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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Do Swelling In The Feet And Breathing Difficulty Indicate?

I have a 73 year old African American male friend who is experiencing swelling of his feet and shortness of breath at low moderate exertion. He had an episode a week ago of shortness of breath and chest pains. Paramedics were called, arriving 15 minutes later. Normal blood pressure and the espisode passed. Three weeks ago his left hand swelled inexplicably. He saw his doctor was given prednisone and antibiotic that relieved the swelling. A chest X-ray was clear. He is diabetic but sugar is controlled and he is on meds. He takes blood pressure and cholesterol meds also. He was a 50 year smoker until a few years ago. He does not drink. He wants to see his doctor, but is this a situation that needs immediate attention?
Wed, 6 Jun 2018
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.

Swelling of the feet, shortness of breath, history of chest pain can have to do with serious cardiac problems, like myocardial infarction and heart failure. There are many risk factors for this: age, diabetes, an ex-heavy smoker, high blood pressure, high lipid levels. I recommend to consult a cardiologist because this seems to be a serious problem and do an ECG. A cardiac Sonography, a chest X-ray and some routine blood tests including cardiac Enzyms: CK-MB, troponin I levels.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
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What Do Swelling In The Feet And Breathing Difficulty Indicate?

Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice. Swelling of the feet, shortness of breath, history of chest pain can have to do with serious cardiac problems, like myocardial infarction and heart failure. There are many risk factors for this: age, diabetes, an ex-heavy smoker, high blood pressure, high lipid levels. I recommend to consult a cardiologist because this seems to be a serious problem and do an ECG. A cardiac Sonography, a chest X-ray and some routine blood tests including cardiac Enzyms: CK-MB, troponin I levels. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.