Swelling is a painful situation that can occur at multiple locations and because of many factors. Ankle swelling is extremely common in people and there could be multiple reasons for having so. Therefore it is necessary to know the condition behind ankle swelling. Edema is the one of the health issues that could be a reason for having some serious problems in the foot. Edema swelling is caused because of fluid getting trapped in tissues, which takes a lot more time than any other type of swelling. Today we will know about the causes, symptoms and risks of this ankle swelling.
Edema Ankle Swelling
We spoke to Dr. Sumeet Nigam, General Physician from Sahara Hospital, Lucknow to understand the condition of Edema ankle swelling in people. He said that edema is a puffy type of swelling that occurs in the ankles, and then follows to the feet. It can make it difficult for the people to walk and perform different activities. This happens as the result of fluid getting accumulated in the tissues present in the ankles. It could be because of kidney disease, heart failure, pregnancy and other serious health conditions.
Symptoms of Edema Ankle Swelling
There are certain conditions that can reveal that you are having edema swelling. You should be careful if you have these symptoms-
- Swelling in the tissues of the skin in your arms or legs
- Stretched on a shiny skin
- Puffiness around your ankles directly under skin of feet
- Having a dimple or skin that reveals several seconds
- Increase in abdomen size
These are general symptoms which happen in edema swelling but there are few more symptoms that might be dangerous to your health. If you face any of these symptoms, then you should immediately consult a doctor and get medical attention.
- Difficulty in breathing
- Chest pain
- Shortness of breath
These could be signs of pulmonary edema which is a severe swelling. This is caused when you are sitting for prolonged period, or indulged in violence activity, and pain does not go away, then it could causes pulmonary edema. It is important to cure this condition because it can cause blood clot in the veins which is a serious health issue.
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Causes of Edema Ankle Swelling
Swelling in ankles because of edema is caused because of fluid is leaked in tiny blood vessels. This can affect your feet and ankles which might cause problems in sitting or staying in one position for very long. Here are some other common causes of having edema in ankles-
- Consuming too much salt in food or having salty food regularly
- In times of pregnancy
- Because of premenstrual signs and symptoms
- It can be due to high blood pressure medications
- Taking steroid drugs
- Increase or imbalance in estrogen levels
- Taking certain types of diabetic medications or thiazodinediones
- Non-steroid or anti-inflammatory drugs
Serious causes of Edema Ankle swelling
1. Cognitive heart failure
If you have gone through a cognitive heart failure or have reduced ability to pump blood in the lower chambers of the heart, then it could affect your ankle swelling. Because of weak pumping of blood, it comes back in your legs, ankles and feet that causes edema. Cognitive heart failure can cause accumulation of blood in the lungs and cause shortness of breath as well.
2. Cirrhosis
Fluid accumulation can also occur in your abdomen. It happens in the legs because of having a liver damage. The fluid comes down and causes swelling in the feet that may take multiple weeks to get cured.
3. Kidney disease
There are some certain types of kidney diseases that may also cause extra fluid and sodium in the edema. It can be because of kidney diseases that occur in the legs. Kidney disease may also affect your eyes and therefore it can be a troublesome experience.
Kidney damage is an also a cause for swelling in feet when the blood vessels responsible for filtering the blood get affected. It causes nephritic syndrome. Edema can be causes because of lower levels of protein in the blood that results to condition of edema.
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4. Some kind of damage in veins of legs
If you are suffering from a chronic venous insufficiency, then there is a possibility that your leg veins are weakened and damaged. Because of this condition, the blood gets accumulated in the veins of ankles and causes swelling. This condition could also cause terrible pain when the pressure in exerted on the foot, therefore it is important to keep the blood clot limited to veins.
5. Inadequate lymphatic system
This is a condition that causes dysfunction in the system those results to accumulation of fluid in the tissues. This affects multiple locations in the body including your lymph nodes present in the ankles and feet. Until the lymph vessels are cleared up, it is difficult to treat condition of edema in this case.
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