Thyroid? Allergy? Or something else...?
bluefish86
Posts: 842 Member
I just got back from my holiday in Toronto. While I was there I did not track my food in a diary, and generally allowed myself to eat and drink whatever I wanted. I probably gained about 10 lbs in 10 days. But I figured that once a year I could treat myself. And besides, I would be walking for several hours at a time, and most of the weight I gained would be water weight from all the excess carbs.
After a few days of eating more carbs and gluten than I'd normally eat in a month, I noticed that my hands and feet were slightly swollen. But this I figured was due to all the walking I was doing and in sandals no less, so I didn't think too much of it. Then one night, I met some friends for drinks and ordered a pint of wheat beer... and my feet blew up like balloons.
I had no visible ankles and my feet could hardly fit in my shoes. They stayed swollen like that for the better part of 3 days, gradually decreasing in size but even now they still feel puffy and tight all the way up my calves. My mom (who has hypothyroidism herself) swears up and down that it's my thyroid, but I have been tested in the past and it's always been negative. I've already booked a doctor's appointment for this weekend, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar?
After a few days of eating more carbs and gluten than I'd normally eat in a month, I noticed that my hands and feet were slightly swollen. But this I figured was due to all the walking I was doing and in sandals no less, so I didn't think too much of it. Then one night, I met some friends for drinks and ordered a pint of wheat beer... and my feet blew up like balloons.
I had no visible ankles and my feet could hardly fit in my shoes. They stayed swollen like that for the better part of 3 days, gradually decreasing in size but even now they still feel puffy and tight all the way up my calves. My mom (who has hypothyroidism herself) swears up and down that it's my thyroid, but I have been tested in the past and it's always been negative. I've already booked a doctor's appointment for this weekend, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar?
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A couple people have reported edema. Anytime water is involved, I would blame sodium. Still worth asking your doc about the edema, though.0
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I got into some carbs that I was not expecting and had my feet/ankles swell for couple days recently. Getting back into ketosis cleared it up in my case.0
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I too, notice swelling with carbs/wheat... But that being said, I don't know that I ever had swelling with my thyroid specifically, though I'm sure these pics would tell a different story...
This is literally around a 30-40 pound difference, and the first pic was before my thyroid was successfully treated - the second way after it was well treated and low carb, so the swelling could be a thyroid thing but I've no idea...
And something else about those numbers, by the time you actually show up deficient, you could be so bad off... Just because you're in "normal range" does not mean it is normal for you. My doc used comparison of my numbers over time, and put me on one med that did not help. Years later when my level had dropped by half in 6-12 months, we tried a different med, and I've been happy since then...
You need multiple tests done to determine thyroid health. Most common indicator is the T3's, T4's, and specifically, the TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). If the first two are out of balance (one converts to the other) or the TSH is high, it means something in your body isn't working properly. My endocrinologist was willing to supplement to my symptoms, even after medication brought my bloodwork levels to compliance but I still felt like crap... If you can, I'd definitely make sure you get the right bloodwork done. And refer to and endocrinologist if you still question your PCP...
www.stopthethyroidmadness.com
(hugs)
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I swell up like crazy if I kick myself out of ketosis on a carb binge. Even my mom will notice that my face is super puffy and calls me out on eating crap LOL (and I'm 34 for crissake lol)0
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Do you guys have problems with hypertension?
Seems that there's an association between insulin levels and aldosterone levels in some people. The aldosterone causes sodium retention, which causes water retention, which causes the high blood pressure.
Maybe insulin resistance?
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/30/9/2349.full0 -
When I was on high carb macros, I got edema from time to time. Sometimes so severely and painful that I couldn't walk (put weight on feet) and hobbled around for up to a week. It has not returned after going lowcarb.0
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Do you guys have problems with hypertension?
Seems that there's an association between insulin levels and aldosterone levels in some people. The aldosterone causes sodium retention, which causes water retention, which causes the high blood pressure.
Maybe insulin resistance?
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/30/9/2349.full
I didn't read this article yet, but I am insulin resistant, I do have high blood pressure, but it is hormonally triggered (by another medication - as I never had a problem prior to that medication)...and I can't tell whether my Aldosterone level is high as my last result (over a year ago) just gave me a result, not a range...(5 ng/dl), whereas Testosterone was 21 ng/dl (in 2014), a year later was (10 ng/dl), considered to be mid/low range. Progesterone has a level but no reference, and no estrogen results I found. I'll have to look again and compare to this article.0 -
Schmeggly80 wrote: »I swell up like crazy if I kick myself out of ketosis on a carb binge. Even my mom will notice that my face is super puffy and calls me out on eating crap LOL (and I'm 34 for crissake lol)
No you are her little gril.
Two weeks ago at a tradeshow I was careful but the meat must to have been soaked in some form of sugar and I got out and it was NOT fun for 2-3 days.
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This totally happens to me when I eat too many carbs, especially grains. One slice of bread will have my feet puffy and uncomfortable. It takes two or three days for it to go back to normal. Its one of the reasons that bread doesn't even tempt me anymore.0
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@KnitOrMiss you're adorable!
I never get swollen feet or legs but my mid section swells up on a carb overload, it gets all puffy and feels weird.0 -
@KnitOrMiss you're adorable!
I never get swollen feet or legs but my mid section swells up on a carb overload, it gets all puffy and feels weird.
Thanks! I'm happier and happier that the me I remember is coming back to the surface! I knew she was in there somewhere. LOL0 -
Thank you all for sharing! I will definitely ask the doctor to retest my thyroid... I have no idea what blood tests I had done before, or how accurate/thorough they were....
I'm just glad to know others have experienced this as well. I've never had such a bad reaction before and it totally freaked me out.0 -
I find the older I get, the wackier my body's reaction is to things that never bothered me before... Oh, the blissful ignorance of youth!0
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »I find the older I get, the wackier my body's reaction is to things that never bothered me before... Oh, the blissful ignorance of youth!
So true but it took me 20+ years to gain this understanding and act on it. To this day my mind stills sees me as being 20 but my bones do not agree with my mind. I does me good to see so many of you young people waking up and acting long before I did.
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GaleHawkins wrote: »KnitOrMiss wrote: »I find the older I get, the wackier my body's reaction is to things that never bothered me before... Oh, the blissful ignorance of youth!
So true but it took me 20+ years to gain this understanding and act on it. To this day my mind stills sees me as being 20 but my bones do not agree with my mind. I does me good to see so many of you young people waking up and acting long before I did.
At nearly 40, I still have that feeling 20 thing going on sometimes, but I definitely don't feel "young" per se. I guess it is all relative! LOL I wish I had woken up in my 20's too. Can you imagine the lives we would have lived? The heck we would have raised? Oh, the fantasies!0 -
I do wonder how life would have turned out had I side stepped being crippled for the past 40 years with arthritis pain and limitation which I expect now in my case was caused by my carb abuse/addiction.
No I would not go back again. I wound up with a great education in part because there was no way I could continue to do farming, etc.
Now that I have the pain finally managed by getting off carbs over 50 grams daily life is improving. Being 64 with no known BP, diabetes, heart issues and taking no Rx meds is unusual since many of my friends do or are dead. I think never having smoked, drank (alcohol abuse was bad on dad's side) or done drugs is paying off based on what one nurse told me.
I can not change the pass. I can change the present by the way I live. Hopefully it will be positive for the future. I do plan to live to be 110. Where I live to be 65, 95 or 125 I want to be walking and talking making good sense until that day. 0 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »Schmeggly80 wrote: »I swell up like crazy if I kick myself out of ketosis on a carb binge. Even my mom will notice that my face is super puffy and calls me out on eating crap LOL (and I'm 34 for crissake lol)
No you are her little gril.
LOL true story. I will still call out my little girl any time I like, even when she reaches adulthood!0 -
Any update, @bluefish86?
Like a lot of people, I spend my leisure time reading about natriuresis. Today, I stumbled upon this paper:
http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v53/n3/pdf/4490067a.pdf?origin=publication_detail
This points out that the natriuretic stimulus of fasting can be a profound one, and it continues until an appreciable degree of contraction of the ‘effective’ ECF volume occurs. After this initial phase of natriuresis, avid Na1 retention is the rule. This antinatriuresis may even persist and result in excessive retention of Na1 on refeeding to the extent that edema may develop [reviewed in 31].
So we all know that we lose a lot of sodium on a low-carb diet (right!?). Apparently, the body so misses that lost sodium that it will hoard sodium upon refeeding, and you may swell up like a balloon.
Who knew? 0 -
So we all know that we lose a lot of sodium on a low-carb diet (right!?). Apparently, the body so misses that lost sodium that it will hoard sodium upon refeeding, and you may swell up like a balloon.
Who knew?
That actually makes a lot of sense...
I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow - I'll keep you posted!0 -
**update**
I have lost 13lbs since last week... that's a lot of water weight and inflammation.
Doctor is testing my thyroid as well as my adrenals and for coeliacs. He is also referring me to an allergy clinic. I don't know how well he accepted my theory of autoimmune disease, but at least he's willing to do further tests.0 -
Whoosh! Great loss! The referral and further testing wouldn't have been ordered if you didn't make sense. We are lucky when we find a doctor who will actually listen to us! Best of luck with all of the results!0
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