Edema in Legs - Causes and Treatment

Getting Rid of Edema in Legs

     Edema is swelling of a part of the body triggered by excess fluid trapped in your body tissues.

Edema can have an effect on any part of your body, you may see it more prominently in your hands, arms, legs, ankles and feet.

Edema can be caused by medications, pregnancy or an underlying disease, often congestive heart failure, kidney disorders, or liver cirrhosis.

Taking medication to get rid of excess fluid and reducing the amount of salt in your diet regularly will reduce edema. Edema is a sign of an underlying disease, this disease itself requires separate treatment.

What is An Edema in Legs?

Swollen edema is caused by fluid trapped in the body's tissues. Edema is most common in the ankles and legs, and can occur in various parts of the body, such as the face, hands, and abdomen.

Edema occurs when your small blood vessels drain fluid into nearby tissues. The accumulated fluid makes the tissue swell.

How Do You Get Edema in Your Legs

Swelling in the ankles and feet is often caused by fluid buildup in these areas, known as edema.

Edema is commonly caused by:

- overweight

- Eat too many salty foods

- The same standing or sitting position is too long

- Pregnant

- Undergoing certain drug treatments such as some blood type drugs, birth control pills, antidepressants or steroids

Edema can also come from other conditions or from a time when the stability of the supply in your blood is shutting down. As an example:

- Low albumin

Your medical doctor will label this hypoalbuminemia. Albumin, and various proteins in your blood, act like a sponge to hold fluid in your veins. Low albumin can also cause edema, but it is usually not the only cause.

- Allergic reactions

Edema is the phase of most allergic reactions. In response to allergens, near blood vessels leak fluid into the affected area.

- Flow obstruction

If the drainage of fluid from your body phase is blocked, the fluid may fall back down. Blood clots in the veins in your legs can cause leg edema. Edema can also be caused by a tumor blocking the flow of blood or other fluids called lymph.

- Critical illness

Burns, life-threatening infections, or other critical illnesses can trigger a reaction that allows fluid to leak into the tissues almost everywhere. This can trigger the occurrence of edema throughout the body.

- Congestive coronary heart failure

When the coronary heart weakens and pumps blood less effectively, fluid can slowly build up, and edema of the legs develops.

If the fluid builds up quickly, you could get fluid in your lungs. If your coronary heart failure is on the right side of your heart, the edema may be in your abdomen.

What to do About Edema in the Legs?

The main goal with edema medications is to remove extra fluid that has accumulated in the tissues surrounding the body.

The most common treatments are diuretics. Diuretics make the kidneys excrete extra fluids from the body; which reduces the amount of normal fluids in the body. Diuretics must be used with caution, as dehydration can be a side effect. There are many types of diuretics that have specific driving mechanisms and unique potencies.

Depending on the cause of the edema, follow-up may also be useful such as carrying a guide tube when standing for long periods of time, or it may also require a cardiologist, nephrologist and/or other subspecialist.

Additional Important Tips:

Protect the swollen area from added pressure, injury, and extremes of temperature. Injuries to the skin in swollen areas take longer to heal, and increase the risk of infection. (Cleveland clinic)

Call your doctor right away if you experience pain, redness, or heat in a swollen area of the body, have shortness of breath, or swelling in only one limb.