Don’t know if this is good or bad?

February 24, 2024 6:17 PM

For such a long time, 20+years, my ankles/lower legs and feet would swell every day. For so many reasons (don’t even ask!) I never got it checked out, just accepted it as a thing. I’m now a 61 year old woman. Suddenly, since about a year or so ago, this doesn’t happen anymore. I haven’t changed anything about my lifestyle at all, and I’m not on any medication either now or in the past.

Believe me when I say it’s very, very difficult to google non-symptoms or disappearing symptoms! I’m simply curious as to why this might have happened, anyone have any ideas?

posted by Samarium to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

Edema is usually something that happens more with age, not less. I know you say you haven't changed your lifestyle at all, but is there any chance you are sitting or standing less, moving more frequently or are eating less salt?
posted by ssg at 8:21 PM on February 24 [2 favorites]

Best answer: In my last job [ever] I was required to teach Human Physiology, so I learned a lot about homeostasis. We normally maintain core body temp, blood pressure, insulin levels, etc etc within quite narrow boundaries, through the day, through the week, through life. Often a belt-and-braces approach with redundant [endocrine, kidney, smooth muscle, thirst] systems is used. BP can be increased by constricting blood vessels; by increasing heart rate; by increasing heart output; by water retention etc. When one system slows down or fails, there is thus back up to keep key physiological parameters between set points. Getting older is about losing responsiveness in one or other of these parallel systems so the swings get less fine-tuned and a bit desperate.

Eyesight is one example, some youthful vision defects can compensate as the eyeballs age. John "A Beautiful Mind" Nash, the game-theorist, was "crazy" for much of his adult life. He was convinced that he thought himself well as his endocrine equilibrium changed with age. “I emerged from irrational thinking, ultimately, without medicine other than the natural hormonal changes of aging”.

Huge fluctuations in lower-limb oedema are not normal. A working hypothesis might be that whatever was causing the daily tides has been switched off because the hormone which was driving it has retired. I defer to anyone who knows what they're talking about!
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:49 AM on February 25 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Menopause! Sounds like maybe menopause or perimenopause causing hormone fluctuations leading to edema, that has now come to the end. Congrats!
posted by Toddles at 3:46 AM on February 25 [4 favorites]

Is it possible that rather than the swelling magically going away, your legs are actually swollen all the time now? It is easier to see that your legs are swelling if they change and look puffy at the end of the day then skinny in the morning; when they are swollen all the time, people often get used to it and think it's normal.

I ask because I am a doctor and I ask every one of my patients every time I see them if their legs are swollen, and often people who tell me "no" actually do have swollen legs when I examine them. I say, "Is this normal for you?" and they say "Yes, that's not swollen."
posted by telegraph at 12:39 PM on February 25 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: telegraph, no, my legs are definitely not swollen anymore! Boots fit so much better now that have not in the past, and my ankles have definitely gone from almost always swollen to very, very much skinnier. Shoes that were snug are now way too big!

Thanks, everyone, for your answers. I’m not worried; just curious
posted by Samarium at 6:05 PM on February 25

I'm not a doctor. For what it's worth my mother has Chronic Kidney Disease and when it is being managed well her ankle oedema is nonexistent; but when it is not being managed well her ankles swell up. Have you had your kidney function tested?
posted by unicorn chaser at 1:52 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]