Pooling And Edema

[kmpower]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to figure out more about the pooling of fluid. I haven't had my TT yet, but I don't think my legs will turn blue because they never do. Instead, they get a little heavier with fluid all the way up my legs, not just in my ankles (like, say, cardiac or kidney edema). It is as if the water I drink just falls down.

When you know you are pooling in your legs, can you always see it, or do you just feel it on the inside, or do you just know because you get brainfoggy and tachy and the like? Do your legs look blue or does it look more like varicose veins or just blue veins which aren't varicose? Or none of the above?

I would love your descriptions. If you have already described it in the 132 pages of threads would you mind describing it again?

Thanks.

OLL

[Wufflebear]

I have never really noticed them turning too colerful. Although They do swell up a bit, but I have never measured it..

Mostly my legs feel stiff and full and hurt when they are pooling... I notice it too once in a while in my hands. My abdomen just feels full and stressed when it is pooling there.

[Stace915]

my feet turn blue, like a crayon, its actually pretty scary looking. As for my legs, I have never measured them but I swell in my thighs, I can feel it, the more salt I have the worse it gets

[gdomaracki]

What my pots doctor actually did to me, and I check once in awhile. Is if you think your pooling, you can actually press on your lower legs and if you see an imprint of your finger (usually white) that means that you are pooling. Thats what they did to me anyways

[labas_2u@shaw.ca]

My feet turn a mottled purple colour.

I can tell that they are a bit swollen because my shoes feel tight......

[Jenn202]

I get fluid pooling and off...there seems to be no reason for when it happens...

I dont have any ankle swelling, but a noticable difference in the amount of water on my legs and back of arms......

Then I pee it all out after a few days.....

I do not have skin color changes though......

[Guest Belinda]

I also get the mottled look all the way up my legs and I most definitley see it on my hands everyday..red and white speckles. If it is bad enough I also see it on my arms. feet will get pruple. I notice it more in the shower or if I am really potsy,

[dizzygirl]

hi I notice that I tunr colors.. beet red-purple-some times purply -blue.. and that my hands especially-- get squishy(SP?????? ).. mean tht htey feel bigger (my fingers and hands and feet and legs).. and it i push on my finger or foot.. its feel squishy.. like there is alot of fluid chilling out beneath my skin... and they do hurt.. and it s a sign that i need to elevate my legs.

I get alot of sweeling in my right foot and knee especially.. to where it is noticable to the eye.. not just me....

[calypso]

I would say I have swelling more than pooling ... but I am not really sure. My situation is strange because I had edema from preeclampsia, then had my daughter, then immediately developed POTS. So I always figured the swelling was a continuation from the preeclampsia due to microvascular damage. But I guess it's possible I am pooling blood and don't know it. I also have slight discoloration (mottling) and when I push on my leg with my thumb, I also get a white imprint for a couple seconds.

Hmmm ... can the blood pool in your hands if you are lying down? Does anyone know?

Amy

[Radha]

i definately get pooling in my hands when i am laying flat, they got very hot, and heavy and hurt, and veins bulge, and turn very red, but when blood pools in my legs, my feet get that purplish color, wish there was a fix for this!!

radha

[kmpower]

This is great (well, not great to have symptoms, but great to get such a variety of responses). Thank you.

I was going to ask if it hurts you, feels hot or cold, or numb, or just changes texture and color. Radha, you read my mind.

It seems as if different people pool in different places and have different colors. I always learned that when there is an imprint of a finger on the ankle/calf that it meant the fluid had gone into the tissues. That means it is not (completely?) pooling in the veins, but getting out of the blood vessels. Is this because of too much fluid for the vessels to hold, or are they weak or leaky, or both, or neither?

I have an instrument called a BIA (bioimpedance analyzer) which I got to measure body fat/muscle percentage. But it also measures hydration and if the water is more in the cells or out of the cells (between the cells, not necessarily just inside the vessels). The healthier you are, the more the water is supposed to be inside the cells) It doesn't always make sense to me and so I doubted the helpfulness of the instrument.

But since I have "met" you all, I am wondering about everything. The more we know about ourselves, the more we can do things for ourselves, IMHO.

If you have more to share, I would be appreciative.

OLL

[Jenn202]

My biggest issue is lack of good celluar hydration.

My tissues can retain water and I look overhydrated, BUT In reality I am dehydrated b.c I am not getting the fluid where it needs to be.

When I saw Dr Grubb he explained that b/c of my collagen issue that the fluid actually leaks out of the veins and into the tossue since the collagen is not as suportive as "normal" collagen would be...

He described it as a buildig make of steel where as mine is made of webbing.....

I am still in the process of reconfirming this diagnoses and the theory.

Another reason can be the disconnect between the brain/hypothalamus area, and the rest of the body...which is common with dysautonomia.... the signals are not being sent correctly thus not telling our vital organs that control hydration to maintain properly.....

[Lukkychrm42]

For me it's blood pooling- I don't know of other fluids being pulled down, too... never really thought of it!

My hands and feet are usually mottled when I'm POTSy, and when I stand, both my hands (when at my side) and feet turn a mottled purpley reddish color.

But I'm with Jenn in that I constantly am dehydrated despite drinking liters and liters of water. But my face is puffy... I tried mentioning this to the doctor last week, and he said to just drink more!!! (That irked me, but he was just a colleague of Dr. Abdallah, not Dr. A- so I have to wait a whole month to bring this up with Dr. A.) Anyway- hope you get some answers!

[kmpower]

So I guess there are different reasons for pooling, but the thing POTsy people have in common is that the heart has to beat much faster to get the blood to where it is going. It is like the vessels are supposed to help but can't or don't.

I am reading a new book on blood pressure (yeah, I know, I keep starting new books, but I do mean to get back to the other books, famous last words). It's by Sherry Rogers and on high BP which was me a while back and maybe me again without my BB.

Anyway, she says silica is the mineral responsible for how sodium works in the body to hold fluid in the tissues in the normal way. Many of us are deficient, especially if we take in too much aluminum into our bodies (utensils, cosmetics and anti-perspirants, etc.) She says aging and drying out are reversed in some people by a good diet, but including silica to hold fluid where it is supposed to be. It's worth a search if it applies to you.

But there is so much more to pooling. If you have other thoughts, type away.

OLL