Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with swelling

Am I overreacting to a yellow jacket sting?

fiercecupcake — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:41:13 -0800

Is this yellow jacket sting normal? I have a doctor's appointment for later today. I'm not sure if I'm overreacting. I know my histamine response is! Pics and I had never been stung by anything before. I got stung on the back of the calf on Sunday, mid-morning. That makes today Day 3 (Day 2, Day 1), and the itching is unbearable and there is still a lot of swelling and inflammation. My dad got stung 5 times and his itch, but are getting better. My wife got stung 4 times and hers are almost gone (even one on her thumb). Mine just seems to get worse and worse.

I read this bee sting thread, but I know yellow jackets are supposed to be worse. The swelling extends about 1 inch from the sting site on all sides, and then the inflammation spreads about 6 inches down my leg. What's the worst that can happen? What will the doctor do? Am I better off just taking a bunch of Benadryl and toughing it out, or is my leg gonna fall off?

(Possibly useful information: I'm the girl who gets eaten alive by all bugs, no matter how much DEET I have on, and swell up around the bites and itch for days. I've spent at least half of every recent vacation in a Benadryl haze. Chiggers, mosquitoes, no-see-ums -- they ALL love me!)

What's normal for a bee sting?

bookish — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:24:29 -0800

How much swelling is normal after a bee sting? And is a lot of swelling indicative of anything troublesome? I was stung by a bee on the top of my foot yesterday, near my big toe. It's been gradually swelling and now the whole front half of my foot is swollen, painful and itchy, and it hurts to stand or walk. I had periodic chills after getting stung but they disappeared by yesterday evening.

Is this within the range of "normal" reactions to a bee sting? Some googling turns up advice to see a doctor if the swelling is bigger than several inches, but then elsewhere folks say it's not a big deal, if you don't have hives, a fever, or trouble breathing.

The pain is a bitch but I can deal. What concerns me is that my mother had a deathly bee allergy and once almost died while she was mowing the lawn, and I wander if this is a harbinger of more serious allergic responses in the future. Or am I just being paranoid?

I really would like to avoid the doctor, as I have no insurance and no money. Like, I would have to borrow money to go to the local clinic before my next pay check, or else show up at the ER. And I'm not going to do that if all the doc is going to say is, "Yep, that's a bee sting, take some Benedryl."

My left foot looks inflated.

Kololo — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:13:32 -0800

For four years, I've been dealing with a really puffy foot. My doctor mentioned that it's likely edema. She didn't, however, tell me anything useful about eliminating the swelling. Way back in 2005, i asked a question about this swelling, but at the time I assumed that it was related to an injury, and that it would likely be temporary. I was wrong. It's four years later, and the swelling is as bad as ever.

The swelling is worst in my left leg/foot, but also is slight on my right. It gets puffier throughout the day, and the degree of swelling is pretty variable from day to day, and between the morning and the end of the day. The picture of my foot shows a day when the swelling is pretty bad, which it is about 60% of the time. Days when my feet aren't swollen at all are about 5% of the time.

Compression socks help reduce the swelling for one day after wearing them, but in the heat of the summer this is really unappealing. It's also unreliable - sometimes they puff right back the next day, sometimes they don't. Exercise also deflates my feet, but the effect only lasts a few hours at most. I don't eat a lot of salt.

I want to be able to fit my foot into sandals. I want to wear skirts or shorts or capris without looking like i have a leg of a woman 150 pounds heavier than me. I want my ankle to be narrower than my knee. I will try almost anything might bring down the swelling reliably and regularly - so that i can maintain normal-sized appendages.

Any advice re: medication, alternative therapies, exercises, or other treatments would be very appreciated. (If there's any Toronto-specific advice for doctors or therapists or whatnot, that would be great too.)

Will the real biophysiopathologicoculprit please stand up?

blisskite triplicate — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:12:55 -0800

For the last ten years or so, I've had chronic pain and mild swelling in (what I think are) my parotids, the largest of the salivary glands. However, my docs beg to differ (sometimes with me and often with each other, it seems). Help me figure out what hurts. HISTORY

Over the years, I've consulted a number of doctors about this pain, and, seemingly, no consensus can be reached among them. It would be one thing if the issue was whether or not the pain or swelling was considered medically significant in their opinion, but it seems that the problem receiving the most attention is determining whether or not it's actually my parotid glands that are the site of my complaint at all. Some feel it's simply neck lymph nodes that remain chronically inflamed, and for this there's not much they can do. Others feel it's the parotid glands and refer me along to various specialists. Who invariably state that it's just a couple of swollen lymph nodes. And so on. It's like a giant sinkhole of confusion for me.

What I'd really like to determine is what the site of my discomfort is called, definitively, so that I might visit a specialist who is comfortable diagnosing and treating this particular issue. So far, I seem to be hearing "lymph nodes" from an ENT, an Allergist, and my GP ...and "parotids" from an Immunologist, one Dentist, and another MD. That, and "twisted sphenoid bone" from one Doctor of Oriental Medicine. The parotid folks referred me to the ENT and the Allergist for treatment; the ENT and Allergist feel it's not a parotid/salivary issue but an issue with chronic lymph node inflammation, probably due to immune system/autoimmune disorders (which I have). The doc who believes it's the sphenoid bone is out of the picture because I no longer live near his practice and cannot seek his treatment.

DESCRIPTION OF COMPLAINT

The pain/mild swelling is bilateral, with the locus being exactly behind my earlobes in the "hollows" there, extending about 1 cm inferior to that area, and deep within my neck. The pain is best described as a constant and tiring dull ache that feels best when I'm pressing in on it with significant pressure. At times the pain's hard to ignore, other times it's kind of in the background. Visually, you don't notice the swelling, but it is palpable as a hardness distinct from the surrounding areas of my neck. There is no swelling or pain on my face in the mumps-y area in front of my ears, as seen in this photo of parotid swelling.

VISUAL COMPARISONS

Here's a diagram showing a drawing of the location of the parotid glands. Here's another. And another. Two more. And this one. Lastly, here's a cadaver image of the gland. As you can see from each of the images, the location of the parotid gland may or may not include the area behind the earlobe, depending on the source material. Some medical texts indicate that there is no parotid tissue beneath the earlobe, others seem to indicate there is.

For comparison, here are the approximate locations of lymph nodes of the head and neck. Unless I'm not finding the right images, the spot that bothers me does not appear to be a lymph node.

OK

I know YANMD, etc., but...

Any thoughts as to whether this is likely to be a lymph node issue I'm dealing with or a parotid gland issue, from your own perspective? Any similar experiences? I believe this problem began in earnest around the time I got a whole slew of vaccines I was required to get last minute prior to a year spent living in Asia. I was majorly sick in the weeks leading up to my departure and on and off thereafter.

Suggestions as to what kind of testing I should ask for regardless of what the site of the pain is actually called? I'm kind of at a loss and more than a little frustrated not to have made better headway in figuring out how to deal with this yet.

FYI

I'm in my mid 30s, female, I get sick way too often with frequent sore throats/colds (stupid tonsils), and I've got hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's thyroiditis (autoimmune), fibromyalgia, CFIDS, hypersomnia, among other diagnoses I'm not sure whether to trust (IBD, cyclical Cushings, dysbiosis), and, according to my OMD, "several viruses in your blood." My EBV titers are sometimes wacky; sometimes normal. Haven't had much other viral testing. Other usual bloodwork comes back normal. My C-Reactive Protein test (?) came back high suggesting significant internal inflammation (?).

I've been treated variously with prednisone, flonase, anti-histamines, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories for this complaint over the years to no avail. Acupuncture and herbs for this issue have helped less than I'd hoped, so far. I've been ignoring the pain for the past three years or so, mostly because I wasn't getting anywhere with the various doc visits and the prescribed treatments. Money has also been in short supply at times, making follow up even harder. But I'm really curious and a bit scared about this, since it hasn't gone away or receded at all over the years. Yeah, it's time to figure out what's up.

Thanks for reading this crazy long, involved post.

I guess I look slightly worse than the Elephant Man....

Oriole Adams — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:03:54 -0800

My face is suddenly asymmetrical. Can the medically-inclined members of the Hive Mind give me ideas as to what may be the cause? A little less than a year ago, it occurred to me when looking in the mirror that the left side of my face seemed to be slightly swollen in one area. Even though I've always had a "chubby" face, the right side of my face has a slight indentation between the "apple" of the cheek and the ear. Not so the left side. Just a few millimeters above the left earlobe and forward toward the left cheek "apple" (closer to the ear than to the cheek, though) there is a very slight (but still perceptible) bulge.

I mentioned this to my rheumatologist (who is also my GP) during my most recent appointment last January. She studied my face from a distance and stated "It is asymmetrical." She pressed along the area that appears to be swollen and commented that she couldn't feel any sort of mass there. She then said if it hadn't gone away on its own by my next appointment (June), she'd order either an X-ray or CT scan (I can't remember which) to see if there was "anything in there."

I've had lifelong sinus problems, along with Sjogren's Syndrome (one of the manifestations of my Lupus). The side of my face that is slightly swollen doesn't hurt, per se, but I am *aware* of it, if that makes any sense. If I happen to sleep on my left side for a long period of time, I'll still feel it after several hours after I've awakened and been out of bed. My left ear also often has a "full" sensation, and makes little popping noises (like Rice Krispies). My rheumy has gazed inside that ear and not found anything significant (not even excess wax). The only other "symptom" I can describe is that, after laying for a long time on my left side, I get a subtle but weird taste in my mouth - the best way I can describe it is a sort of baby food fruity taste, if that makes any sense.

Obviously, I'll most likely be undergoing further testing in a few months, but I wonder if anyone has any thoughts as to what this might be. When I press on the swollen area, I don't feel any pain. But, again, I do often feel a sensation of "fullness" on that side of my face. Any chance this could be some sort of sinus-y thing? But then again, what could make the face swell enough to be visibly obvious and yet the doctor can't feel anything when palpating it?

How can I find a competent doctor in MD/DC area?

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:38:09 -0800

I need a new doctor (internist or a general practitioner) who knows what he's doing. I've spent over $500 in doctor visits, meds and testings and I am still sick after 4 weeks. Can you make any doctor recommendations in DC suburbs? (Maryland). For about a month now, I have had a swelling/lump right below my right chin. It's hard and hurts like it's bruised. Along with this, I've been having a fever of 102 on and off, worse at nights.

I went to see a doctor, who I found on a list somewhere cause I didn't have a GP that I go to and he was the only one available the week before Christmas. He said it's some sort of infection and prescribed two meds because the first prescription gave me an allergic reaction, and the second prescription ($150) stopped working after 4 doses out of 10 and my lump has been hurting and is still swollen.

I need to see a different doctor who is able to accommodate those that have to pay out of their own pocket without insurance, and is knowledgeable about their field. I live in Bethesda/Rockville area. I found some postings of doctor recommendations, but they are all not available for at least a week and a half and some are located far from where I am.

In addition, is there anything I can do with the previous doctor? He did offer my second visit for free, but I am really disappointed and annoyed that I am still sick after having spent all the money that he made me run around to take tests for.

This little piggie went OWWWW all the way home

desjardins — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:19:12 -0800

I think I broke my littlest toe. Everything I read online says that basically nothing can be done, so there's no point in going to the doctor, right? This happened about 24 hours ago. It's swollen, bruised, and painful. I buddy-taped it overnight, but it seemed to make it MORE painful this morning. I can handle pain just fine and I have strong (legal) painkillers available if I need them. My life is very sedentary so it will get a lot of rest. My husband is concerned about longer-term complications (he mentioned gangrene, is he full of crap?). This is all his fault anyway because he left the thing on the floor that I walked into.

So, should I see a doctor, should I DTMFA, and do I need a lawyer? :)

But I don't want trout lips..

tomble — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:51:00 -0800

I know you aren't my doctor, but why are my lips swelling up? Last week I experienced some unusual swelling in my upper and lower lips. It started as brief, itchy stabs of minor pain (as best I can describe it), then swelling of the inner lower lip, followed by the same on the top. It went away after a few hours, didn't hurt at all, just kind of itched a bit in a way that made me want to chew my lips.

No other symptoms, no tongue swelling, no redness, just puffy lips.

It's happening again now, oddly enough. I have no known allergies, I have eaten nothing unusual (same as last time), and I haven't been doing anything different or changed any products in my day to day life.

I have had the weird itchy feeling now and again since the first time but it hasn't caused swelling. This sensation is on the outer lip, close to where my lips meet.

It sounds a bit like herpes zoster from what I read, but I've never had a coldsore, and it doesn't have any sores, just this swelling.

I will be going to the doctor, but not in the next couple of days. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

In the meantime I will tell people who ask that I've had collagen injections, just to see if they fall for it.

It's not a wad of gum, what else could it be?

a22lamia — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 05:24:21 -0800

Last night all was fine when I sat down. When I got up twenty minutes later I began to walk and it felt like there was a wad of gum under the ball of my foot. I checked and under the callous at the distal end of my first metatarsal it is visibly swollen. The area is nearly a quarter inch thicker than the same area on my other foot. The area is not painful, but the shear size of it makes me walk funny. I'll go to the Dr. on Monday, but until then, does anyone have any ideas about what it can be? Googling hasn't given me any clues.

Sublingual Grapefruit Seed Extract Incident

pranalaxmi — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:04:00 -0800

I used straight, undiluted Grapefruit Seed Extract under my tongue and now I have sublingual inflammation and a burning sensation on the tip of my tongue like I've sipped tea that is too hot. It all started when I was beginning to feel a potential cold coming on from a dry raspy throat thing. I've put B-12 and zince lozenges under my tongue before without issues. On this occasion, I squeezed a fair amount of GSE under my tongue and chugged some water. Then I had a zinc lozenge or two while watching the Series in my hotel room. I feel like an idiot, because right there on the bottle of the GSE it warns of direct contact irritation if applied to skin or mouth. This seems like an allergic reaction. So far I've heard things like: take a Benedryl and suck on some ice. I'm wondering if my symptoms will worsen or just go away. Advice?

Help us figure it out!

mitzyjalapeno — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:27:55 -0800

Strange swelling on the back of a friend's hand after gardening, with no puncture marks - what could it be? He says it itched last night, but this morning it's just swollen. No bite marks, no itching and it's a little bit red. FWIW, he was gardening in the suburbs of New Orleans in the summer heat and saw a lot of spiders. I tend to think without bite marks, it couldn't be a spider bite, and it also doesn't have that hard callus-type tissue that spider bites tend to cause.

What do you think it could be? Yes, he already has a doctor's appointment scheduled, but if it's something simple, I'm sure he'd rather not spend the money.

How did I get a fat lip?

desjardins — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 08:24:36 -0800

Last night I was at a party and drank too much wine. When I got home I puked and went to bed. Today I woke up with a fat lip. What happened and is it doctor-visit-worthy? My best guess is that I hit my mouth on something and don't remember it. (I remember everything else about the evening, though, so you think I'd recall that.) But it's not bruised at all, and no other part of my face hurts. Plus there would be dried blood if I'd gotten hit - my gums sometimes bleed from normal brushing, so a whack in the face would definitely produce blood. It doesn't hurt, even when touched, but I can feel the pressure of the swelling on my teeth. Only my upper lip on one side is noticeably swollen. My gum directly under that is a little tender. My teeth are not at all affected.

I've never been hit in the face so I don't know how it would feel or look.

I'm female, 32, and I am not a smoker or drug user.

(Note: Drinking that much is a very rare occurence so my question is not "do I have a drinking problem?")

Why did the area just above my eye become swollen (during a hot shower)?

kingtaj — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 13:19:54 -0800

I woke up today with a slightly sore eyelid, then during a hot shower, the area above my eye swelled to a point my eye is halfway shut. What's going on? I don't have any food allergies that I know of, and there was no trauma to my eye that I remember. When I woke up this morning, the area just above my eyelid was sore and very slightly swollen, but not red. During a hot shower, it swelled large very quickly. Since then I have applied ice and the swelling has not gotten worse. What are some possible explanations? Thanks!

Things that bite in the night

t0astie — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:29:07 -0800

What the hell can I ask the doctor for to treat the 75+ insect bites I've just woken up and found myself covered with? Background: I woke up at 3am and found my legs and back literally covered with insect bites. I counted up to 75 before giving up to concentrate on scouring my bedding to find the culprit(s).

I found three very small pale brown bugs with wings. I killed them. Victory! No fresh bites for the last two hours.

But. The bites that were at first small, itchy raised white lumps, like mosquito bites have... developed. Into five cent piece size hives. One spectacularly awful hive near my knee is about 7cm across. They don't itch so much as throb. They're hot to the touch and there's a red rash around them.

I look like something out of a medical journal.

The second it's light, I'm trekking to the hospital.

I'd like to know what the hell I can ask for to make it better - if anything? This is way, way beyond calamine lotion. A previous thread mentions topical sulfadiazine, and I've also heard antihistamines can reduce insect bite swelling.

Should I switch from cold to warm compress on knee?

sherlockt — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 21:27:35 -0800

Is there a time I should switch from cold to warm compresses on a joint injury? Several days ago I tore my ACL while skiing. I went to the emergency room and was instructed to put cold compresses on it for the first two days or so to reduce swelling. The swelling has gone down considerably (and pain is greatly reduced), but the joint is still quite stiff. Would it be helpful to switch to a warm compress to fight the stiffness, or should I continue with cold compresses (or do nothing)? Any advice would be appreciated.

Jammed finger swollen three weeks later

knave — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 10:16:32 -0800

Jammed my thumb playing basketball, does it need an x-ray? The night it happened, after basketball was over, my thumb promptly swelled up to maybe 2x its normal size. The skin was quite tight and it was throbbing steadily. Day two, things started to settle down a bit, the throbbing ended. After a couple days I could pretty much move it normally, except because of the swelling, some range of motion is lost...

Anyway, the injury happened three weeks ago, and my thumb is still about 1.5x as big as its counterpart on the other hand. It's still straight and in no pain, just the swelling has me concerned. Is it normal for swelling to last this long? Also, there is a "sweet spot" on each side of the knuckle, that if I squeeze, I can provoke pain (not much).

Anyway, a visit to the x-ray will cost some money, so if it's not likely broken or fractured, I'd just as soon pass. Thanks!

My eyelid is swelling up but I don't know if it's a Stye or a Chalazion.

shanevsevil — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 12:19:17 -0800

My eyelid is swelling up but I don't know if it's a Stye or a Chalazion. I was driving in my car and felt something against my eyelashes, so I looked in the mirror and there was a little pea sized soft puffy bump on my lower left eyelid. As I watched over the next ten minutes it doubled, then tippled, then quadrupled in size. I almost went straight to a doctor but my friend assured me it was just a stye.

Anyway by evening it had covered most of my lower eyelid, and waking up this morning the swelling seems to have subsided, and it's settled covering the entire lower eyelid and eye socket area.

I plan to go to a doctor, the only doctor available to me is the health clinic at my university and they are quacks who have misdiagnosed me twice before, so I don't have a load of confidence in them and don't like to see them without an opinion as to what I have.

I don't think it's a stye because it's so spread over the eyelid, not red or infected looking at all, and not at all itchy or painful.

From that I would think it was a Chalazion, except those are supposed to be hard and this thing couldn't be more soft.

Have you had one or the other of those problems yet had it match my symptoms? Had something else that matched my simptoms?

If it matters I have also had a nasty cough all week.

Oooh, after that haymaker his eye looks bad!

nekton — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 18:07:49 -0800

What is being used by the cutman to heal your boxer (reduce swelling) in the video game ESPN Fight Night Round 3? In ESPN Fight Night Rd. 3, when you are injured your cutman can heal you between rounds. To reduce swelling, he rubs what looks like some sort of block with a handle against your boxer's face. What is this tool? Is it used to reduce swelling "in real life"?

Reasons/fixes for swollen parotids?

tentacle — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:19:45 -0800

I want my face back! (Swelling of the parotid glands.) Has anyone experienced swelling of the parotid glands (the salivary glands in front of the ears)?

I've had swelling in these glands for nearly 2 years, and I kind of look like the Godfather, or "moon-faced," and it's really getting me down. The swelling becomes worse and less-worse, but it's always present. No pattern that I've been able to detect. I've been to a bunch of specialists (dental, ENT, rheumatology, acupuncture), but no one seems to know what's going on, and there are even fewer ideas for how to make the swelling go away so I can look at myself in the mirror again. Scans and blood tests are all normal-ish; there's just a whole lotta gland tissue (ie, no tumors or stones or other aberrations usually associated with swelling; no sarcoidosis or Sjogren's factors). I feel that it must be something systemic (diet? exercise? food allergy?), but the specialists are all too narrowly focused on their own area of expertise, and when they don't see an obvious cause they just pass me off to some other specialty.

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, any success in dealing with it?

How do I get rid of the aftermath of a minor allergic reaction?

kirstin — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 06:21:42 -0800

What should I do to make swelling and bumps from an allergic reaction to makeup foundation go away? After being made up professionally for the first time all these tiny little bumps showed up on my face where the foundation was applied. Then my cheeks got really hot and started swelling. I have been feeling these symptoms for two days and the only reason why I am in a rush to make them go away is that I will be getting married in two weeks. I have been trying hydrocortizone. Any other recommendations? (This is a fairly minor interaction.. I just want some tips and tricks to make it go away. I will be getting allergy tested soon. I will not be applying the same makeup again!)

My foot looks like a non-hairy paw.

Kololo — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 02:49:37 -0800

What the hell is wrong with my foot? I sprained it very mildly last July, and its still swollen! Last september (three months after the mild sprain) I had my foot both x-rayed and ultrasounded, and neither showed anything wrong. But almost a year later, it is still subtantially swollen (I can't wear my strappy sandals). It doesn't hurt, but when I 'flex' my big toe (ie make a fist with my toes) I do feel a sensation of 'tightness' across the top of my foot.

What the heck is wrong and is this swelling going to be permanent?