Have any of you experienced swollen ankles and feet along with your other hypothyroid symptoms? It doesn't seem to be related to eating too much salt. My dr. prescribed maxzide. It seems to help, but the swelling is still there. I was only taking it Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but he increased the dosage to daily for the next 2 weeks. I have been taking Levoxyl 0.75 mcg for the past month. Getting ready to start the second month.
Any ideas? Is this normal?
Another name for hypothyroidism is myxedema, which is non-pitting edema, or water retention in all the cells of your body. So yeah, water retention is a sign of hypothyroidism.
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PCOS+IR, Hypothyroidism
Sleep Apnea (cured by tonsillectomy)
30-Something Mommy of 2
Logan Scott born April 9, 2004!
Conor James born Nov 1, 2006.
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I almost always have swollen calves and ankles. Doesn't matter how much I raise my feet or anything I can put dents in my ankles and calves. Being on synthroid (300 mcg) doesn't seem to really affect it one way or another. I have just given up on the swelling I think
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Hypothyroid (300mcg Synthroid)
Good Chance of PCOS (no official dx)
Only 1 Tube/Ovary
Recurrent m/c 12/01, 12/03, 6/04
Started IR Diet 7/10/04
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I've had pretty terrible edema, but it is much better now. However, I can't say which it is--treating the PCOS or the thyroid.
4 years ago I was having problems with this, went low carb and was taking Met and the edema disappeared. I wasn't taking thyroid meds at that point.
Then I went off everything, gained weight, and the edema was back with a vengance.
Since I started back on my treatments, now including thyroid, the edema is much better, though not completely resolved. I love feeling my knees now--bones, not putty-like tissue! And my feet look like feet again.
Obesity (because there is more pressure on the veins), lack of exercise, and dependency (having your legs down all the time) all contribute to the edema, but clearly either the PCOS/insulin resistance and/or the thyroid are involved. I'm still obese, but the edema is much improved.
Here's my theory--not based on any scientific research that I know of--our cells are insulin resistant. That means that they do not "open up" to the insulin in our blood stream. Perhaps they also don't allow fluid in our cells to drain out properly. When we improve the insulin resistance (OK, guess I'm leaning toward the PCOS theory), the edema improves as well. This is overly simplified--I know that there is a lot of science behind cell permeability that I can't begin to fathom.
It was a hot day today, and my shoes were still loose !!!
I understand completely. I go back to the dr. on Monday. The daily diuretic is not helping all that much. Hopefully, he will up the dosage of my thyroid medicine. Also, I have got to watch what I am eating. I don't think I have a choice anymore. I am tired of being fat, tired and now swollen.
I had terrible edema AFTER my last baby was born (but surprisingly not too much during the pregnancy!). I couldn't even put my slippers (which are several sizes too big to begin with) on at that time.
I had not yet been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, although I'm pretty sure I was hypothyroid at that point. I was cold the entire pregnancy--also very unusual. They did test my thyroid, but now I know that the laboratory values are set too high, so I very well could have been hypothyroid and it wasn't recognized by the OB.
Anyway, I found that the only way to handle that post-pregnancy edema was to get in bed and stay there. I just camped out with the baby and got up only to pee and eat and change diapers for a few days. Even if I sat on the couch for 30 minutes to see a visitor I'd swell right back up.
It finally went away when my hormones recovered from the shock of giving birth and I got more rest.
My money is on the PCOS, because my swelling is so linked to AF and so is my PCOS!
Since I started losing weight 2-3 months ago, I have noticed a pattern. The first three weeks of the month, I don't think I'm losing weight, I whine and whine and whine about how this isn't doing any good, and then AF hits, I am in the bathroom all the time, and I lose 10 pounds when the week is done!
Sure, maybe 2 pounds is fat loss, but the rest is the loss of the "phantom" weight gain . . . which was water weight gain during the month. When the scale said I was gaining, I had actually lost fat, but gained water.
I don't like the idea of taking a prescription diuretic, so at the advice of a friend, I take Alfalfa which is a very mild, natural diuretic. When I remember it, that is . . .
__________________ The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)
I have that same premenstrual weight pattern, but then the whoosh fairy comes and I'm so happy. I usually spend the second day of AF peeing out all the water that's accumulated in the preceeding weeks.
I had this idea to only weigh myself once a month--that way I'd really see the progress, but I'm one of those people who both loves and can't stand surprises, so I only managed one month without a weigh in. Now I'm trying once weekly, but my curiosity will often get the better of me midweek.
Swollen ankles 
