ARE YOU SWELLING ?
“After a day of sitting at work my ankles are swollen”
“My legs and feet came heavy and doubled in size, during the last months of pregnancy”
“ I had breast surgery and started swelling in my arm”
“Edema” is the medical term for swelling, it refers to symptoms that can be caused by number of conditions including injury or trauma, pregnancy, infections, and many other medical problems. In all these cases the accumulation of fluid in the interstitial tissue is caused by insufficient return of venous blood, or venous pooling. While the lymphatic system tries to work to correct this imbalance by working harder at times it becomes overwhelmed for the lymph vessels to compensate. That extra fluid builds up, which makes the tissue swell and cause cell damage. As a result, lymphedema can occur due to insufficiency of the lymphatic system, when blockage exists or when its damaged.
Lymphedema is a long-term condition. It is a common, chronic, disabling condition which has significant impact on patients’ quality of life.
How do you know if its Lymphedema.
Currently, there is no known cure for Lymphedema, but there are a variety of techniques to manage its symptoms. Lympedema therapy involves Complete Decongestive Therapy (CDT) – current international standard of care for lymphedema.
These treatments include:
Drug treatments have been ineffective to relieve for most types of lymphedema. A number of important new technologies are being developed which will influence the future management of the condition—these include genetic, new methods of compression, surgical techniques such as lymph node transplants, liposuction and low-level laser therapy.