What Causes Fever, Headache And Recurrent Vomiting When Getting Treated For Bilateral 4 Plus Edema?

Posted on Wed, 3 Aug 2022

Question: My son 48yr old, has bilateral 4 plus edema and was seen in the ER yesterday and was given 20 mg laxis. When he came home he vomited x3. Has c/o of a headache x2 days, and now has a fever of 103 F. Any clues? He just took Tylenol for fever. I will check it again in an hour.

Answered by Dr. Malik (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Most common causes are heart, liver or kidney disorders

Detailed Answer:

Hello,

Bilateral lower extremity edema is due to accumulation of fluids. The most common causes are heart failure, liver and kidney diseases.

High fever along with a headache highly likely caused by infection. Any infectious conditions of these organs (heart, liver or kidney) may cause fever and lower extremity edema (eg. heart failure from infectious cardiomyopathy, kidney infections).

Lasix may cause side effects like fever while taking it or vomiting and headache from excessive fluid and/or electrolyte disbalance. The side effects of Lasix are usually temporarily.

If he continues to have a high fever and headache you should take him to the ER/hospital again for a thorough clinical exam. As ER doctors have already excluded DVT and pulmonary embolus, the cause of lower extremity edema should be determined and he should receive proper medical treatment. He may need an echocardiogram to rule out heart failure; liver and kidney function tests to determine the etiology of his condition.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Thank you.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee