Really Swollen And Painful Feet From Being Upright

[sue1234]

It is like a cruel joke or something. In the last couple of days I have been upright, on my feet, for about 1 1/2 hours. This is the longest upright time I have had since Pots hit 8 years ago. I actually have to sit, not be cause of being lightheadedness, but my right foot ends up feeling like I have broken a bone or something! It actually looks swollen and the skin is shiny. I went to bed and got up just fine this morning. So, I go a stand up again for maybe just one hour, and once again, horrendous pain and moderate swelling in my right ankle. Any ideas? If fluid was defying gravity, wouldn't both feet be swollen? I have actually had broken bones and this hurt that bad. Like I said, it's a cruel joke that I can finally stand a good amount of time, but now have to quit.

[Mermaid]

I get red, hot, slightly swollen feet and toes from standing and walking just short distances too, much worse when it's warm. The skin does look shiny. This for me is worse than dizziness and tachycardia and is what makes me need to sit and elevate. I've also improved a lot in terms of dizziness so yes, I can relate to the annoyance!

I also have swelling behind the knees but not ankles which is weird. I often get the red, hot symptoms at night too when I'm lying down watching TV and it can be one foot, part of one foot, both feet, just toes. Its not horrifically painful for me, not pleasant at all though. I'm sorry you are dealing with pain.

[Katybug]

I have venous insufficiency in bothe of my legs which causes swelling. But if you have venous insufficiency in one leg and not the other, you would see only one leg swell. Testing for insufficiency is easy, my cardio had it done for me last year. They just do ultrasounds on your legs. The technician does the ultrasound while you're lying down and sitting up with your legs hanging down. He/she also uses their finger to cut off the bloodflow to certain veins and then lets it go to measure the velocity during recovery. We did mytest bbecause my legs "fall asleep" very easily and I also can reduce my leg circumference by at least an inch and a half by wearing just medium compression. Having the "diagnosis" of venous insufficiency doesn't actually change any of my treatment but at least it's documented and I can show hard facts that back up my complaints of these symptoms. Hope your leg recovers quickly.

[sue1234]

barb, I have a history of getting the really hot feet and hands, especially in the heat, also. So annoying!

Katy, I've never had dependent swelling. You know how (normal)people say their feet hurt from being on them all day, or even people mention feet swelling in general? I always just assumed it would be an aching-type pain. What I get is sharp pain that makes me haul out the crutches. Do you know what kind of pain is normal for swelling? It sounds like a good idea for me to have the veins checked out.

[Katybug]

I'm probably not the best person to say what's"normal" swelling pain as I have some sort of chronic inflammatory issues that remains elusive to diagnosis but very painful all the time. I do have severe aching and shooting pain in my feet. The aching is daily . The shooting pain comes when my inflammation levels get really high. It then feels like the bones are coming through the bottom of my feet when I walk on them. But I don't associate the pain with the general swelling. When my inflammation is at its worst, I do experience more swelling in my feet than usual but the change in the amount of swelling is minimal compared to the change in the pain levels. Back when I was a teen working in an ice cream shop in the mall, I would often be on my feet for 8 hours straight (no symptoms back then) and I experienced the mild achy pain after all those hours. The severe pain didn't start until all the rest of my symptoms about 7 years ago.

[sue1234]

I kind of have had odd pains in my feet before this, unrelated to swelling. It was almost like tendons would get out of place for a few hours or a day, and in an instant, the pain would disappear. It would come on that fast and leave that fast. I feel like my feet muscles in general are just "out of shape" in holding my body weight up, since it hasn't been doing much of that for 8 years. Maybe my feet have to get in shape?!

[Katybug]

I don't vouch for a lot of products but I have found that Orthaheel brand shoes or Vionic by Orthaheel have made a tremendous improvement in the pain in my feet. I can't wear custom orthotics because they are so hard they actually cause me pain but the OTC arch supports are too flimsy. This brand of shoes is moderately expensive but they helped me so much I actually saved money over the course of the last 2 years and switched my whole shoe wardrobe over to this brand. I no longer have to wrap Ace bandages around my feet and ankles to reduce the pain. I still have a couple pairs of regular shoes and I regret it every time I wear them. Might be worth a try.

[sue1234]

Thanks for the information. I will look them up.

[yogini]

have you tried compression hose? they should help swelling of feet/legs

[sue1234]

Yogini, I just thought of that today, that I would try compression knee-hi's. I absolutely cannot handle waist high compression, because anything that even begins to compress my abdomen makes me short of breath. But, I could cut my old waist-high ones down to calf-high.