Question: My left ankles became swollen last Thursday and on Friday I noticed that I couldn’t wear the sandals. I put my leg up, tried not to not stand too much and eat a lower sodium diet. Having my leg up seemed to help but condition is not normal yet. I have Multiple Sclerosis and was wondering does it in anyway causes swollen leg?
Answer:
Painless swelling in the feet and ankles is a common problem and affects older age group, suffering from a chronic underlying disease condition. The reasons to observe a foot swelling among suffers of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) include:
- Steroid Treatment: Individuals suffering from MS are often prescribed steroids for management of relapses.Steroids cause edema and swelling in the feet.
- Muscular weakness, spasms and difficulty in movements may also reduce the circulation of the lower limbs, which in turn may be the cause of swelling in the feet.
- Swollen feet and ankles are a sign of liver, kidney or cardiac failure. Do you suffer from any of these conditions?
Swollen Feet and Ankles Treatment:
- If you are overweight, try to reduce your weight to avoid foot swelling.
- Eat whole grain products, which will increase fibre content in your diet. This is help you reduce your weight and is very nutritive.
- Eat protein rich diet comprising of fish, lean poultry, fruits and vegetables. This will also give you the much-needed Vitamin B12, to manage multiple sclerosis. Avoid fatty red meat. Low protein levels are also known to cause swelling in the feet.
- Drink a lot of water and avoid sugar-sweetened beverages.
- Don’t overuse laxatives. Abuse of laxative can also cause swelling of the feet.
- Continue what you are doing. Also try wearing tight stockings and avoid tight footwear.
- Related Topics
- Leg and Foot Swelling: Causes and Cures for Swollen Legs and Feet
- Leg Swelling Treatments | Remedies for Swelling in Legs | Swollen Legs Causes
- Treatments for Swollen Legs, Ankles | Causes of Swollen Feet, Ankle
- Swollen Legs Causes and Treatment | Reduce Leg Swelling
- Swollen Feet Relief | Foot Swelling Treatment | Swollen Feet Remedy
Taking Laxatives, diuretics, makes our body to, retain more fluids. It avoids dehydration to take place.
The protein in the blood helps to hold the salt and water in the blood vessels so the fluid does not leak out into the tissues. But if the protein is low, the fluid comes out of the blood vessels and accumulates in the tissues. These results in edema of the feet, ankles etc. frequent use of laxatives will be responsible for lowering the protein content in the body as they are flushed out of the system.