Educate me, please
Started perusing this board and got to thinking about my own condition.
Bit of background: I'm 34, 235 and considering VSG. Over a year ago, I had a bunionectomy (foot) surgery. I wasnt as heavy as I am now, but still big girl. Anyhow, I was on birth control and I smoked...you may be able to guess where this is going...I got a few large blood clots in my legs and had some go to my lungs. I had been on an airplane about 5 weeks after surgery and didn't uncross my legs for about 6 hours...anyhow, dumb, at so many levels.
Question -- I continue to have swelling in my ankles. Sometimes made worse by how long I'm on my feet. Usually goes away by morning. It isn't terrible, but it isn't 'nothing,' either.
My Doc told me it would never go away...just a complication from the clot that would be around forever more. I know, lovely.
Does this sound like lymphedema? I know you're not Doctors but I'd be interested to hear some thoughts.
Thanks much
If yours was caused by a clot then I would think it's probably vascular. When I was going through the process of elimination to determine what was causing my edema, I was basically told to hope it was vascular, because there was the possibility it was "curable" - as opposed to lymphatic edema which would not be (treatable... but not curable). Unfortunately, mine is lymphatic.
Mine isn't horribly severe (comparatively) - the swelling goes down overnight because I'm off my feet and the lymph system can move the fluid around more easily when I'm horizontal.
However, in your position, whatever else you do, I would look into getting at least mild compression socks/stockings - they really do help with the swelling, and keeping the swelling down should help minimize the possibility of the breakdown of your skin over time (it's not built to swell/deflate/swell/deflate and over time you can end up with ulcerated skin). You should also moisturize your feet/legs daily... weirdly enough, edema actually dehydrates the skin, leaving it flaky and more prone to skin problems.
The good news... my edema has improved a lot with my weight loss. I can actually buy "normal" shoes I can wear now. So there's a possibility yours will improve with weight loss too.
Good luck!
