ankle and leg oedema or swelling

Heart health and blood vessels
1

hi everyone.

my 85 yrs oldmother has been generally well. hypertension is her only health issues. ankle swelling began last year but it would be ok with a furosemide diuretic,this week her ankle and legs swell so i rushed her to A & E. i suspect congestive heart failure.

the dr said she had normal ecg , i read  sinus rhythm with frequent ventricular complexes and premature atrial complexes nonspecific ST and T wave abnormality abnormal ecg. why would the dr tell me it's normal ecg does it mean she's ok.furosemide was prescribed and we were discharged that night. 2days passed and her swelling hasn't changed a bit.

/she was not admitted in the hospital and ordered bloodtests.. the nurse called me to talk about the result and i was surprised that the nurse said she has diabetes .for  those who is suffering with CHF please give me some insights soi would brace myself.

what medications , diet or lifestyle modifications must she do?

thanks.

2

You've had her for 85 years which is very good. If her ankles don't go down and she has shortness of breath take her back to the ER as the fluids are building up in her body and she will need additional treatment.

3

thank you very much will do. she has been given double dosage off frusemide and offered several tests.hope she won't be having pain or difficulties in this journey.

4

Husband had congestive heart failure, because of dialated cardiomyopathy, he was 59 years old at the time.

Cause of his dialated cardiomyopathy unknown, suspect he had some kind of virus is all they can say.

First time he was admitted to local hospital, he was discharged 18 hours later, after a congestive heart failure episode, and passing a clot into his lower leg.

I took him to a different hospital, nurses in local hospital, told me too, through the emergency room, it is a heart hospital across the other side of the city they kept him 8 days,  treated him and 5 years later he is doing very well, not impressed with the local hospital Dr, he would have let him die.

If she still has very swollen ankles, gets sleepy, and is perspiring alot even if it is not hot outside, maybe also a wet sounding cough that slowly gets worse you need to call an ambulance, DO NOT try and treat her yourself, minutes could make a difference, it did in my husbands case.

I can assure you that dying of congestive heart failure is a better way to go than some other ways I have seen in my own family, you just get more and more sleepy as your oxygen content in you blood stream drops off to under survival level, and you pass out before nature finally closes things down, god forbid even for a 85 yr old.

Kind thoughts flying your way.

 

5

Hi lyn1951,

Thank you very much for these, I trulyappreciate what've you've just said. Things doctors wouldn't tell you. She is with me at home and given 2 tabs of furusemide a day. she will undergo several tests, ankle still swelling and subsides during the day. She doesn'thave any difficulty or laboured  breathing.thanks for the things to watch out for. .

6

Most Dr's are complete cowards when it comes to telling you bad news, I must admit probably one of the hardest part of their jobs, but a little more time, and maybe counselling staff with the Dr, as was provided for my Dad in 1983.

It wasn't until months after my husbands discharge from hospital after 8 days that I was praising the heart hospital to our local GP and he said in his grumpy way they didn;t think he was going to survive the month when they discharged him, then printed out the letter they had sent him with instructions not to sign his death certificate and handed it to me, what a shock I got when I read that. No indication at all that they expected him to die after they discharged him.

He continues to defy the odds, and the predicitions, and is doing very well.

7

i've been talking also to health care assistant who works jn a rest hkme, she said that most if the patients survive with constant monitoriing. the swelling just come and goes. i couldn't even figure out whether dhe needs to be admitted in the hidpital for further assessment but the gp didn't think so. i wanted to know the seveity & if it us life threatening at this stage, she does not have shortness of breath or anything like that.