Swelling of the legs is not such a rare phenomenon. There are many reasons why swelling may appear in the lower extremities. This is the first sign of heart failure, or there are problems with the thyroid gland. But besides this, swelling can be caused by excessive fluid intake, kidney problems, pregnancy, vascular problems, fatigue in the legs, and, of course, heat. We will talk about the last reason - heat.
To understand how high air temperatures can affect the condition of the legs, let’s remember the anatomical structure of a person. All tissues of the human body are supplied with oxygen through blood circulation. Blood flows into the lower extremities due to the increased work of the heart, and blood returns back due to the special structure of the veins of the legs: the veins have valves that push blood towards the heart. This is called peripheral circulation. When the air temperature becomes high, the circulatory system begins to operate in a mode that prevents the body from overheating.
Overheating of the legs is prevented due to the ability of blood vessels to expand. But dilated veins cannot fully carry out the outflow of blood. This causes swelling of the legs.
In addition, in the heat, sweating always increases, and along with sweat, the salts that the veins need leave the body. After all, it is salts that are able to “draw” blood from tissues, and therefore, the lack of sufficient salts leads to swelling of the legs.
According to many medical experts, swelling in the heat is a natural phenomenon to some extent. After all, swelling of the lower extremities, which appears precisely from high air temperatures, does not require the intervention of doctors and goes away on its own. But, nevertheless, swelling of the legs in the heat should not be ignored. After all, their presence indicates a violation of water-salt metabolism in the body, as well as disturbances in blood circulation. It happens that there is more swelling on one leg than on the other. This is explained by problems with the veins in the leg where the swelling is larger. There is no need to sound the alarm. But if swelling does not go away after a number of measures taken - massages, compresses, long rest - you should seek help from a specialist. You may need to consult specialists such as a nephrologist, cardiologist, or urologist.
With the onset of hot summer, people suffering from leg swelling in the heat begin to worry about questions: how to make their life comfortable at this time and, if possible, avoid the appearance of swelling. The following can be done as a preventive measure:
At the end of a hot day, you need to lie down with your legs up, remaining in this position for at least 15 minutes
Twice a day - morning and evening - you should take a contrast shower; In this case, special attention must be paid to the legs. It is a contrast shower that can improve blood circulation and harden blood vessels
Completely exclude salty, spicy, smoked foods from your diet during hot periods; it increases thirst and prevents fluid from leaving the body in a timely manner
It is necessary to establish a drinking regime; drink at least three liters of water on a hot day; Natural juices, fruit drinks, compotes are allowed. Drinks such as lemonade and soda are excluded. This will improve the electrolyte balance in your body.
The ideal way to avoid the appearance of edema is water aerobics in sea water; it does not put stress on the veins and they do not dilate.
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Before you decide to relieve swelling with the help of medications, you should try to cope with this problem in gentle ways. You can do the following exercises:
Press your heel to the floor and try to raise your toes as high as possible. The exercise can be performed both from a standing position and from a lying position. A few minutes are enough and you will feel relief in your legs.
Walk on tiptoes for a couple of minutes
Place a pencil on the floor and try to grab it with your toes
Spread your toes as far as possible
Rotate your feet in both directions alternately.
If it is not possible to relieve swelling of the legs by all available methods, except for medications, there is a need to use traditional medicine. There are many ointments and gels that work great for swollen feet, but consult your doctor before using them. After all, legs can swell not only due to heat, but also due to serious diseases of the heart, kidneys or liver. And the fact that swelling appeared in the heat may be a mere coincidence. The main thing is to know the exact cause so that the treatment is effective and does not worsen the situation.
Gels and ointments offered by pharmacies contain mainly rutin and heparin. Among the many names, the following can be distinguished:
In addition to the analgesic effect, they have a cooling effect, which helps improve blood circulation, eliminate microthrombi, strengthen blood vessels and even treat inflammation. But swelling cannot always be dealt with with ointments and gels. They usually produce a temporary effect.
In the arsenal of traditional medicine there are many ways to treat swelling of the legs that appear in hot weather. But before using them, it is necessary to obtain the approval of a doctor to ensure that there are no contraindications to the use of such treatments. Traditional medicine offers us:
Baths with different compositions, for example:
Diuretics. They help remove all excess fluid from the body, but only excess fluid, without dehydrating the body.
Rubbing. You can rub with the prepared mixture: chop one head of garlic, pour a glass of water into it and let it brew for an hour. Strain the resulting infusion and rub the resulting mixture onto the swelling areas.
Massage is one of the most effective methods. It is usually made with ice cubes from herbal decoctions.
If swelling in the legs appears during the heat, you should not hope that everything will go away on its own. Help your body gently get rid of swelling in your legs by choosing from all the proposed methods the one that best suits you.
Author of the article: Nina Vladimirovna Sokolova, naturopathic doctor, herbalist
Edema of the legs is an overflow of the cells and intercellular space of the muscle tissue of the legs with fluid. Such pathological changes most often affect the distal segments of the lower extremities - the lower leg and foot. This phenomenon is associated with the highest functional load, which is performed by a person’s feet and legs.
Sometimes severe swelling occurs due to a fall or injury to the lower limb. This situation requires the immediate participation of a medical professional who can make the correct diagnosis and provide first aid. If a person who has been injured experiences severe pain even with slight movement.
Often in the evening, adults discover an unpleasant symptom. These are swollen feet. When swelling occurs, you immediately feel a feeling of heaviness in your legs. Even small feet turn into something like bedside tables. It happens that this disease does not cause pain symptoms - at least at the initial stage.
Traditional medicine offers such an effective method of combating swelling of the legs: 1 teaspoon of blue cornflower should be poured into 250 grams. boiling water and let it brew for 8-9 hours. The color of the infusion has a yellow-brown tint, depending on the freshness of the raw materials (young inflorescences give a more saturated shade).
Legs swell. Many women first encounter this problem during pregnancy, but the problem does not always go away with the birth of a child - there are often cases when it remains for many years. Mostly the ankles and feet swell because fluid accumulates in these tissues - this is easy to determine if you press on the swollen area with your finger, then remove it, and the depression will remain for some time. The legs swell especially strongly in the heat, and this has its own physiological explanation. However, swelling of the legs can indicate a number of diseases.
The causes of swelling of the legs can be a wide variety of diseases, including venous diseases, such as varicose veins, thrombophlebitis and phlebothrombosis. In these cases, intracapillary pressure increases, and the outflow of blood from the ankles is disrupted. As a result, swelling develops on the affected leg, which is often accompanied by pain and even redness of the skin.
Another cause of leg swelling is heart failure. As a result of cardiac dysfunction, a lot of fluid accumulates in the tissues of the legs.
There are also a number of serious diseases that can cause swelling of the legs. These include lung diseases, bronchial asthma, cardiac dysfunction, blood stagnation, increased venous pressure, and, of course, kidney and liver diseases. In the latter case, fluid first accumulates in the abdomen - this phenomenon is called ascites, and after this the swelling spreads to the legs.
Of course, first of all you need to consult a doctor. It is important to find out why fluid accumulates in tissues. If this is due to certain diseases, then it is necessary to think through and begin treatment of the underlying disease.
You will be prescribed an examination not only of your legs, but also of your heart, lungs, kidneys and liver, you will need to take tests for protein determination and others. If necessary, your doctor will prescribe diuretics, which are diuretics. You can take diuretics only on the recommendation of a doctor and strictly in accordance with the dosage regimen developed by the doctor.
In no case should you take diuretics on your own, since, along with their effect, diuretics also have many side effects that may be incompatible with a number of your diseases. So, for example, by flushing potassium from the body, diuretics cause damage to your heart, the normal functioning of which depends on the potassium content in the body. And even with a healthy heart, while taking diuretics, it is important to introduce foods rich in potassium into your diet - zucchini, watermelon, pumpkin, apricots and dried apricots, raisins, as well as milk.
Often the cause of swelling of the legs is an injury to the ankle joint - the leg swells when there is a fracture, but it can also become very swollen when the ligaments are torn or sprained. If the bones of the ankle joint are broken, the leg will swell even less than, for example, with a sprain. But with this nature of the edema, a black-blue spot often appears, indicating a hematoma or hemorrhage.
In this case, it is necessary to apply ice to the leg, ensuring its immobility - if there is no fracture, then you can do without a cast. It is important to immediately consult a doctor so that he can determine the presence or absence of a fracture. The injured leg must be kept elevated.
There are some steps you can take on your own to reduce fluid retention. The first thing to do is to reduce the amount of salt you consume, because it retains fluid in the body. You can follow a salt-free diet and also reduce the amount of fluid you consume.
To reduce swelling, it is recommended to lie down with your legs higher than your heart, that is, place one or two pillows under them. Give up knee socks and stockings with elastic bands, try not to stand or sit for a long time, and if you still have to stand or sit for a long time, then from time to time you need to move your toes, giving your muscles work.
There are special stockings that, due to their elasticity, reduce swelling of the legs.
Traditional medicine offers several recipes to reduce swelling of the legs. Thus, it is recommended to take warm baths in the evenings, to which an infusion of medicinal herbs is added - horsetail, chamomile and sage. A mixture of medicinal herbs (100 g) is poured with a liter of boiling water. Then you need to simmer for a quarter of an hour over low heat and leave to infuse for forty-five minutes.
Then the infusion should be filtered, diluted with water, adding another three to four liters, and added to foot baths. It happens that your feet not only swell, but also literally burn from tight shoes, fatigue, and overexertion. In this case, you can’t think of a better remedy than a foot bath with the addition of black elderberry flowers.
Ice is often applied to sore and swollen legs, but ice can also be made using herbal infusions, and then a double effect will be achieved. For infusion, you can take chamomile, cornflower, yarrow, sage.
If your legs are swollen, be sure to massage your feet daily. To do this, take a dry, hard towel and rub your feet with it, starting from the toes, moving upward. When massaging your foot, use maximum effort. Special brushes are used for massage. After the massage, your feet should be lubricated with oil or a special cream.
A mixture of salt and olive oil, which is rubbed on the feet, helps well not only against swelling, but also against fatigue and burning. In the same way, you can rub your feet with a mixture of lemon juice and half-and-half vegetable oil.
Wheat bran is used for compresses to soften rough skin on the legs. For such compresses, the bran is diluted with warm milk and mixed into a paste. The mixture is applied to the feet and left until it dries. After the compress, wash your feet with warm water and then lubricate them with cream.
The listed methods are not suitable in cases where swelling of the legs occurs due to thrombophlebitis or diseases of the leg veins, since with such diagnoses it is not recommended to steam the legs and rub them.
“Hello, my favorite women's site. My name is Alina, I am 29 years old and, like you, I am beautiful and successful. I have never complained about my health, but my legs often swell in the heat .
I would like to know why this happens, whether “summer” swelling of the legs is an alarming symptom and how to make sure that in the summer heat my legs are not the subject of sympathetic glances from others. I hope that sympaty.net will not ignore my letter and will tell you in detail about everything related to swelling of the legs in the heat.”
completely healthy people's legs swell Unfortunately, it is women who most often suffer from this problem. Many of them think that leg swelling is a consequence of excessive fluid intake, but in fact, there are many more causes of leg swelling and most of them are not so harmless.
The causes of swelling can be both medical and non-medical.
The first group of reasons includes the following:
Medical causes of leg swelling require mandatory examination and treatment.
But non-medical reasons for swollen legs include:
In order to understand how heat affects swelling of the legs, you should remember the school anatomy course. During blood circulation, all tissues of the human body are saturated with oxygen. Through the efforts of the heart muscle, blood flows to the lower extremities.
Blood flows back from the extremities due to the special structure of the veins. The valves in them seem to push the blood towards the heart. This process is normal peripheral circulation.
In hot weather, blood circulation changes in such a way as to prevent the body from overheating.
This happens due to the expansion of blood vessels, and the veins that have expanded under the influence of heat no longer carry out the outflow of blood so well, which leads to the fact that the legs often swell in the heat.
In addition, in the heat, increased sweating , and along with sweat, the body “leave” the salts that are so necessary for the veins. The fact is that salts help the veins “pull” blood from the tissues, and a sharp decrease in their amount as a result of intense sweating leads to stagnation of blood in the extremities.
So, it’s clear why your legs swell in the heat. Now you need to figure out whether “summer” swelling of the legs is an alarming signal.
Experts say that swelling of the lower extremities, provoked by high air temperatures, is not only not a dangerous phenomenon, but also quite natural. After a certain period of time, these types of leg swelling disappear on their own, and therefore do not require medical attention or any specific treatment.
However, it is still worth worrying about the fact that your legs swell in the heat, because stagnation of fluid in the tissues is evidence that there is a violation of blood circulation and water-salt metabolism in the body.
You should not be alarmed by the uneven swelling of your legs in the heat, when the swelling on one limb is more pronounced than on the other. This phenomenon can be explained by the condition of the veins in the legs (for example, varicose veins), and it is also considered a normal variant.
Swelling of the legs will be a serious cause for concern only if, even after the measures taken (massage, rest, compress), it persists for a long time and is accompanied by a number of other symptoms (pain, redness, swelling of other parts of the body).
And here sympaty.net strongly recommends asking experts why your legs swell in the heat. You may need to consult a therapist, phlebologist, nephrologist or cardiologist.
With the onset of summer, many people are concerned about the question of how to survive the heat (by the way, the site “Beautiful and Successful” has an answer to this question), and in many ways this also applies to the problem of swelling of the legs.
So, it is quite possible to protect your legs from swelling in the heat; to do this, you just need to adhere to the following rules:
Active activities such as swimming and water aerobics will also help avoid swelling in the summer heat.
For those whose legs swell in the heat, water aerobics is a real salvation.
They are useful because the body receives good physical activity, and water, putting pressure on the whole body, prevents the vessels from expanding, which means that the legs do not swell. Swimming is useful for the same reason; it is especially good to swim in sea water.
All dynamic sports are also indicated in the fight against edema (of course, in the absence of medical contraindications).
If preventive measures do not help and your legs still swell in the heat, try doing a few simple but effective exercises.
Ointments and gels against swelling of the legs should be used if the swelling of the legs cannot be relieved in other ways (massage, exercises, rest).
However, before using them, you should visit a doctor and make sure that your legs swell in the heat, and not because of kidney, liver or heart diseases. Otherwise, such drugs will not only be useless, but may also make you feel worse.
Pharmacies offer many different gels based on rutin and heparin.
Widely known heparin ointment, troxevasin, lyoton gel, essaven gel, etc. have a good cooling and analgesic effect, improve blood circulation, strengthen the walls of blood vessels in the lower extremities, eliminate microthrombi and even have an anti-inflammatory effect.
But if your feet swell in the heat, you shouldn’t hope that the gel you bought will eliminate the swelling of your feet once and for all. Such drugs only temporarily solve the problem, as they do not have a pronounced therapeutic effect.
Before using any of the listed medications, you should definitely consult your doctor!
It is impossible not to talk about the treatment of swelling of the legs in the heat, which is offered by traditional medicine, because in its arsenal there are many means to eliminate swelling of the legs. However, before you start using all kinds of decoctions, lotions and rubs, you need to make sure that you have no contraindications for “home” treatment for leg swelling in the heat. The best way to do this is to see a doctor.
Attention: any baths have a number of contraindications - consult your doctor before use!
If your legs swell in extreme heat, your body needs help getting rid of excess fluid. For this, it is good to use decoctions of linden flowers, birch leaves and buds, an infusion of berries and elderberry bark, and horsetail extract.
Pour 200 ml of boiling water over the crushed head of garlic, leave, cool and strain. Rub the pulp onto the swollen areas, rinse with cool water after half an hour.
In a 1:2 ratio, combine turpentine with heated castor oil and rub the swollen legs. Afterwards, put cotton socks on your feet (compression socks are possible).
It is performed with kneading movements, starting from the big toe, along the shin to the knee and to the thigh. A massage with ice cubes will also help relieve fatigue and swelling .
People often experience swelling in their legs. The causes of swelling of the lower extremities are known: drinking copious amounts of liquid, working on the legs, impaired kidney function, climatic conditions, a consequence of women’s habit of crossing their legs, swelling of the legs in pregnant women, etc.
Heat climatic conditions greatly affect the functioning of the body. To understand why your legs swell so much in the heat, think about the structure of the human body. The primary function of the body in hot weather is cooling. The body cools itself by releasing excess fluid - sweat. The more fluid a person consumes, the more is excreted through the skin.
When the weather is hot outside, the body produces copious amounts of sweat. Often, even a healthy body cannot cope with the volumetric amount of liquid. As a result, edema may appear; the heart and kidneys cannot bear the excess load.
Doctors believe that swelling in hot weather is a natural process and does not pose a danger. They appear due to climatic conditions and do not require special treatment. But it is necessary to observe the process. After all, the result of edema is a violation of the salt balance of the body and blood circulation.
There are cases when the size of swelling in the lower extremities differs. The reasons are known - the veins in the leg with greater swelling are characterized by a violation of their proper functioning. This is not dangerous; after taking simple measures, the swelling goes away. If the swelling does not go away after a course of massage, rest, and redness and pain occur in the areas where the swelling appears, you need to consult a doctor.
If your legs swell in the heat, consider the rules to help avoid violations:
Physical activity will help combat dysfunction of the body. Exercises in water are better suited. The usefulness of activity lies in the fact that water puts pressure on the body and at the same time prevents blood vessels from expanding. This prevents the appearance of edema. If you choose water aerobics and swimming, leg swelling in the heat will disappear easily.
Dynamic activity has a positive effect on the functioning of the body. These methods will help to avoid swelling even in pregnant women, if there are no medical contraindications. Exercising is a proven way to avoid swelling.
According to statistics, swelling of the legs is more common in women. They succumb to trends and fashion by choosing the wrong shoes. As a result, by the end of the working day, swelling appears on the legs. The correct choice of orthopedic shoes will reduce the likelihood of swelling in the feet.
If you follow the known rules, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of edema.
Before dealing with edema with medications, try to get rid of it in simple ways:
It is possible to get rid of edema with the help of traditional medicine. Before starting any procedures, consult your doctor. Baths are used: with sea or table salt, dry mustard, pine needle extract. Foot rubs are useful. If the cause of swelling is varicose veins, taking hot baths is strictly prohibited.
If there is no effect, consult a doctor to prescribe medication treatment.
Plants are effective in treating diseases. The fight against swelling in the legs is no exception. The only nuance of such prevention is swelling in pregnant women, personal intolerance to fruits and vegetables, and an allergic reaction. For pregnant women, you will need to consult a doctor before herbal medicine, there are likely chances of treatment with medications.
If swelling occurs, eat vegetables and fruits with diuretic properties: strawberries, watermelon, cranberries, lingonberries, juniper. Vegetables with similar properties are zucchini and cucumber. Include leafy vegetables in your diet: dill, lettuce, cumin, parsley, green onions - these foods normalize the functioning of the kidneys and heart. Vegetables and fruits are useful in getting rid of edema and improving the condition of the body. Herbal infusions are useful.
Pay special attention to swelling of the legs in pregnant women. The reasons are health status, changes in the functioning of internal organs and hot weather.
If swelling occurs due to problems with the functioning of organs, treatment is carried out under the watchful supervision of a gynecologist.
For pregnant women suffering from swelling in the legs, a special diet and control of fluid intake are recommended. You cannot limit yourself to water; you need to pay attention to the correct selection of drinks. Remove coffee drinks and black tea from your diet. Eat diuretic vegetables, fruits, leafy vegetables. If there are no contraindications, physical activity is necessary, you should perform the exercises listed above.
If, despite your efforts, there is no result, it is recommended to seek help from a doctor.
Why do my feet swell in the heat? The thing is that swelling of the legs is a consequence of the accumulation of excess fluid in the body. In the summer, because of the heat, people try to drink a lot and sweat often, which results in an imbalance in the water-salt balance in the body. This is especially noticeable in the afternoon, when swelling manifests itself at its maximum. In women, swelling of the legs often causes panic, since, unlike men, they are more inclined to take care of their body and maintain beauty.
Why do my legs swell? Among the most common reasons why women's feet swell in the heat are overwork, keeping their feet in an unnatural position for a long time, tight shoes, pregnancy, and sun allergies. In some cases, when exposed to the sun for a long time, swelling may appear after tanning. Also, swelling may be the result of certain diseases in women, and not the hot summer. The most common reasons are listed below.
Legs swell in the heat quite often, and if you suspect any disturbances in the functioning of the body, for example swelling of the fingers, face, body, consult a doctor who will examine you and prescribe appropriate treatment.
If your legs are swollen in the summer, but this is not accompanied by alarming symptoms, such as sharp pain, bulging veins, tingling in the kidneys or heart, then the problem can be dealt with using certain simple methods:
Swelling can also be reduced with the help of medications. They usually come in the form of ointments and gels, which are sold in pharmacies without a prescription.
They are allowed to be used if the legs are very swollen precisely because of the heat, and not because of any disease. The most common of them: Heparin, Troxerutin, Lyoton-gel. These drugs stimulate blood circulation, help increase muscle tone, and relieve swelling well. But it is better to prevent this by adhering to preventive measures.
You can successfully prevent leg swelling in the heat by following some rules:
If your legs hurt due to swelling, you may need to change your diet and add foods that have diuretic properties. Drinking ginger, green tea, watermelon, grape or apple juice will help remove excess fluid from the body more quickly.
Diuretics are not recommended to be used without consulting a doctor, as they put a strain on the kidneys.
Traditional methods of relieving puffiness have proven themselves to be quite good.
Birch tea. Tea brewed with birch buds has good diuretic properties. To prepare one serving you need 1 tbsp. l. birch buds pour 1 tbsp. boiling water Drink in small sips for 2 days.
Cornflower decoction. In order to relieve swelling, you need to pour 1 teaspoon of cornflower flowers into 200 g of boiling water and let it brew. The decoction is ready. Drink 1 tbsp. l. 3 times a day before meals.
A decoction of flax seeds. 1 tsp. flaxseed pour a liter of boiling water. Boil over low heat for 15 minutes. Cover the dish with a lid and let it brew in a warm place. You need to drink the decoction warm, every 2 hours, 0.5 tbsp. You need to consume 6-8 times a day. And so on for 2 weeks, depending on the result.
It is better to consult a specialist about why your legs swell in your particular case. He will also be able to prescribe the most appropriate treatment.
Swelling of the legs is not such a rare phenomenon. There are many reasons why swelling may appear in the lower extremities. This is the first sign of heart failure, or there are problems with the thyroid gland. But besides this, swelling can be caused by excessive fluid intake, kidney problems, pregnancy, vascular problems, leg fatigue, and, of course, heat. So, why do your feet swell in the heat? We asked a specialist about this - gastroenterologist and therapist Natalia Viktorovna DYNNIK.
— To understand how high air temperature can affect the condition of the legs, let’s remember the anatomical structure of a person. All tissues of the human body are supplied with oxygen through blood circulation. Blood flows into the lower extremities due to the increased work of the heart, and blood returns back due to the special structure of the veins of the legs: the veins have valves that push blood towards the heart. This is called peripheral circulation. When the air temperature becomes high, the circulatory system begins to operate in a mode that prevents the body from overheating. Overheating of the legs is prevented due to the ability of blood vessels to expand. But dilated veins cannot fully carry out the outflow of blood. This causes swelling of the legs.
In addition, in the heat, sweating always increases, and along with sweat, the salts that the veins need leave the body. After all, it is salts that are able to “draw” blood from tissues, and therefore, the lack of sufficient salts leads to swelling of the legs.
— What is the danger of edema in hot weather?
- According to many medical experts, swelling in the heat is a natural phenomenon to some extent. After all, swelling of the lower extremities, which appears precisely from high air temperatures, does not require the intervention of doctors and goes away on its own. But, nevertheless, swelling of the legs in the heat should not be ignored. After all, their presence indicates a violation of water-salt metabolism in the body, as well as disturbances in blood circulation. It happens that there is more swelling on one leg than on the other. This is explained by problems with the veins in the leg where the swelling is larger. There is no need to sound the alarm. But if swelling does not go away after a number of measures taken - massages, compresses, long rest - you should seek help from a specialist. You may need to consult specialists such as a nephrologist, cardiologist, or urologist.
— What to do to avoid swelling?
— With the onset of hot summer, people suffering from leg swelling in the heat begin to worry about questions: how to make their life comfortable at this time and, if possible, avoid the appearance of swelling. The following can be done as a preventative measure.
At the end of a hot day, you need to lie down with your legs up, remaining in this position for at least 15 minutes. Twice a day - morning and evening - you should take a contrast shower; In this case, special attention must be paid to the legs. It is a contrast shower that can improve blood circulation and harden blood vessels.
Completely exclude salty, spicy, smoked foods from your diet during hot periods; it increases thirst and prevents fluid from leaving the body in a timely manner.
It is necessary to establish a drinking regime; drink at least three liters of water on a hot day; Natural juices, fruit drinks, compotes are allowed. This will improve the electrolyte balance in your body. Drinks such as lemonade and soda are excluded. The ideal way to avoid the appearance of edema is water aerobics in sea water; it does not put stress on the veins and they do not dilate.
— Is it possible to get rid of swelling of the legs without medications?
— Before relieving swelling with medications, it is worth trying to cope with this problem in gentle ways. You can do the following exercises.
Press your heel to the floor and try to raise your toes as high as possible. The exercise can be performed both from a standing position and from a lying position. A few minutes are enough and you will feel relief in your legs. Walk on tiptoes for a couple of minutes. Place a pencil on the floor and try to grab it with your toes. Spread your toes as far as possible. Rotate your feet in both directions alternately.
— What medications can be recommended for swelling of the legs in the heat?
— If it is not possible to relieve swelling of the legs by all available methods, except for medications, there is a need to use traditional medicine. There are many ointments and gels that work great for swollen feet, but consult your doctor before using them. After all, legs can swell not only due to heat, but also due to serious diseases of the heart, kidneys or liver. And the fact that swelling appeared in the heat may be a mere coincidence. The main thing is to know the exact cause so that the treatment is effective and does not worsen the situation.
Gels and ointments offered by pharmacies contain mainly rutin and heparin. Among the many names, the following can be distinguished: Troxevasin, Essaven-gel, Heparin ointment, Lyoton-gel. In addition to the analgesic effect, they have a cooling effect, which helps improve blood circulation, eliminate microthrombi, strengthen blood vessels and even treat inflammation. But swelling cannot always be dealt with with ointments and gels. They usually produce a temporary effect.
- What else can be done?
— In the arsenal of traditional medicine there are many ways to treat swelling of the legs that appear in hot weather. But before using them, it is necessary to obtain the approval of a doctor to ensure that there are no contraindications to the use of such treatments. Traditional medicine offers us: baths with different compositions, for example: sea salt, table salt, pine needle extract, dry mustard.
Diuretics help remove all excess fluid from the body, but only excess fluid without dehydrating the body.
Rubbing is also good. You can rub with the prepared mixture: chop one head of garlic, pour a glass of water into it and let it brew for an hour. The infusion should be filtered, and the resulting mixture should be rubbed onto the swelling areas.
One of the most effective methods is massage. It is usually made with ice cubes from herbal decoctions. If swelling in the legs appears during the heat, you should not hope that everything will go away on its own. Help your body gently get rid of swelling in your legs by choosing from all the proposed methods the one that is most suitable for you.
Today we will talk about cardiac edema of the legs that appears with heart failure. Of course, leg swelling has various causes, most of which are temporary and easily corrected.
However, if the heart muscle is not working properly, the heart does not have time to pump the entire required volume of blood. Gradually, over the course of weeks or several months, the legs begin to swell noticeably, symmetrically, starting from the ankles, spreading to the feet and legs.
Let's talk about what to do at home when your legs are very swollen.
As we have already said, if the heart is not functioning properly as a blood mover, its entire volume does not have time to be pumped. The reason lies in heart diseases associated with:
Whatever we are talking about now, you need to go to an appointment with a general practitioner, or better yet, a cardiologist for a thorough medical examination, including instrumental methods for studying the quality of the heart’s work and assessing its condition.
Remember, if a person is sick with coronary heart disease: angina pectoris, or in the past he suffered a myocardial infarction, with high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythm - you should not be surprised at the presence of severe swelling of the legs.
For example, with atrial fibrillation - the heart flutters, contracts chaotically, then how should it fully eject blood?
Therefore, the legs swell, although at first people may not pay attention to the swelling of the legs.
Remember that for cardiac edema of the legs, before self-medication you need to:
For swelling of any origin, for a month or more, drink a decoction of 1 tablespoon of cherry stalks, one-third of a glass, 3-4 times a day.
Odo of Mena in his poem “On the Properties of Herbs” writes about garlic: “Diocles prescribed garlic to be given with centaury for dropsy, so it dries out abundant moisture with water.”
Take equally. Infuse a tablespoon of the crushed mixture into a glass of cold water. Drink a quarter glass 4 times a day.
About lovage, Odo of Mena writes: “Together with wine, lovage heals stomach bloating, and it also helps with various internal ailments. It is a diuretic and can cleanse the regulators...”
Brew a tablespoon of the mixture with a glass of boiling water, leave for 15 minutes, strain. Take 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day.
Pour a tablespoon of the mixture into a glass of boiling water, boil for 3–5 minutes, leave for 1 hour, strain. Drink one fourth of a glass 4 times a day.
A decoction of oat straw collected from the beginning of earing and before the grain begins to ripen, 40 g per liter of water, drink half a glass 3-4 times a day.
1 tablespoon of wheatgrass root in one third of a liter of water for 3 minutes and drink 2 tablespoons 3-4 times a day.
Start drinking half a glass of black radish juice with honey
2 teaspoons of nettle roots in a glass of boiling water for 1 hour and drink half a glass 3-4 times a day.
Drink 2 tablespoons of onion juice . To do this, take two medium onions in the evening, cut them into thin slices, sprinkle with sugar, and in the morning, squeeze out the juice, drink.
Burn the stems from ordinary Russian beans on an iron sheet. Collect the ash, grind it into powder and store it in a glass jar with a ground stopper. Mix 1 tablespoon of vodka with half a teaspoon of ash and take three times a day.
Infusion of agave leaf and wormwood in equal proportions. A teaspoon of the mixture per glass of boiling water. Drink according to ? glasses twice a day.
Parsley (root, fruit, herb) is used not only in plant mixtures, but also separately:
Pumpkin (porridge and juice from it) - for edema and diseases of the heart, kidneys and bladder.
thyme , burdock , and knotweed are taken as a diuretic .
150 g of chopped elderberry root into 300 ml of vodka. Leave in a warm place for 10 days, strain. Take the first three days, 10 drops three times a day before meals, three days 15 drops and three days 20 drops three times a day. Drink until the medicine runs out.
Wash and chop 800 g of parsley and place in a saucepan. Pour in fresh milk and place in a not too hot oven. You should let the milk evaporate until half the original amount remains in the pan. Strain and give the patient a drink one day. This is a strong diuretic. It helps even when other diuretics are powerless.
Hemp chaff has long been considered a good diuretic. However, you need to drink it a lot and often.
Calendula . Calendula preparations are used for heart diseases to relieve swelling, palpitations and shortness of breath. For preparation and use, see above.
viburnum fruits increases urination and increases the power of the heartbeat.
Infusion: 2 tablespoons of fruit, pour 200 ml of boiling water, heat in a water bath for 15 minutes, cool at room temperature for 45 minutes, strain. Take one third of a glass 3-4 times a day. Viburnum fruits are eaten with honey or in its pure form for hypertension.
Kidney tea in the form of an infusion has a diuretic effect. At the same time, a large amount of uric acid, urea and chlorides is released from the body. Kidney tea should be used for a long time (up to 6 months) with weekly monthly breaks.
Infusion : 2 tablespoons of the herb, pour 300 ml of boiling water, boil in a water bath for 15 minutes, cool at room temperature for 45 minutes, strain. Take half a glass warm three times a day. The effect of kidney tea increases if it is taken in combination with horsetail herb, lingonberry leaves, and birch leaves.
Kirkazon. Infusions, decoctions and tincture of Kirkazon are used in folk medicine as a diuretic, as well as for dropsy and shortness of breath. In small doses, Kirkazon drugs reduce blood pressure and relieve increased excitability.
Infusion: pour 1 teaspoon of crushed roots with a glass of boiling water, leave overnight in a warm place, strain. Take the entire dose throughout the day in 3-4 doses.
Decoction: 2 teaspoons of crushed root, pour 500 ml of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes over low heat. Leave for 2 hours, strain. Drink one fourth of a glass 4 times a day.
Tincture: pour 1 teaspoon of dry herb with a glass of vodka and leave in a dark place for 7 days. Strain. Take 20 drops 3-4 times a day.
Odo of Mena writes the following about oregano: “It will cure crushed injuries, if eaten or taken often, if drunk, it cures dropsy, and it drains swelling.”
About the medicinal effect of elderberry: “The boiled root gives excellent help to those who are sick with dropsy, and the herb can help with viper bites if you drink it, or apply it on top as a plaster...”
For swelling of any origin, drink a decoction of cherry stalks (1 tablespoon of cherry stalks is brewed in 0.5 liters of boiling water, leave for 1 hour, strain) 150 ml three or four times a day.
Flaxseed . 4 teaspoons of seed per 1 liter of water. Boil for 15 minutes. Leave for 1-2 hours. Take half a glass 6-8 times a day, hot. The results will begin to appear in 1–2 weeks. The product especially helps with internal swelling.
For cardiac edema, apple-curd fasting days are recommended, when a person eats only 600–800 g of apples and 300–400 g of cottage cheese . For large edema, such a diet is prescribed for five days.
In order to facilitate the work of the heart, diuretics are used: Eufillin , Veroshpiron , Diuretin (theobromine preparations), Novurit 10% solution (prescribed 1-2 times a week, 1.02), Diacarb (fonurite) - it is given at 0. 25-0.5 g orally in the morning for two or three days in a row.
A common diuretic is Hypothiazide (available in 0.25–0.5 and 1 g).
Since hypothiazide causes an increased release of potassium salts from the body, when prescribing it, add potassium supplements to treatment.
Drinking calendula tincture 30–50 drops 3 times a day before meals for a month helps get rid of dropsy and swelling, and increases cardiac activity.
The mechanism of action of renal diuretics is explained by the ability to block kidney enzymes that ensure the transport of electrolytes and inhibition of reabsorption in the end tubules, which leads to a significant increase in the excretion of sodium, chlorine, and potassium ions. Renal ones include:
Extrarenal diuretics, depending on the mechanism of action, are divided into:
Extracts and infusions from plants are sometimes used as diuretics: bearberry leaf (infusion, decoction), horsetail herb (decoction, liquid extract), orthosiphon leaf (infusion).
For use in clinical practice, classifications that subdivide diuretics according to strength of action, speed of onset of effect and duration of action are important.
Furosemidum (Furosemidum; in tablets of 0.04; 1% solution in amp. 2 ml) - is considered a loop diuretic, since the diuretic effect is associated with inhibition of the reabsorption of sodium and chloride ions throughout the loop of Henle, especially in the ascending her department.
Ethacrynic acid (uregit; Acidum etacrinicum; Uregit; in tablets of 0.05; 0.1).
Drugs in this group inhibit sodium reabsorption by 10–20%, therefore they are powerful, short-acting diuretics. The pharmacological effect of both drugs is almost the same.
The mechanism of action of Furosemide is associated with the fact that it significantly increases renal blood flow (by increasing the synthesis of prostaglandins in the kidneys). Furosemide moderately (twice) increases the urinary excretion of potassium and bicarbonate ions, mostly calcium and magnesium.
Ethacrynic acid has the same indications for use as Furosemide, with the exception of hypertension, since it is unsuitable for long-term use.
When taken orally, the effect occurs within an hour, and the duration of action is 4–8 hours. When administered intravenously, the diuretic effect occurs within 3–5 minutes (IM after 10–15 minutes), reaching a maximum after 30 minutes. In general, the effect lasts about 1.5–3 hours.
Side effects : One of the most common adverse reactions is hypokalemia, which is accompanied by weakness of all muscles, anorexia, constipation and heart rhythm disturbances.
This is also facilitated by the development of hypochloremic alkalosis, although this effect is not particularly significant, since the effect of these drugs does not depend on the reaction of the environment.
Spironolactone (Veroshpiron; Spirono?lactonum, Verospironum, “Gedeon Richter” Hungary; 0.025 tablets) is a weak potassium-sparing diuretic.
Spironolactone is very similar in chemical structure to aldosterone (a steroid), and therefore blocks aldosterone receptors in the distal tubules of the nephron, which impairs the return (reabsorption) of sodium into the renal epithelial cell and increases the excretion of sodium and water in the urine.
This diuretic effect develops slowly – after 2–5 days and is rather weakly expressed. The inhibition of reabsorption of sodium filtered in the glomeruli is no more than 3%.
At the same time, inhibition of kaliuresis manifests itself immediately after administration of the drug.
The activity of spironolactone does not depend on the acid-base state. The drug has a significant duration of action (up to several days). This is a slow but long-acting drug. The drug increases calciuresis and has a direct positive inotropic effect on the heart muscle.
If your heart has difficulty pumping blood through your blood vessels, you have heart failure. You have shortness of breath and swelling in your legs, you quickly get tired and fatigued, then most likely your heart is not able to pump blood and deliver enough oxygen and nutrients to organs and systems
These are the first symptoms of developing heart failure.
How to treat heart failure and how to help the heart strengthen, and how to treat the heart. I have prepared a new series of mini-lectures on methods of treating heart failure using traditional medicine recipes at home. Today is lecture No. 1
Moscow Doctor Clinic
The video channel “Medicine, Health” talks about such a syndrome as acute heart failure, and resuscitation measures for it.
This is perhaps the most powerful natural remedy for swollen feet!
Edema is an increase in the volume of fluid in the intercellular space. Swelling of the legs can occur for various reasons: heat, problems with blood vessels, kidney problems, pregnancy, heart failure, hormonal imbalances...
This problem should not be taken lightly, but it is better to immediately consult a doctor to determine what exactly led to the swelling of the lower extremities.
Traditional medicine has a wide arsenal of all kinds of remedies for edema, but perhaps the most effective of them is an infusion of parsley, which effectively but gently removes excess fluid from the body.
To prepare an infusion of parsley to relieve swelling, you will need both fresh herbs and the root, that is, the whole plant. Wash it thoroughly and pass it through a meat grinder. Place the mixture in a thermos and pour in 500 ml of boiling water. Let the drink infuse overnight, strain it in the morning and squeeze it out. This amount of liquid is designed for 1 day, it should be drunk in 3 doses.
Take the infusion for 2 days in a row, then take a break for 3 days, and then drink the product again for 2 days. Literally the next day you will notice a decrease in swelling on your feet and will be able to easily put on your favorite shoes!
On the video channel “My Family Doctor”.
Swelling of the legs, namely the feet and ankles, is quite common and usually not a cause for concern, especially if you spend a lot of time on your feet. But if the swelling does not go away overnight or is accompanied by other symptoms, it may be due to serious health problems.
Source: Uzhegov G. N. Official and traditional medicine. The most detailed encyclopedia. - M.: Eksmo Publishing House, 2012.