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Q: swelling in leg little on right s/face ( No Answer,   10 Comments )
Question  
Subject: swelling in leg little on right s/face
Category: Health > Conditions and Diseases
Asked by: welcome5-ga
List Price: $15.00
Posted: 18 Jul 2005 13:10 PDT
Expires: 25 Aug 2005 13:29 PDT
Question ID: 544991
My sister started inflation in legs, more in right leg about two
months ago. She saw several doctors and they order blood test, urine
test and x-rays.
The tests included the test for finding protein in Urine, tyriod, and
some other tests. All seemed to be normal.
She has no pain unless she pushes down her legs. She has some
inflation on the right side of the face and above the right eye.
The swelling degree goes up and down. She was given some pills for
making the kidneys work harder by a doctor, that made the swelling
less but it did not go away.  I asked her for every other condition
that I could think of, she has had dry skin for the last three months,
some hair loss but not significant, some weight gain, no sensitity to
cold, no fever, and all lab work looked OK so far.
I know if the blood don't circulate normally, it casues permanent
damage to kidney and heart, so we really should find out what is going
on. It's been couple months now. Please advise.
thanks much.
Azam

Clarification of Question by welcome5-ga on 18 Jul 2005 15:36 PDT
My sister 26, 5 feet 135 lbs, started inflation in legs, more in right
leg about two
months ago. She saw several doctors and they order blood test, urine
test and x-rays.
The tests included the test for finding protein in Urine, tyriod, and
some other blood tests. All seemed to be normal.
She has no pain unless she pushes down her legs. She has some
inflation on the right side of the face and above the right eye.
The swelling degree goes up and down. She was given some pills for
making the kidneys work harder by a doctor, that made the swelling
less but it did not go away.  I asked her for every other condition
that I could think of, she has had dry skin for the last three months,
some hair loss but not significant, some weight gain, no sensitity to
cold, no fever, and all lab work looked OK so far.
I know if the blood don't circulate normally, it casues permanent
damage to kidney and heart, so we really should find out what is going
on. It's been couple months now. Please advise.
thanks much.
Azam
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: bkdaniels-ga on 20 Jul 2005 08:53 PDT
 
Hey welcome5-ga, how are you doing?

Ask your sister how have her menstrual periods been, e.g. regular
irregular, or not at all.

REFERENCE
Divina Gracia Rualo-Rualo-Pasigan, M.D.: Premenstrual Tension 
Funk & Wagnalls Family Medical Guide (sec. 219); chap. 13 THE FEMALE
REPREDUCTIVE SYSTEM; p. 408.

Best wishes,
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: weiskraut-ga on 20 Jul 2005 17:42 PDT
 
It certainly sounds as if your sister's thyroid is involved to some
degree, but her doctor seems to have ruled that out.  Right-sided
swelling may also be related to sodium sensitivity.  On this site:

http://www.acu-cell.com/pna.html

there are several references to this "sided-ness" in regard to kidney
functions and corresponding symptoms:

***************************
 "People who are sodium-sensitive generally are well aware of their problem,
 as  they quickly retain fluid when ingesting larger amounts of salt, or their
 blood pressure rises. The rest might get some interesting feedback on their
 sodium tolerance (if unknown) when drinking a medium-sized glass of water
 saturated with common table salt. Either this will have no effect at all, or
 within hours, they will have to keep running to the bathroom all of a sudden,
 with some individuals losing perhaps as much as 10-15 lb of water weight.

 When selectively overdosing on phosphorus / protein or sodium beyond an
 individual's renal capacity, and provided both kidneys are equally efficient
 at the start, the right kidney will become diseased first with sodium, and the
 left one first with phosphorus (or protein). Very one-sided diets, or long-
 term use of specific drugs can affect both kidneys differently as well.

 Long-term monitoring of patients shows high / low sodium-related cases being
 more right-side specific in regard to joint damage, while high / low protein +
 phosphate-related cases are generally more left-side specific in regard to
 joint damage, so striking a happy medium goes a long way in the prevention of
 many of these problems."
***************************

If your sister does find that salt intake affects her swelling, then
she may need extra potassium and/or magnesium (among other things),
which would have to be evaluated by a medical practitioner.  And of
course, her salt intake would have to be adjusted accordingly.

There are a number of other possibilities ranging from heart disease,
dental intervention, to a spider / insect bite that may have triggered
her swelling, but that would be difficult to pinpoint over the net.
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: welcome5-ga on 21 Jul 2005 12:52 PDT
 
Dear Daniels, 
thanks for the question and comment. He menstrual Periods has been
normal (I asked her today) and on-time. Please let me know if there is
any other information I should provide.

Dear weiskraut-ga,
thanks for your comments and information. She has been all normal with
regard to salt taking always. I am thinking how a person can turn
around and change with the way she takes, absorbs and processes salt.

In an x-ray that shae had a while ago, it showed that her veins in
right leg are narrower and not as thick as the ones on right side. Is
that a big deal? Ever since I remember, they had problem finding her
veins when they wanted to do blood test or something, but again, if
there is something more serious, we don't want to distract from serios
things that we should concentrate on , rather than being focused on
her tiny veins. thanks again.
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: weiskraut-ga on 21 Jul 2005 21:17 PDT
 
"I am thinking how a person can turn around and change with the way
she takes, absorbs and processes salt..."

Hello welcome5-ga,
Kidney capacity declines over a lifetime, and so does the ability to
process sodium (i.e. salt).  Even without a genetic trend, some
medications such as Aspirin or other NSAIDs accelerate that process
and can lead to reduced kidney functions earlier in life, which can
manifest itself in edema (water retention).
At her age, she shouldn't theoretically have that problem, but this
doesn't mean that it could not happen.
But to find out if she is salt-sensitive, she would have to try a
greater intake of salt at one time, and see what kind of response
she'll get (as mentioned in my previous post).

While the "tiny veins" in her right leg could be a contributing
problem, it is usually a lack of support from the "valves" inside the
veins that tend to cause leg swelling, which is very common in elderly
females.  If this were the cause, then the water retention would be
more obvious from standing for a longer period of time, and it would
go down on its own from elevating her right leg.

Since diuretics (water pills) seemed to have helped her somewhat
according to your post, there is still a good chance that she may be
naturally low in potassium or magnesium - which would normally offset
sodium retention, or that there is a general electrolyte imbalance -
which can happen at any age.  This of course would go beyond trial and
error and should be evaluated by a doctor.
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: bkdaniels-ga on 22 Jul 2005 06:20 PDT
 
Hey welcome-ga, how are you doing?

This type of edema pits and disappears completely when the dermatitis
has resolved. In addition to the various causes of localized edema and
generalized edema there is a type of edema of the lower extremities
that is not often reconized by the Physician.

This is a bilateral pedal edema commonly seen in patients with
subacute or chronic dermatitis of the lower extremities. This type of
edema is most often seen in chronic eczematous dermatitis but is
unrelated to cardiac failure of lympathatic obstruction.

It is most probably due to an increased permeability as a result of
local capillary damage, which is part of the inflammatory process in
the skin. The increased capillary premeability leads to an increased
transfer of fluid from the intravascular to the extravascular
component of the extracellular-fluid space. (Fitzpatrick, Haynes 269)

REFERENCE
T.B. Fitzpatrick
and H.A. Haynes: Edema
Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine; Eight Edition; sec. 9
ALTERATIONS IN THE SKIN; chap. 54, p. 269.

Best wishes,
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: welcome5-ga on 22 Jul 2005 11:47 PDT
 
Thank you guys for information you have contributed.
I called her today to ask her if she can drink a cup of water with
some salt in it, to see if she feels she need to rush to washroom to
test for the comment weiskraut made on this posting. she said, that
she has been rushing to washrooms ever since this problem started or
maybe even a just few weeks before the swelling started about 2 months
back.
She said now when she has to go to washroom, is not like old days that
she could hold it and wait. Now she goes running after having just
normal water or tea.
She read to me the level of Potasium 4.4 in her lab results. She
mentioned the normal level was stated as 3.5-5.3 in her lab papers.
Also she said she is not eacting dinners anymore (since 4 days ago)
and her face is not swellen when she wakes up in the morning, but
still the legs (mostly the right leg) is swellen, and yes it gets
worse during the day as she walks or is actively standing or sitting.
thanks again. Please keep contributing your thoughts.
Azam
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: weiskraut-ga on 22 Jul 2005 20:16 PDT
 
Hello welcome5-ga,
Since serum potassium is ok, that leaves magnesium as a potential
remedy to help with right-sided edema if caused by salt sensitivity
(or related kidney problems).  It's hard to believe that your sister
cannot get anyone to do the proper tests to figure out if this is due
to a chemical imbalance, cardiac weakness, or simply bad veins - where
her symptoms worsen from walking or standing, and improve with her
legs elevated.

However, you also mentioned in your last post that "she is not eacting
dinners anymore (since 4 days ago)," which, I assume, means that she
has been skipping supper for the last 4 days, which resolved the
facial swelling in the morning.
This of course opens up the possibility of an allergic reaction to
something she had been having for supper on a regular basis.  For
instance, eating rhubarb, or real licorice by someone with seriously
impaired kidney functions can not only have them swell up in a hurry,
but get them close to kidney failure.

Being mostly right-sided does suggest though that sodium (salt) could
be at least part of the edema problem, which may improve with extra
magnesium supplementation.  In contrast to some other supplements,
magnesium is relatively harmless when higher amounts are taken for a
very short period of time, with the most likely adverse effects - if
at all - being diarrhea or lowered stomach acid (bloating).
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: welcome5-ga on 23 Jul 2005 10:11 PDT
 
Hello weiskraut-ga,
Thanks for new information.
My sister lives in Tehran, Iran. She has seen several doctors two of
which had specialty in Kidney and one in heart and several just in
internal medicine.
Over there, doctors don?t create a file for you. You need to keep and
carry your lab results with you, when you go to see different 
doctors.

In most cases, patients change doctors without going back to the first
one and letting him/her think harder to find and determine the illness
for sure.
Also doctor don't share with patients what illness they think the
patient might have and don't tell about other possibilities, etc. They
just right down on piece of papers, the order for lab, this and that
and that is all. If they don't find anything in test result, they tell
you there is nothing wrong with you and all it is, is related to
stress, nerve system, etc. etc. Nothing serious.

Let's forget about that place, here in US, I had a simple sinus
infection and kept catching cold and running fever and headache every
single month. I saw the doctor every month over and over and he gave
me some Amoxicillin everytime. He insisted that I had Migrane and kept
asking me if Migrane was running in the family.
I had to help him and asked him (after asking him several times) to
send me for x-ray and MIR from my Sinus. The x-ray/MIR  proved my
point.
I have strong blieve that if doctors put all the parameters,
informationo and equations in front of the patient, and ask the
patient to help them to figure it out, they can resolve it together.
Of course, theres are exceptions too. Those patients that confuse the
doctors with false information or hiding the information from doctors.

Anyhow, My sister, myself and you guys are left here to help us out to
find what is wrong with her. I am going to ask her to ask her doctor
for x-ray from kidney, lung, and (i don't know what else). Hopefully
they come normal. Meanwhile she is going to try some magnesium
supplementation.
thanks again.
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: picnic-ga on 07 Aug 2005 08:55 PDT
 
Body is a very complicated thing, much more complicated than a
computer. Just as a computer doctor cannot always fix a computer, even
a well-intentioned sincere medical doctor cannot always fix a human
body. ? Doctors in the United States are ?slow? and over-cautious
because of insurance and lawsuit issues. Doctors in many other
countries are prompt and risk-takers, and at times can do certain
things that US doctors cannot do.

http://www.medic8.com/healthguide/articles/oedema.html  explains that
a swelling in leg (edema) can be due to heart disease, kidney disease,
thyroid disease, blood-vessels disease, protein deficiency, or
medication interaction. It is very difficult to correctly diagnose a
swelling in leg.

A few days back, I had a bruise on my left leg. A doctor prescribed an
anti-biotic course, which I completed without asking a question.
Perhaps because of this medication (or I don?t know what), I got a
swelling below the bruise. It was painful. Because of weekend, I could
not reach any doctor for help.

What I did is this. (I very rarely do exercise.) I did ?shirshasan
yoga? (standing upside down with head down legs up) for about half a
minute. Then I swirled my legs (one by one) up to about 90 degree for
several times. Then I slept with my legs elevated. All this improved
my blood circulation and pushed the water out from the swelling area.
And the swelling was almost gone.

Perhaps this method can help in your case. Another thing that can be
tried for improving the circulation is massaging the leg with a
special oil.
Subject: Re: swelling in leg little on right s/face
From: welcome5-ga on 07 Aug 2005 09:35 PDT
 
Hi Picnic, Welcome to the discussion and comments table and thanks for the tip.

As of today Aug 7th, the swelling in my sister's leg has decreased a
lot but still exist.
She is taking some magnesium supplementation starting yesterday and I
will soon post the result.
I will tell her about what you are recommending.
In a long run, whatever the reason is, I wonder if there would be a
damage to kidney by retaining all the salt and remaining inflamation.
thanks again.

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