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Suggest Treatment For Profuse Sweating, Weight Gain And Ankle Swelling

Posted on Fri, 29 Jan 2016

Question: What could cause profuse sweating accompanied by weight gain and most recently severe ankle swelling? Patient is a 63 year old female diagnosed with lupus. Would symptoms be related or separate conditions? She has had full bloodwork within the past 60 days and physician didn't conclude anything.

Answered by Dr. Divakara (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Could be due to drugs or fluid retention.

Detailed Answer:
Hi

Thanks for posting your query.

Weight gain and swelling of feet could be due to fluid retention or drug induced.

Some of the medicines used for lupus can cause weight gain and swelling of foot. So kindly let me know what medications are going on for lupus.

Fluid retention can happen due to many conditions like kidney problem or liver problem or heart problem. Before advising any tests for the evaluation of these conditions I would like to go through the blood reports done. Hence kindly upload the reports.

Will be looking forward for your reply.

Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Divakara (1 hour later)

Sorry I don't have the medical reports. The patient is my sister. She has been taking Prozac for many years (probably 20 + years). After lupus diagnosis in 2010, she was prescribed Plaquenil, a generic Nexium product, vicoprofen (which she takes regularly), medication for hypertension, some estrogen medication and I'm not sure what else. You make a good point that it could be drug combinations/interactions. Could the profuse sweating also be related? That started about 1 year ago. Thank you for the help.

Answered by Dr. Divakara (20 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Need to know the name of medicines.

Detailed Answer:
HI

Thanks for the information.

Well if you can't upload the reports , I will first consider drug induced possibility.

Among the medications , estrogen and certain Hypertension medication can causes Weight gain and feet swelling . I need to know exactly what estrogen preparation and what hypertensive medication she is taking so that I can tell you whether that is the cause or we need to do extra tests .

Kindly tell me the name of estrogen medicine and hypertensive medicine.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Divakara (9 hours later)

Dr. Divakara,

My sister is taking Plaquenil 200 mg 2xday; Estradiol 1 mg 1xday; Maxide 75-50mg 1xday. I also remembered that she has taken prescription Potassium for many years. She's now on Klor-con M 10 tablets 2 twice a day. This dosage was increased in April 2015 from 1 tablet twice a day to 2 tablets twice a day. I wondered if the increased Potassium could account for some of the swelling (which didn't begin until maybe September of 2015.)

The profuse sweating (has been going on over a year) is what really mystifies me. It's not cold sweats. She's sweating even in cold weather.

Thank you again for your help. Maybe you can figure this out before her doctors can!!
XXXXXXX xxxxxxxxxxx

Answered by Dr. Divakara (29 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Need to change estradiol or Plaqenil.

Detailed Answer:
HI

Thanks for the information.

Well neither Maxide nor Klor Con-M 10 will cause swelling but Plaquenil and estradiol can cause feet swelling and weight gain . These medicines either have to be changed or their dosage has to be stopped .

I recommend for the time being to increase the dose of Maxide to 100mg per day , but also consult her doctor to change Plaquenil and estradiol or reduce the dosage .

Estradiol can cause sudden sweating also.

Hope this information was useful to you.
Any clarifications feel free to ask .

Regards.

Note: For more detailed guidance, please consult an Internal Medicine Specialist, with your latest reports. Click here..

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar