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What Causes Swelling In Ankles Of An High BP Patient?
Question: Hi Doctor
My father is 58 years of age. He is having high blood pressure problems since 12 years. He takes medicine for high blood pressure. He often has swelling on his ankles. His physician asked him to do a kidney test. His creatinine level was 1.13 mg/dl. His blood sugar levels are very good. What can be the reason for his swelling in his ankles.
My father is 58 years of age. He is having high blood pressure problems since 12 years. He takes medicine for high blood pressure. He often has swelling on his ankles. His physician asked him to do a kidney test. His creatinine level was 1.13 mg/dl. His blood sugar levels are very good. What can be the reason for his swelling in his ankles.
Brief Answer:
Is he taking amlodepine?
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting in HCM.
Good that you uploaded all the reports available and I did went through all of them.
Creatinine is slightly on higher side but nothing to be alarmed of.
I would like to know what medications he is taking for his blood pressure. Is he taking anything contaning amlodepine? Because it is known to cause pedal edema on long term use.
Kindly reply with all the medications he is taking with doses and timings.
Awaiting your reply.
Thank you
Is he taking amlodepine?
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting in HCM.
Good that you uploaded all the reports available and I did went through all of them.
Creatinine is slightly on higher side but nothing to be alarmed of.
I would like to know what medications he is taking for his blood pressure. Is he taking anything contaning amlodepine? Because it is known to cause pedal edema on long term use.
Kindly reply with all the medications he is taking with doses and timings.
Awaiting your reply.
Thank you
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Veerisetty Shyamkumar
Hi doctor,
Thank you for the reply.
Yes , he is taking Amlodepine since 5 months. Before that he was taking Stam lo Beta(sorry, if there's a spelling error). Besides, Amlodepine he also takes Losartan.
Doctor, I would also want to know what diet he should follow for controlling the creatinine further. And as per the blood report, especially the cholesterol values can I say that his heart is in good shape.
Thank you.
Thank you for the reply.
Yes , he is taking Amlodepine since 5 months. Before that he was taking Stam lo Beta(sorry, if there's a spelling error). Besides, Amlodepine he also takes Losartan.
Doctor, I would also want to know what diet he should follow for controlling the creatinine further. And as per the blood report, especially the cholesterol values can I say that his heart is in good shape.
Thank you.
Brief Answer:
Kindly read ahead
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for following up with me.
So yes I can surely say that amlodepine is the cause for pedal edema here as I suspected.
You can talk to your doctor for changing it to some other group of antihypertensive or can stop and only continue losartan if his BP is not too high and is able to maintain with only losartan.
I am not suggesting any because there are 100s of them and its better to comply with your physician as you will be following up with him only. But you can ask for substitute in place of amlodepine.
For diet, there is nothing like that which will reduce creatinine. Its just control of hypertension which will inturn keep kidneys functioning normal. Just keep blood pressure in control, creatinine will stay in control. Only thing in diet I can tell is reduction in salt intake which I suppose you must be already taking care of.
Yes, cholesterol looks good so we can assume that heart is in good shape but looking at age one ECG and 2D ECHO can be done just to have baseline workup. Other than that nothing to be worried of and he looks fine based on the reports.
I hope I have answered your question well.
If you have any questions kindly ask me back.
Thank you
Kindly read ahead
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for following up with me.
So yes I can surely say that amlodepine is the cause for pedal edema here as I suspected.
You can talk to your doctor for changing it to some other group of antihypertensive or can stop and only continue losartan if his BP is not too high and is able to maintain with only losartan.
I am not suggesting any because there are 100s of them and its better to comply with your physician as you will be following up with him only. But you can ask for substitute in place of amlodepine.
For diet, there is nothing like that which will reduce creatinine. Its just control of hypertension which will inturn keep kidneys functioning normal. Just keep blood pressure in control, creatinine will stay in control. Only thing in diet I can tell is reduction in salt intake which I suppose you must be already taking care of.
Yes, cholesterol looks good so we can assume that heart is in good shape but looking at age one ECG and 2D ECHO can be done just to have baseline workup. Other than that nothing to be worried of and he looks fine based on the reports.
I hope I have answered your question well.
If you have any questions kindly ask me back.
Thank you
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Veerisetty Shyamkumar
Thank you so much doctor.
I would take the advantage of one remaining follow up to ask you a more generalized question.
I have asked this to several allopathic doctors but almost all gave me unsatisfactory answer, few got angry, to be honest.
I have heard many saying and also learnt from internet that if one takes allopathic medicines for chronic diseases , they are bound to cause side effects in the long run. How far is this thinking true?
Is my father's pedal edema is one such side effect? Is it only the beginning of something worse to come. Do you endorse yoga and pranayams or even Ayurveda for chronic diseases? Please clear my doubts/illusions if I have any.
I would take the advantage of one remaining follow up to ask you a more generalized question.
I have asked this to several allopathic doctors but almost all gave me unsatisfactory answer, few got angry, to be honest.
I have heard many saying and also learnt from internet that if one takes allopathic medicines for chronic diseases , they are bound to cause side effects in the long run. How far is this thinking true?
Is my father's pedal edema is one such side effect? Is it only the beginning of something worse to come. Do you endorse yoga and pranayams or even Ayurveda for chronic diseases? Please clear my doubts/illusions if I have any.
Brief Answer:
Kindly read ahead
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
I will try to answer your question to the best of my knowledge.
Every drug used in this world has some or the other side effect. But we use them because the effects are beneficial and outweigh the side effects.
Every person has different levels of side effects to every drug. For instance your father showed side effect in just 5 months whereas some people can go for 20-30 years without having any side effect with amlodipine.
Usually for chronic disease, the best medicine and optimum dose is finalized by trial and error method by seeing the effect of the drug. But there won’t be any unknown long lasting side effects of these drugs so you do not have to worry about it.
Yes, yoga and pranayama have shown beneficial effects on overall wellbeing of body and it also have good effect on hypertensive patients. So yes it will be surely helpful.
Ayurvedic meds I am not very sure. Those who practice Ayurveda will be best person to comment on this. But the side effects of Ayurveda are not known completely so honestly I am not the right person to comment on it.
But overall I can say that these allopathic meds for chronic diseases have been useful and hence still used on large basis because of their beneficial effects. Any side effect can be taken care of by changing the group of medication and finding the best drug for your father.
I hope I have answered your query well.
If you have any more question kindly write back to me, will be happy to help you out.
Thank you.
Kindly read ahead
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
I will try to answer your question to the best of my knowledge.
Every drug used in this world has some or the other side effect. But we use them because the effects are beneficial and outweigh the side effects.
Every person has different levels of side effects to every drug. For instance your father showed side effect in just 5 months whereas some people can go for 20-30 years without having any side effect with amlodipine.
Usually for chronic disease, the best medicine and optimum dose is finalized by trial and error method by seeing the effect of the drug. But there won’t be any unknown long lasting side effects of these drugs so you do not have to worry about it.
Yes, yoga and pranayama have shown beneficial effects on overall wellbeing of body and it also have good effect on hypertensive patients. So yes it will be surely helpful.
Ayurvedic meds I am not very sure. Those who practice Ayurveda will be best person to comment on this. But the side effects of Ayurveda are not known completely so honestly I am not the right person to comment on it.
But overall I can say that these allopathic meds for chronic diseases have been useful and hence still used on large basis because of their beneficial effects. Any side effect can be taken care of by changing the group of medication and finding the best drug for your father.
I hope I have answered your query well.
If you have any more question kindly write back to me, will be happy to help you out.
Thank you.
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vaishalee Punj
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