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Suggest Treatment For Edema In The Feet
Question: Thanks for your time. I have a friend in overseas, diagnosed several years ago for thyroid problems and now, his feet and ankles have swollen so big, makes him unable to drive and barely walking now. Please can you give me any ideal of what can be done to reduce the swelling to a manageable conditions or is it possible to cure it ?
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Brief Answer:
Fluid-losing therapy
Detailed Answer:
Greetings and welcome to HCM. I carefully read your query and I understand your concern.
It is quite hard to give advice for a third party, but I will try my best. Well, thyroid problems are not known to directly cause leg and ankle swelling. However, a thyroid problem may affect certain chambers of the heart, even valves of the heart, and eventually cause leg and ankle swelling (peripheral oedemas), due to raised pressures in the peripheral circulation system, which promotes fluids to go out into the interstitial area. Since this is a well-known complication of thyroid dysfunction, first of all, I would recommend a carefully examined echo cardiogram, to assess heart chambers and valves, by means of size, movement and function. This is an exam that may elicit so many things and, in the same time, exclude a lot of culprits to this situation. Since this is an online consultation, I can only provide my opinion. Even though the echo cardiogram is a strong recommendation at this time, there are the symptoms you provided that also need to be addressed. Therefore, my recommendation is that loop diuretics, such as furosemide (Lasix), should be applied intravenously at the beginning to help excessive fluid to be "thrown out" of the organism. My opinion is that, even though this therapy may be succesful in lowering the oedemas, the culprit of this condition is a must to be revealed.
I hope my answer is helpful and I wish the best for your friend. I am happy to help, if you have follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Dr. Meriton
Fluid-losing therapy
Detailed Answer:
Greetings and welcome to HCM. I carefully read your query and I understand your concern.
It is quite hard to give advice for a third party, but I will try my best. Well, thyroid problems are not known to directly cause leg and ankle swelling. However, a thyroid problem may affect certain chambers of the heart, even valves of the heart, and eventually cause leg and ankle swelling (peripheral oedemas), due to raised pressures in the peripheral circulation system, which promotes fluids to go out into the interstitial area. Since this is a well-known complication of thyroid dysfunction, first of all, I would recommend a carefully examined echo cardiogram, to assess heart chambers and valves, by means of size, movement and function. This is an exam that may elicit so many things and, in the same time, exclude a lot of culprits to this situation. Since this is an online consultation, I can only provide my opinion. Even though the echo cardiogram is a strong recommendation at this time, there are the symptoms you provided that also need to be addressed. Therefore, my recommendation is that loop diuretics, such as furosemide (Lasix), should be applied intravenously at the beginning to help excessive fluid to be "thrown out" of the organism. My opinion is that, even though this therapy may be succesful in lowering the oedemas, the culprit of this condition is a must to be revealed.
I hope my answer is helpful and I wish the best for your friend. I am happy to help, if you have follow-up questions.
Best regards,
Dr. Meriton
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Yogesh D
Answered by
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