Swollen ankles (not pregnant)

[rosemary]

Sandy...I have swelling in my ankles and lower legs at times from my BP meds. It seems to be at its worst when I am sitting all day. I do my best at work to get up and move around. I rarely deal with it on the weekends because I am up and about. It is sometimes hard to cut sodium out...it lurks in the strangest of places. One thing that helps me is when my legs are swollen to prop them up. I wish you the best with your appointments.

[reneesmom]

I wanted to add to this post because I have had some weird symptoms since my bout with PE in June 05. One of these has been some periodic swelling under my ankle on one side along with a bit of numbness on the left side of my heel under the same ankle. My regular doctor originally said that I had probably hurt my Achilles' Tendon and surrounding nerves when I was walking around with PE swelling and water weight (I had terrible swelling for two weeks before being diagnosed with PE - they missed it as a warning sign b/c they thought it was due to a heat wave we were having at the time.) I don't know if this information is helpful to your situation, but I wanted to let you know I had had some swelling well after my PE. In regard to low sodium diet, I have been on one for a year or so. It took my BP several months to come down and I opted for a dietary approach to prevent going on meds again. My BP continues to linger at just the normal/slightly above range, so I try hard to watch it as I don't want to go on meds until necessary. I'm in my early forties and feel the same way about having to deal with medical issues that are usually associated with later stages of life. Hope things turn out okay for you and keep us posted.

[sandy]

Sonja,
You know...I am carrying around 30-35 extra pounds since my pregnancies. Maybe the extra weight has something to do with it, too? I do exercise and eat well...there is room to step up my exercise routine.

I'd love if it were that easy. Perhaps this will be a good "push" for me, too. If not for anything else, to see if dropping 30 pounds could fix this. I don't know why but those extra pounds are not budging. Now maybe I have an added incentive...

[sonja]

Sandy - it is so hard when we have to start dealing with these things. I got swollen ankles this last summer - for me it was about the final straw that forced me to admit that I really did have to start loosing weight - I have no idea if you are in the same boat - but I feel so much better. I hope that you get some answers.

[sandy]

Hey, everyone. Thanks.

My internal medicine doctor has told me to call a cardiologist she is familiar with. She has also ordered some bloodwork. Wants to check my kidney and thyroid functions with that.

Finally, in addition to my hypertension and cholesterol-lowering med (Caduet) I currently take (I've had chronic both since my early 20's; genetic), she has prescribed a water pill. Oh, and she said to stop eating all salt and to use "Mrs. Dash" if I want to add it to food (which I don't do, and I don't each much processed food and my diet does have a reasonable amount of fruits and vegetables and is reasonably healthy). So I guess I'll have to start looking at the sodium content of everything I eat now.

I swear...I have the medical issues of someone twice my age. I am discouraged and annoyed. I guess the expectation I have to have is this is just how it gets as we age. I just didn't expect to be "aging" like this at just under 35.

So nothing determined just yet. I'll let you know if we find anything obvious (like kidney issues).

[dja]

Hi Sandy - please post an update when you can. I've been having some oddball similar things - periodic swelling, tingling hands and feet, chest pain. It hasn't risen to the level that the docs know what to do, but I'm trying to figure out if it correllates with my period. The rhueme is watching this and doing some labwork to see if there may be an autoimmune connection, but I don't have the results yet.

[sandy]

Thanks, ladies. I did call. Have an appointment for Wednesday morning, so I'll hopefully figure out what's going on then.

I'm getting tired of dealing with things that I shouldn't be dealing with until I'm twice my age!

[laura]

Mine were the same as Jennifer's- hormones really do a trick on my chronic hypertension! I really found that HCTZ- hydrochlorthiazide was a lifesaver with regard to being swollen, but that whole one sided arm thing freaks me out a bit- can you call tomorrow?

[jen44]

I get swollen ankles the week before my period, it's really weird - when I've been sitting at my desk all day long I come home with big swollen ankles. The arm tingling thing sounds concerning though, I'm sure the doctor will run some tests or something to help you figure out what's going on. I wonder what it could be? Keep us updated OK?

[holliadrienne]

not to scare you, but i hope you get this checked out soon...swollen legs/ankles and arm tingling can be signs of a serious heart problem...please get this checked asap