Have you ever had this experience? Woke up in the morning and found that “fat” : puffy eyelids, swollen bags under the eyes, the whole face has become round, and even calves, arms, stomach is a press a pit, in fact, this is the performance of the body edema. Why is it swollen after a night’s sleep? Is it too much water or body problems?
Why is the body edematous?
Normally, the water content of the subcutaneous tissue of the human body is stable, but when there is too much blood around, the pressure of blood vessels becomes bigger, and water is squeezed into the subcutaneous tissue. The subcutaneous tissue absorbs water like a sponge and holds up the skin, resulting in “edema”. To determine whether edema, just press the skin, such as the appearance of indentation, rebound is very slow, basically for edema. Many people think that drinking too much water is the main cause of edema, but in fact this does not cause edema in most healthy people. After the water consumed before bedtime is absorbed by the small intestine, the body’s circulatory, respiratory, and urinary systems will work together to regulate in order to maintain the water balance in the body, and will not cause excessive storage of water in the tissue fluid. Edema can be divided into physiologic edema and pathologic edema. Physiological edema is usually temporary, mostly caused by body compression or gravity, such as sleeping, the body from upright to lying down, facial blood force direction change, slow down the speed of return to the heart, the water is more likely to spread to the eyes of the subcutaneous tissue is more loose, resulting in edema around the eyes. Sitting and standing for a long time to maintain a position, poor blood circulation in the lower limbs, resulting in edema of the legs and feet; pathologic edema is mostly related to diseases and medications, and requires more attention.
Edema is a sign of disease
The causes of pathologic edema are complex, and a preliminary diagnosis should be made based on the location, nature, and accompanying symptoms of edema, combined with the patient’s past medical history, and then the primary disease causing edema should be clarified through laboratory tests and imaging studies.
Cardiogenic edema: the lower limbs are usually swollen first. Cardiogenic edema is caused by cardiac dysfunction, and edema often appears first in the lower limbs, feet, ankles, etc. In severe cases, the upper limbs, chest and back are swollen first. In severe cases, edema can occur in the upper limbs, chest, back and face, and even in the pleural cavity and pericardial cavity.
Nephrogenic edema: Eyelid-first edema is common in patients with nephrotic syndrome and acute and chronic glomerulonephritis, and the edema in the eyelid area, face and other subcutaneous loose tissues and soft skin areas is often more significant than that in the low-hanging parts. Edema due to thyroid abnormality: mostly seen in facial hypothyroidism, often manifested as facial, hand and foot edema, and the skin is pale; hyperthyroidism, there can be swelling of the eyelids, tissues around the eye sockets, and the eyeballs are protruding.
Drug-induced edema: disappear after stopping the drug adrenocorticotropic hormone, testosterone, estrogen, insulin and other drugs caused by edema is more common, disappear after stopping the drug.
Nutritional edema: can be expanded to the whole body nutrient deficiencies triggered by edema occurs slowly, usually from the beginning of the tissue laxity, expanding to the whole body subcutaneous, serious cases can appear double lower limbs and other low hanging parts of the obvious edema.
Pregnancy edema: mostly seen in the lower body in the second half of pregnancy, the uterus will compress the veins of the pelvis and the inferior vena cava, blood reflux slows down or decreases, and mild edema of both lower limbs often occurs. Dermatomyositis edema: Periorbital edema around the eyes is a typical manifestation of dermatomyositis, most often accompanied by urticaria, polymorphic or erythema nodosum.
Tips for treating edema
Salt intake of no more than 5 grams, women who are prone to edema before menstruation, especially pay attention to light diet. Don’t stand for a long time or sit for a long time: avoid the accumulation of body fluids body fluids affected by gravity, long standing, sitting for a long time will be too much in the legs, easy to varicose veins, resulting in leg edema. People who have been standing for a long time or sitting for a long time can elevate their legs more between work, so that the blood in the lower limbs can return fully, and if necessary, they can wear medical compression stockings. Adhere to aerobic exercise: accelerate the discharge of excess water aerobic exercise can make blood vessels diastolic, which helps the water into the kidneys to be better excretion. It is recommended to do half an hour of aerobic exercise every day, such as walking, yoga, jogging, eight-duanjin, and so on.
Three tips: quickly reduce edema after waking up in the morning after the body edema, you can try the following methods, fast relief: cold compresses, can shrink the local blood vessels, reduce the exudation of water in the blood vessels; massage, accelerate the flow of water in the subcutaneous tissues; drink black coffee, black coffee diuretic, helps to promote the metabolism of fluids, reduce edema.