doctor.

[just M.E.]

Trivia unrelated to humans, horses do not have muscles in the lower portion of their legs, no muscle contraction to stimulate return blood flow, a bulbous structure in the hoof, called the frog, stimulates blood flow to the heart when a horse moves and step down. That's why a horse being "down" or confined is dangerous, toxins and fluid build up. Bad stuff. Totally off topic, but a more dramic illustration of blood flow.

[greywolf]

Trivia unrelated to humans, horses do not have muscles in the lower portion of their legs, no muscle contraction to stimulate return blood flow, a bulbous structure in the hoof, called the frog, stimulates blood flow to the heart when a horse moves and step down. That's why a horse being "down" or confined is dangerous, toxins and fluid build up. Bad stuff. Totally off topic, but a more dramic illustration of blood flow.

 

I didn't know that. How interesting.

[Hope75]

Trivia unrelated to humans, horses do not have muscles in the lower portion of their legs, no muscle contraction to stimulate return blood flow, a bulbous structure in the hoof, called the frog, stimulates blood flow to the heart when a horse moves and step down. That's why a horse being "down" or confined is dangerous, toxins and fluid build up. Bad stuff. Totally off topic, but a more dramic illustration of blood flow.

 

Isn't another reason horses can't be down because the weight of their own body will crush their organs and cause decubitis ulcers?

[just M.E.]

Not so much crushing of the organs but they do not breath efficiently, same thing for cows, they develop pneumonia very quickly. I know of a horse that was "down" for two days and still alive but eventually died, I have a cow down for 6 hours (had bloat), and it died. I am sure the heart and other organs do not work well either but usually it is the lungs that give out first (so the vet tells me).

[tiredofvampires]

Usually my doctor is booked months in advance but I was able to get a last minute appointment that someone had just cancelled so I will see the doctor this Monday.

 

MG, I'm glad you got an appointment for Monday. If you've got swelling in one leg more than the other and it gets warm.

 

Not to scare you but just FYI, if you ever suspect DVT, you CAN'T wait a few weeks or months to get it checked out. Even a few days is risky, because at any point, part of the clot could break off and travel to your heart, lungs or brain. It's an asap kind of test to get. When they did my tests, they said if they found DVT, they would admit me immediately to the hospital (the other wing of this building), that I wouldn't even go home. (I remember thinking, um, what about my car? It's gonna be parked here at the medical building for days racking up parking fees, no way! Haha.)

 

Good luck!

[Hope75]

MG,

 

Let us know how the appt goes!