What Causes Ankle Swelling In A Patient With Hypertension?

Posted on Sat, 22 Aug 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 Answered on

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : I have some high blood pressure but Take medication and it's under control. A Doctor seeing me for another reason noticed my ankles were swollen and said she heard a slight murmur in my heart. She orderd an Electrocardiogram and it seem every thing is fine. I went to a pulmonary therapy today which I do 3 times a week and I felt weak and dizzy. I did some of the exercises but the therapist noticed my legs swollen and my blood pressure was high. My legs have definitely swollen up the last couple weeks. Unfortunately my Doctors are away until Monday. What do you think?

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (35 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Please provide more details

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

the drugs you're taking (for hypertension or any other reason) are very important to know. Some of them may cause leg swelling. The functional status of your heart is very important as well.

Another thing I'd like to know is whether this is pitting edema or not. Pitting means that if you let your finger rest on the edematous area and apply a little pressure, it will leave a slowly disappearing mark.

Other medical problems would be good to know (like kidney disease and of course all the details). Finally any symptoms would be very helpful like pain or warmth or fever, etc.

So in conclusion, in order to help me comment on your problem I'm going to need:
- a full list of your drugs
- your symptoms in detail
- an echo (of your heart) report if you've got one
- you medical history, even if it doesn't sound relevant to you.

I'll be waiting for your input.

Kind Regards!

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