Causes of edema in lower limbs in women

Women are born with a love of beauty and have relatively high requirements for their own body shape. They are most afraid of gaining weight and becoming swollen, and generally facial swelling is the most intolerable. It’s summer, the season for showing legs, and I can’t stand people saying that my calves are swollen. But why does swelling of both lower limbs occur? Edema in both lower limbs may be a sign of a physical illness and should be taken seriously. Next, let’s talk about the causes of swelling in both lower limbs.

1. Heart failure and leg phlebitis are the two main causes of chronic (long-term) leg swelling. According to clinical practice, phlebitis will only cause swelling of the patient's legs, while heart failure causing congestion will cause swelling of both legs; phlebitis will cause pain, while swelling caused by heart failure will not be painful; various diseases that cause leg swelling have their own different pathogenesis and characteristics.

2. Diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, viral infection or heart valve disease make the myocardium weak and powerless. At this time, the heart cannot smoothly deliver blood to the lungs. The blood begins to flow back into the veins and then converges into the organ located under the heart - the liver, causing the liver to become congested and swollen. If the condition does not improve, blood may eventually back up into the leg veins and cause leg swelling.

3. People with severe kidney disease will experience swelling all over the body, including the legs, face, and fingers. The reason for the systemic swelling is that too much protein is lost in the urine.

4. In the later stages of more severe liver disease, leg swelling may occur due to two mechanisms. One is that liver cells are damaged and cannot produce enough protein, resulting in the same situation as protein loss caused by kidney disease; in order to balance the protein content in the blood vessels and the tissues around the blood vessels, fluid in the blood will flow into the tissues and cause tissue swelling. Another possibility is scarring of the liver, which prevents blood flowing from the legs to the heart from passing through the liver, causing blood reflux. Additionally, enlarged glands or tumors in the abdominal cavity may compress veins and cause leg swelling.

5. Hunger causes abdominal and leg swelling because of a lack of protein in the diet, which causes fluid in the blood to seep out of the blood vessels and enter the body's tissues. When the abdomen swells, it means that the abdominal cavity contains this type of fluid, which is the same situation when the kidneys and liver are diseased.

6. Severe hypothyroidism can also cause systemic edema, including the legs. The reason for this symptom is the same as when the kidneys and liver are diseased as mentioned above, which is to balance the protein content in the blood vessels and tissues, causing fluid to flow out of the blood vessels and into the tissues, causing swelling.

7. Drug-induced leg swelling: Testosterone (most commonly used to treat impotence); long-term use of steroids (to treat arthritis, asthma, cancer, etc.); estrogen; oral contraceptives; certain antidepressants (Nardil sulfate); antihypertensive drugs, methyldopa (AIdomet); and recently invented calcium ion blockers for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, etc.

8. The pericardium may become diseased due to viral or other infections, or after heart surgery, and become thick and hard, just like a suit of armor for the heart. This will hinder the normal contraction and relaxation of the myocardium. As a result, blood cannot adequately flow back to the right ventricle and instead flows back into the veins, causing swelling of the neck veins and abdomen, and ultimately, swelling of the legs.

9. If both the face and legs are swollen, it may be due to: hypothyroidism, certain allergic reactions that cause systemic discomfort, pericardial disease that compresses the heart, trichinellosis (trichinosis) caused by eating meat infected with trichinellosis but improperly cooked, or kidney disease.

10. If there is brown pigmentation in the swollen legs, especially around the ankles, the swelling is usually caused by a long-term disease such as chronic varicose veins. Brown pigmentation is caused by blood passing through the blood vessel walls and entering nearby tissues.