YANMD: Weird body swelling?
January 17, 2011 6:44 AM Subscribe
YANMD Filter - weird body swelling? What the heck?
YANMD, I know, but I've been experiencing this weird body swelling for the past week and was wondering if anyone could shed any light on this.
For the past week, when I wake up in the morning, my fingers, hands, wrists, sometimes feet/ankles (but mostly hands), chin and face are all puffed up and swollen. It's not painful, but it's just bizarre and annoying. My hands and wrists get it the worst, to the point where my rings and watch don't fit. The swelling in my face and feet seems to go down in a few hours after I'm up and about, but the swelling in my hands and wrists lasts for -hours- or even all day.
A few background notes:
- 30 y/o female, no heath problems, no medications.
- I exercise regularly so nothing has changed there. I'm a very avid runner, and running seems to help the swelling (although my hands tend to swell while running, but this is common for a lot of runners).
- I'm not adding any salt to my diet and am not consuming excessive amounts of salt.
- I don't have any blood pressure problems/history.
- I have been experimenting with a low carb diet, but have been doing fine on it. At first my running was suffereing a little during the transition, but now I'm feeling great. So, essentially I'm low carbing and haven't been eating anything processed.
- Sleep is fine.
- Have not been drinking alcohol; I think my last drink was about 2 weeks ago.
- Caffiene intake hasn't changed; drink my usual 1-3 cups of black coffee in the morning and that's it.
- No dairy.
- Well-hydrated daily.
- "Plumbing" seems to be working fine.
The other bizarre thing too is that when I first started this diet I went from 149 pounds to 141 pounds in a week or so. Now, 7 days later I went from 141 pounds to 154 pounds!? How the heck can this be? I haven't changed or started eating anything new and I can't think of any hidden sources of carbohydrate. I'm not omitting all carbs.
Should I be really concerned? I'm worried that I'm *gaining* weight on this diet, where everything I've been reading says I should be losing. My goal with this diet is to get down to 130, which is my racing weight. I can't find anything about gaining weight though and I'm getting frustrated. What can I do to get rid of the swelling?
Any insight is greatly appreciated.
YANMD, I know, but I've been experiencing this weird body swelling for the past week and was wondering if anyone could shed any light on this.
For the past week, when I wake up in the morning, my fingers, hands, wrists, sometimes feet/ankles (but mostly hands), chin and face are all puffed up and swollen. It's not painful, but it's just bizarre and annoying. My hands and wrists get it the worst, to the point where my rings and watch don't fit. The swelling in my face and feet seems to go down in a few hours after I'm up and about, but the swelling in my hands and wrists lasts for -hours- or even all day.
A few background notes:
- 30 y/o female, no heath problems, no medications.
- I exercise regularly so nothing has changed there. I'm a very avid runner, and running seems to help the swelling (although my hands tend to swell while running, but this is common for a lot of runners).
- I'm not adding any salt to my diet and am not consuming excessive amounts of salt.
- I don't have any blood pressure problems/history.
- I have been experimenting with a low carb diet, but have been doing fine on it. At first my running was suffereing a little during the transition, but now I'm feeling great. So, essentially I'm low carbing and haven't been eating anything processed.
- Sleep is fine.
- Have not been drinking alcohol; I think my last drink was about 2 weeks ago.
- Caffiene intake hasn't changed; drink my usual 1-3 cups of black coffee in the morning and that's it.
- No dairy.
- Well-hydrated daily.
- "Plumbing" seems to be working fine.
The other bizarre thing too is that when I first started this diet I went from 149 pounds to 141 pounds in a week or so. Now, 7 days later I went from 141 pounds to 154 pounds!? How the heck can this be? I haven't changed or started eating anything new and I can't think of any hidden sources of carbohydrate. I'm not omitting all carbs.
Should I be really concerned? I'm worried that I'm *gaining* weight on this diet, where everything I've been reading says I should be losing. My goal with this diet is to get down to 130, which is my racing weight. I can't find anything about gaining weight though and I'm getting frustrated. What can I do to get rid of the swelling?
Any insight is greatly appreciated.
Unexplained edema (or a very similar symptom) - particularly something in the context of 10+ pounds of unexplained weight gain in a week - is a very good reason to talk to your physician.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:47 AM on January 17, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 6:47 AM on January 17, 2011 [6 favorites]
How much alcohol were you drinking before that last one 2 weeks ago? I only ask because I've noticed the same thing when I go for a few weeks without imbibing after months of drinking frequently.
posted by metricfuture at 7:08 AM on January 17, 2011
posted by metricfuture at 7:08 AM on January 17, 2011
Response by poster: Alcohol consumption was just social; maybe 3-4 drinks 1-2 nights a week.
posted by floweredfish at 7:13 AM on January 17, 2011
posted by floweredfish at 7:13 AM on January 17, 2011
This is unusual. Make an appointment. If you have a good relationship with your doctor you may be able to save time by calling to see if you can get some lab work done before your appt. A CBC and urinalysis would give the dr some data to work with for diagnosis.
posted by toastedbeagle at 7:23 AM on January 17, 2011
posted by toastedbeagle at 7:23 AM on January 17, 2011
Go to the doctor.
Not to freak you out, but this happened to my mom and it was an indication of a rather serious problem with her heart.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 8:42 AM on January 17, 2011
Not to freak you out, but this happened to my mom and it was an indication of a rather serious problem with her heart.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 8:42 AM on January 17, 2011
Definitely go to the doctor. You are not "gaining weight" in the standard sense of extra fat or even muscle, it is literally water weight. All that swelling is extra water, and 10 lbs in 2 weeks is a major difference. There are a variety of reasons why this could be happening, and (not to freak you out, but it's true), some of them are very serious. You need to see a doctor.
posted by vytae at 9:01 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by vytae at 9:01 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm in healthcare. Unintended weight gain or loss in the time and amount you are speaking of is a medical concern. Coupled with the edema (and I don't like that you're having facial edema vs. a more simple dependent edema) should compel you to make the first available appointment with your provider.
Make sure your provider knows you are regularly weighing in (so that he/she understands you do know your baseline), explain time frames, your exercise level, how many days/week and for how long you've noticed the edema. Your diet and how you are working it is not a typical contributing factor to your symptoms.
Take good care, and going in is the right move at this point, after a week of these symptoms. Certainly, since it sounds like you've both begun a diet and these symptoms in a relatively short time frame this could result in a benign diagnosis, but listen to your own concern about your body, which motivated you to reach out to the mefi community about it.
posted by rumposinc at 9:18 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
Make sure your provider knows you are regularly weighing in (so that he/she understands you do know your baseline), explain time frames, your exercise level, how many days/week and for how long you've noticed the edema. Your diet and how you are working it is not a typical contributing factor to your symptoms.
Take good care, and going in is the right move at this point, after a week of these symptoms. Certainly, since it sounds like you've both begun a diet and these symptoms in a relatively short time frame this could result in a benign diagnosis, but listen to your own concern about your body, which motivated you to reach out to the mefi community about it.
posted by rumposinc at 9:18 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
Nthing that it's water weight, and that this is concerning. Have you checked your blood pressure since this began? When I was pregnant and they were chronicling my blood pressure, any weight gain more than 3 pounds in a week was concerning, and this was counting the fact that I was growing a person. Facial edema was given as a reason to urgently page my midwife. You really, REALLY need to be evaluated by a medical professional, like in the next 48 hours, sooner if it's getting worse.
posted by KathrynT at 9:40 AM on January 17, 2011
posted by KathrynT at 9:40 AM on January 17, 2011
I'm not a healthcare professional. Go to the doctor. My wife has an autoimmune condition that answers the daily "why is my knuckle/ankle/knee/eye/face swollen?" questions.
posted by mnology at 10:11 AM on January 17, 2011
posted by mnology at 10:11 AM on January 17, 2011
I am not a doctor, but nth that edema on the level you are experiencing means you need to see your doctor asap.
I do have one question - have you upped your meat/protein intake considerably when you started the low carb diet? That can be hard on the kidneys, and edema can be a symptom of kidney issues.
posted by gudrun at 11:23 AM on January 17, 2011
I do have one question - have you upped your meat/protein intake considerably when you started the low carb diet? That can be hard on the kidneys, and edema can be a symptom of kidney issues.
posted by gudrun at 11:23 AM on January 17, 2011
RN chiming in here- you can't solve this yourself, but it doesn't mean it's something horrible. Call your MD today. You need lab work.
posted by puddinghead at 12:19 PM on January 17, 2011
posted by puddinghead at 12:19 PM on January 17, 2011
Could you drop back in at some point and let us know how you're doing? I hope you've made it in to see the doctor and everything's ok.
posted by vytae at 3:26 PM on January 21, 2011
posted by vytae at 3:26 PM on January 21, 2011
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posted by floweredfish at 6:47 AM on January 17, 2011