Why are my legs always swollen?

Older people often feel discomfort in their legs and feet, but why do their legs always feel swollen? Leg swelling not only occurs in older people, but also in some middle-aged people. What should we do in these cases? Leg swelling depends on different circumstances, but most of the time it is related to certain organs in the body. For example, problems with organs such as the kidneys, liver, and heart can also cause leg discomfort.

The causes of edema can be roughly divided into:

1. Nephrogenic: Due to kidney disease, renal filtration is reduced, urine is reduced, and water accumulates in the body; in addition, kidney disease limits the elimination of sodium, causing water and sodium retention; when kidney disease occurs, protein output increases, the protein content in the blood decreases, and a large amount of body fluid in the plasma penetrates into the body cavity outside the blood vessels.

Second, hepatic origin: patients with hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer have abnormal liver metabolism proteins, which reduces the total protein content in the blood and causes water in the blood to penetrate into the body cavity.

3. Cardiogenic: This is a type of systemic edema. The cause of the disease is poor cardiac ejection. A large amount of blood returning to the heart from the whole body remains in the veins, and the hydrostatic pressure increases and infiltrates into the body cavity.

4. Premenstrual syndrome: occurs before women's menstruation and is related to the female hormones in their bodies.

5. Myxedema : often occurs in patients with hypothyroidism. There are others such as malnutrition edema, angioneurotic edema, etc.

Lower body edema, especially calf edema, usually occurs from the heart or liver, as well as myxedema. If you have a history of hypertension, then it is very likely to be from the heart, but it is recommended that you check your thyroid function and liver function. If you have previously treated cardiogenic edema caused by hypertension and the results were not good, you should pay special attention to myxedema.

When too much water is added to the body and cannot be discharged, it is edema. When weight increases, eyelid swelling, ankle or calf edema will occur.

Most edema is caused by kidney or heart disease, but sometimes ascites caused by liver disease, nutritional imbalance caused by protein deficiency, or hormonal abnormalities caused by menopausal disorders can also cause edema.

If swelling starts from the face and then spreads to the whole body, there is a high possibility of kidney disease, but it may also be acute nephritis or kidney disease.

If swelling starts from the feet, it may be heart disease, hypoproteinemia, liver cirrhosis, etc.

In the late stages of pregnancy, the whole body and feet are prone to swelling; severe swelling may be caused by pregnancy toxemia.

If you press the above swelling with your fingers, water will move and form a depression.

If it does not sink when pressed with your hand and is still swollen, it may be caused by hypothyroidism or side effects of medication.

Swelling caused by standing for long periods of time is not abnormal.

When edema occurs, limit the intake of water and salt; in order to expel excess water from the body, it is best to eat more diuretic foods.