Causes
Some of the most common side effects of edema:
- Puffiness in the body
- Abnormal abdominal bloating
- Swelling of a particular body part (localized edema)
- Swelling throughout the body (generalized edema)
Symptoms
The dangers of edema, such as pain, difficulty walking, and scarring, depend on the cause of edema (swelling) and how severe it is. Peripheral, mild edema in pregnancy (due to water retention) is common and oftentimes responds to self-care at home, but severe edema from poor heart or lung function can be fatal if left untreated.
Complications
Symptoms of cerebral edema may include:
- a headache
- nausea
- vomiting
- dizziness
- memory problems
- difficulty speaking
- seizures
- vision loss
- neck pain
- difficulty moving
What are the dangers of edema?
Several other diseases are associated with peripheral edema, including:
- Cushing syndrome
- Graves’ disease
- Kaposi sarcoma
Is edema a deadly condition?
Which are possible consequences of edema?
What diseases cause edema?
What is edema in feet?
Overview. Edema, called dropsy long ago, is swelling caused by fluid retention. This condition usually occurs in your feet, legs, or ankles. However, it can also occur in your hands, your face, or any other part of the body. Treatment varies depending on the cause.
How to get rid of edema?
Here are a few other things you can try to ease edema: Eat a wide variety of healthy foods, avoiding packaged and processed foods that are high in salt. Get a moderate amount of exercise, which can help prevent swelling due to inactivity. Avoid tobacco and alcohol.
How to treat edema in legs?
It’s important that your doctor identify the cause of your edema so that it can be treated properly. Temporary edema can often be improved by reducing your salt intake and keeping your legs up when sitting.
What is the condition called when you have a lot of salt in your legs?
Depending on the location, any surgery that involves removal of lymph nodes can result in edema. This form of edema is known as lymphedema . A poor diet, especially one containing too much salt, can cause mild edema.
How to prevent edema?
To prevent edema, stay as physically active as you’re able, avoid excess sodium in your diet, and follow your doctor’s orders regarding any conditions that cause edema. Last medically reviewed on September 19, 2019.
Can compression stockings help with edema?
Compression stockings or sleeves can also be useful. Medication-induced edema. Diuretics won’t work in these cases. Your medication may need to be changed or discontinued. Seek medical care immediately if your edema is suddenly worse, painful, new, or if it’s associated with chest pain or trouble breathing.
Can too much salt cause edema?
A poor diet, especially one containing too much salt, can cause mild edema. When combined with other conditions, a poor diet can also make edema worse. Prolonged sitting and standing can also cause edema, especially in hot weather.
How to tell if you have edema?
Signs that you might have edema include the following: The affected area is swollen. The skin over the swollen area might look stretched and shiny. Pushing in gently on the swollen area with your finger for at least 5 seconds and then removing your finger will leave a dimple in the skin.
What do doctors do when you have edema?
Your doctor will ask you questions, conduct a full exam, and might order tests to determine why you have edema.
What causes swelling in the body?
Edema. Edema is swelling that is caused by fluid trapped in your body’s tissues. Causes include diseases, medications and allergies. Treatment involves lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise. Overview.
Why does water get pulled down into my legs?
Water naturally gets pulled down into your legs and feet. Edema can happen from a weakening in the valves of the veins in the legs (a condition called venous insufficiency). This problem makes it hard ...
Can a blood pressure medication cause edema?
Some drugs, such as medications that you are taking for your blood pressure or to control pain, may cause or worsen edema. An allergic reaction, severe inflammation, burns, trauma, clot (s), or poor nutrition can also cause edema. Too much salt from your diet can make edema worse.
Does salt make edema worse?
Too much salt from your diet can make edema worse.
Is edema permanent or temporary?
Edema can be temporary or permanent, depending on its cause. Edema is treated according to the condition that is causing it. For example: If edema is caused by lung disease, such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis, quitting smoking would be advised if the patient smokes.
Where is edema most apparent?
Edema is most apparent in the hands, wrists, arms, legs, ankles, and feet. An edema in the leg could bring about pain to the patient depending on its cause. For instance, if the swelling is caused by an insect bite, the patient may feel either pain or itchiness.
What is swelling in the hands?
Depending on the cause, they can either be painless, mildly uncomfortable, or unbearably painful. Edema is most apparent in the hands, wrists, arms, legs, ankles, and feet.
Can edema be caused by pregnancy?
Edemas that are brought about by pregnancy, or those swollen areas that initially did not bring about pain shouldn’t be a concern unless they start to hurt. If the pain is deemed serious or if the patient is suspected of having a more serious illness, it’s best to contact an expert to have it checked.
What causes edema in women?
Severe edema could be caused by deep vein thrombosis (DVT), preeclampsia or cellulitis. Menstruation: The hormonal changes that occur during menstruation can cause edema similar to what happens with pregnant women. Some medications: Certain medications, such as calcium channel blockers (for high blood pressure ), estrogen, steroids, ...
Why do veins have edema?
With chronic venous disease, the valves don’t function properly, so fluid isn’t able to leave your legs and it pools, causing edema.
What is the medical term for swelling in the body?
132. Getty. Edema is the medical word for swelling in your body’s tissues, caused by excess fluid that has abnormally left the body’s blood vessels. Some edema can be expected, such as swollen ankles when you’re pregnant or a traumatic ankle sprain; but edema can be caused by life-threatening conditions, such as heart disease or kidney failure.
What is pulmonary edema?
This is called pulmonary edema. Kidney disease: Your kidneys work on maintaining a healthy fluid balance in your body. If they malfunction, fluid can accumulate, causing edema, usually in the legs and face, around the eyes. Liver disease: If your liver is scarred, these scars could block blood flow, causing edema.
Where does fluid accumulate in the body?
Peripheral edema: Fluid accumulates in the peripheral vascular system, usually the legs and feet , although it can affect the hands and arms as well. Pedal edema: Fluid accumulates in your feet and lower legs. Pulmonary edema: Fluid accumulates in your lungs. Cerebral edema: Fluid accumulates in your brain.
Can you get swelling in your feet from sitting?
If you are healthy or aren’t pregnant, this swelling will likely go away fairly quickly once you start walking around or you sit down and put up your feet. Sitting for prolonged periods, like on an extended car trip or flying in a plane, can also cause swelling in your ankles and feet.
Can high salt diet cause lymphedema?
The area the edema appears depends where the damage is to the lymphatic system. Obesity and a high-salt diet can also contribute to edema, but they don’t usually cause it.
How to treat edema?
Treatment of Edema. To treat edema, you often must treat its underlying cause. For example, you might take allergy medications to treat swelling from allergies. Edema from a block in fluid drainage can sometimes be treated by getting the drainage flowing again.
Why does edema come from other conditions?
Edema can also come from other conditions or from when the balance of substances in your blood is off.
Why does fluid build up in legs?
This can cause edema all over your body. Congestive heart failure. When the heart weakens and pumps blood less effectively , fluid can slowly build up, creating leg edema.
Why does my body swell?
Body parts swell from injury or inflammation. It can affect a small area or the entire body. Medications, pregnancy, infections, and many other medical problems can cause edema. Edema happens when your small blood vessels leak fluid into nearby tissues. That extra fluid builds up, which makes the tissue swell.
What happens if you hit your head hard?
If it happens suddenly, call 911. Cerebral edema. This is a very serious condition in which fluid builds up in the brain. It can happen if you hit your head hard, if a blood vessel gets blocked or bursts, or you have a tumor or allergic reaction. Macular edema.
What is the condition that affects the legs, feet, and ankles?
Peripheral edema. This usually affects the legs, feet, and ankles, but it can also happen in the arms. It could be a sign of problems with your circulatory system, lymph nodes, or kidneys.
What medications cause edema?
Medications. Many medicines can cause edema, including: 1 NSAIDs (such as ibuprofen and naproxen) 2 Calcium channel blockers 3 Corticosteroids (like prednisone and methylprednisolone) 4 Pioglitazone and rosiglitazone 5 Pramipexole
What is edema in the body?
Edema is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the tissues of the body which can cause severe pain. Edema usually starts slowly, but the onset can be sudden. The Lakeland pain management doctors at the Novus Spine & Pain Center vein clinic specialize in treating edema, which is a common problem that can be the sign of a serious condition.
Why does edema happen?
Edema occurs when small blood vessels leak fluid into nearby tissues. If the extra fluid builds up , the surrounding tissue swells . This can happen almost anywhere in the body. Many things can cause fluid to build up and produce swelling, such as a twisted ankle, a bee sting, or a skin infection. In some cases, like an infection, the edema is helpful as it brings more infection-fighting white blood cells to the swollen area.
What is the difference between anasarca and angioedema?
Each one can indicate a range of further health conditions. Anasarca is a severe form of edema in which there is a widespread accumulation of fluid in all tissues and cavities throughout the body, and not just a certain part. Angioedema is swelling underneath the skin.
Why does my arm swell?
Lymphedema is swelling in the arms and legs due to damage of the lymph nodes (tissue that filters substances that travel through the lymphatic fluid). Macular edema is a swelling of the retina of the eye which is a serious complication of diabetic retinopathy.
What is swelling under the skin called?
Angioedema is swelling underneath the skin. Unlike hives, which affect the surface of the skin, angioedema affects the deeper layers of the skin and can often affect the face.
What causes cerebral edema?
Brain tumors and a block in fluid drainage in the brain (hydrocephalus) can cause cerebral edema. High altitude. Altitude, combined with physical exertion, can increase the risk of edema. Acute mountain sickness can lead to high-altitude pulmonary edema or high-altitude cerebral edema. Hyponatremia (low blood sodium).
Why do people get edema?
This type of edema can be due both to fluid pooling in gravity-dependent areas and the release of antidiuretic hormone from the pituitary.
Why does my pitting edema hurt?
Cardiac problems, particularly heart failure, is a leading cause of pitting edema. Eclampsia and pre-eclampsia often results in pitting edema. There are numerous causes that should be checked out by a doctor. As for the severe red hot painful swelling that occasionally occurs, that can be caused by local infection, insect bites, allergies, there's a host of causes that should be checked out by a doctor. Making a diagnosis after reading your symptoms would be foolish and possibly dangerous to you. Nothing replaces eyes on the person with the physical complaint.
Where does edema end?
Basically, all forms of edema follow a given pattern that ends with the fluids collecting in the interstitial spaces leak from the blood vessels supplying the area.
What is the best treatment for edema in feet?
Generally speaking.. in Western Medicine most doctors prescribe medication (such as Lasix (furosemide) for example) to help move water out of the body. If an MD suspects a heart, lung, or kidney issue the doctor may order tests or refer to a specialist. For simple edema propping feet so less pooling, minimizing salt intake, and some exercise (if possible) could be advised.
What is it called when the veins in your legs become weak and are unable to return blood to your heart?
Venous insufficiency occurs when the veins in the legs become weak and are unable to return blood to your heart rapidly.
What causes edema in the heart?
Congestive heart failure is the most common cause of serious peripheral edema. It occurs when your heart doesn’t pump enough blood to keep moving through the system. * Cardiovascular health issues are often linked to diabetes, which is also a cause of edema.
What is grade ++ edema?
Grade ++ edema is moderate edema that affects the feet, lower legs and may even extend to the hands and lower arms.
Can compression socks help with edema?
If you want to reduce the symptoms of Edema in the legs, then you can wear compression socks.
