swollen legs BELOW the knees

Okay, quick question.

I had my PS (anchor cut tummy tuck w/ lipo of tummy, kitty, hips and thighs PLUS breast augmentation & lift PLUS kitty lift) on 11/19/09. 

My swelling has definately been manageable via support panties.  I have been really swollen some days, but most days not at all. 

The last two days, I have had swelling in my legs (from just below my knees to my ankles). 

Additional information that may be relevant:
I have extreme hypotension and have to take salt tablets daily in addition to salting the bajesus out of my food.  (Per my PCP, it was either do those things or go on steriods for the rest of my life to keep my blood pressure up to normal.  Steriods made my non-existant appetite come back with a vengence, so I quit them and chose salt tablets and heavily salting my food.)  However, this is not something new I just started.  I have been doing this salt therapy for months and will have to continue it probably for the rest of my life. 

Could the PS be causing my blood pressure to rise to normal by itself (thereby causing me to temporarily not need as much salt, thereby causing my salt intake to be TOO MUCH temporarily)?  I don't think it is swelling related to the actual trama of the PS because I didn't have anything done near my knees/ankles.  But who knows? 

Obviously I will call my DR and ask about this tomorrow.  I just thought I'd drop a line on here to see what some of y'all think. 

Thanks

Wen

My lower legs have really swelled after my MTL6 weeks ago. About 4 weeks out I could see that my feet, ankles and lower legs were extremely swollen. Told my Dr. about it and was wonder ing because I've never had cankles before and now I do. Now at 6 weeks, my right leg seems to be more normal but the left one is still swollen. I don't take salt tablets or really salt my food too much and it's still happening. Think its just normal swelling from PS. BTW, I had always had high BP before my RNY now it's normal and even w/ the huge swelling I was at my PCP and my BP was normal.

Sonya

Okay.  I feel better now knowing someone else had cankles too!  LOL.  I don't have cankles - but only because my socks are probably preventing it (they are cutting into my legs and are visibly keeping my feet from swelling I know). 

Well, in general "salting the bajesus" (is that a word?)  out of food will tend to make you retain fluid...everywhere.

The next most likely culprit is the compression garment, which restricts the blood leaving your legs.  This increases the pressure in the veins, causing them to leak fluid, and potentially be more prone to blood clots BTW.

Are you wearing a garment ?  Mayve your PS will let you come out of it, and maybe a lymphatic massage will help.

Since my RNY, for the first time in my life, I am not just not fat - I'm actually THIN.  Since I became thin, my blood pressure has gone REALLY low.  When I say really low, I has been 53 over 40 before.  My PCP has actually double-checked behind his nurse (who double-checked herself before that) because they couldn't believe it.  My PCP even joked with me once that he wanted me to walk around the room a second to make sure I was alive with a BP that low.  He had me tested for Addison's Disease because he thought that maybe my being overweight for much of my life had masked an the disease by the extra weight running my blood pressure up to normal (instead of high as it would most people).  I tested negative for Addison's Disease, but he still made me go on something because my blood pressure was consistently very low.  (He was worried about long-term consequences of low blood pressure - mainly organ failure.)  My choices were 1) steriods or 2) salt tablets plus really salting my food.  I tried the steriods but they made me hungry so I quit them and moved to option 2. 

So even though the oversalting may cause me to retain more fluid, I have to do it to keep my blood pressure up to near normal.  (It's low even with me doing all that - but not DANGEROUSLY low).  Since my legs started swelling though, I have temporarily quit taking the salt tablets (still salting my food like the dickens).  But even that I'm only stopping for a few days to see if it helps.  If it doesn't help fairly quickly, I'll have to start the salt tablets again regardless. 

I can see it maybe being the compression garment.  I have had trouble finding one that seems to fit properly.  I am wearing one now that I bought at Wal-Mart with the top cut out.  My MAIN problem with the garments are not being able to find one that is tight enough right across the bottom of my anchor cut incision but not TOO tight everywhere else.  (That's why I have the top cut on this one I'm wearing now - so I can sit without having my circulation cut off.)  I didn't give much thought to the legs of the garment cutting my circulation off.  It really doesn't FEEL like it is... but I guess it could be?

I don't think I could go out of it.  I went out of it for just an hour tonight to try on a bunch of pants to see which ones I'd need to keep or toss.  I was careful but my tummy still felt tingly and sore when I was done.  And I had had no pain previous to that.  It just did NOT feel right at ALL. 

Hey, while I've got your attention too, I wanted to ask your opinion on something.  I have read that some surgeons and PCPs do not want you to wear compression/support garments for too long because it can actually cause your stomach muscles to weaken.  Do YOU support that line of thinking?  Why or why not?  (I have read that many DRs feel this way not only about PS post-ops, but about non-ops who have never had PS.) 

Thanks

Wen