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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Severe Fatigue Along With Swelling In The Legs?

I am caring for my 89 year old father who has always been active. In fact he cared for my mom for the past 20 years until she passed away in February. I expected a change in him after that, just didn t expect it to happen so soon. He had shortness of breath before, but this past 2 months it has much gotten worse. He has A-fib and was diabetic but lost 60 pounds since Mom passed. I had the ambulance here on Monday, they checked him and his oxygen levels are in the 90% range, his B/P was a little high while lying down, when sitting it was low. He refused to be transported. (A very bad and costly experience for him when it happened in June when he fell. Long story.) Right now it takes him several tries just to get out of bed and getting dressed completely drains him. He says he feels better lying down rather than sitting. He has some swelling in his lower legs. The ambulance crew said he also showed signs of dehydration so he has been trying to drink more water. Any suggestions?
posted on Wed, 20 Dec 2017
Twitter Sun, 8 Jul 2018 Answered on
Twitter Wed, 11 Jul 2018 Last reviewed on
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General Surgeon,  's  Response
Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service.
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.

Causes of your difficulties may be nephropathy or ischemic issues. Neuropathic are seen in diabetics or injury of spine nerves. If this is not your case then these symptoms are indicating circulatory problems in legs which are common in this age and there may be present atherosclerosis that obstructs blood vessels and causes pain and blisters to form. You should do Doppler ultrasound of the leg or CT angiography to rule out such obstructive changes and then it can be treated properly by medications or by surgical and radiological procedures. Also, you should have Aspirin and have elastic stockings applied, and should avoid cold environment and long walks. In most cases it can be managed with medications but sometimes surgery may be required in severe cases.

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What Causes Severe Fatigue Along With Swelling In The Legs?

Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice. Causes of your difficulties may be nephropathy or ischemic issues. Neuropathic are seen in diabetics or injury of spine nerves. If this is not your case then these symptoms are indicating circulatory problems in legs which are common in this age and there may be present atherosclerosis that obstructs blood vessels and causes pain and blisters to form. You should do Doppler ultrasound of the leg or CT angiography to rule out such obstructive changes and then it can be treated properly by medications or by surgical and radiological procedures. Also, you should have Aspirin and have elastic stockings applied, and should avoid cold environment and long walks. In most cases it can be managed with medications but sometimes surgery may be required in severe cases. I hope I have answered you query. If you have any further questions you can contact us in every time.Kindly regards.