Swelling of the feet and ankles are especially common among women, and while they’re mostly not cause for concern if you walk and stand a lot, they’re often signs of serious health problems. Also known as edema, swollen feet and ankles are often due to the body’s inability to move blood and fluids back up to your legs, causing the feet to swell. Edema is often not painful, but it can be especially uncomfortable.
Edema is mainly a symptom from numerous illnesses, and it’s basically a sign that you may need a slight lifestyle change. Here are five of the most common reasons why you may have edema:-
Pregnancy or Menstruation
If you’re pregnant or about to start your menstruation cycle, your feet are bound to swell due to mild fluid retention. But if it occurs excessively, it may be a case of preemclampsia – a sign of high blood pressure and protein in the urine during the 2nd or 3rd trimester of pregnancy.
Remedy: If your feet are swollen due to fluid retention, soak your feet in tub of lukewarm water and epsom salts, followed by a gentle massage. You should also cut down on your salt intake as salt keeps fluid retained in the body. If you suspect you may be suffering preemclampsia, it’s advised to contact your doctor immediately.
Foot or ankle injury
If you’ve sprained your ankle, your ankle is bound to swell up as the ligaments that hold the ankle in place have stretched beyond its range. This also applies to most traumatic injuries on your limbs.
Remedy: As with most sport injuries, treat your ankle with an ice pack, followed by a deep heat rub, and wrap it up with compression bandage. You can take mild muscle relaxants to help with the pain too.
Excess of uric acid crystals
If your feet are swollen and it hurts slightly, it may need to check the level of uric acid in your body. Uric acid is produced in the body to digest food and get rid of waste material out of the body. When there’s an excess of uric acid, it starts to accumulate uric acid crystals within the fluid of your ankle, causing gout. Symptoms of gout include pain and inflammation in your feet, but it’ll most likely show on your toes first.
Remedy: Avoid scallops, beer, and oysters from your diet immediately and get your doctor to prescribe you with water pills and diuretics. Also drink up to two liters of water a day.
Blood clot
If you’ve had an injury recently, and noticed swelling in your feet, it may have damaged a vein along the way. Blood clots stop the flow of blood from the legs back up to the heart, causing your feet to and ankles to swell. This can often be very painful and can be life-threatening if they break loose and travel to the heart and lungs.
Remedy: A treatment with blood thinners may be necessary, but if you’re able to detect it immediately, take an aspirin or two, as it is known to be an accessible form of blood thinner.
Kidney failure or infection
If swelling in your feet and ankles happens way too often, you may be experiencing kidney failure. It is possibly due to uncontrolled diabetes, dehydration or high blood pressure.
Remedy: Seek the assistance of a kidney specialist and ask about a glomerular filtration rate (GFR), a test that measures the level of kidney function.
