8 Surprising Causes of Edema: Uncover the Truth!
Summary
TLDRThe video discusses various causes of edema in lower legs and feet, highlighting the impact of diet, particularly sugar and sodium intake, on fluid retention. It emphasizes the importance of potassium to counteract sodium and suggests a low-carb, ketogenic diet as a solution. Other causes like hormonal imbalances, liver or kidney damage, heart problems, and medication side effects are also covered. The video advocates for addressing the root cause of edema and provides natural remedies and lifestyle changes for management.
Takeaways
- 🍽️ A high sugar and carb diet can lead to water retention due to the body storing excess glucose as glycogen, which binds with water and potassium.
- 🥦 Consuming too much sodium without enough potassium can cause fluid retention; potassium helps balance sodium levels and reduce water retention.
- 🥒 A low-carb, ketogenic diet can help alleviate edema by reducing the storage of glycogen and consequently water in the body.
- 🍲 Increasing vegetable intake or taking potassium supplements can provide the necessary potassium to counteract sodium and reduce swelling.
- 🚫 MSG (monosodium glutamate) can cause insulin spikes similar to sugar, leading to water retention and puffiness, especially in the lower extremities.
- 💊 Diuretics, while helping to remove excess fluid, can also deplete potassium levels, potentially worsening fluid retention issues.
- 🥩 Low protein levels in the blood, often due to liver or kidney damage, can cause fluid to leak out of the bloodstream and lead to edema.
- 🫀 Heart problems, including congestive heart failure, can result in fluid congestion in the vascular system and subsequent lower leg edema.
- 🌿 Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can cause a condition called mixed edema, which is related to metabolic waste product accumulation and fluid retention.
- 💔 Lipedema, associated with hormonal imbalances, causes abnormal fat accumulation, and a low-carb, higher fat diet may help in managing this condition.
- 💊 Certain medications, such as NSAIDs, calcium channel blockers, diabetic medications, and steroids, can cause edema as a side effect and may require medical adjustment.
Q & A
What is pitting edema and how does it manifest?
-Pitting edema is a condition where fluid accumulates in the body tissues, leading to swelling that leaves an indentation when pressed, or 'pits,' before bouncing back. It commonly affects the lower legs and feet.
What is the relationship between sugar consumption and edema?
-Consuming excess sugar and refined carbohydrates can lead to water retention due to the body's process of storing sugar as glycogen, which requires the use of potassium and water. This can result in a deficiency of potassium, leading to an imbalance with sodium and causing fluid retention.
How does a high carb diet contribute to edema?
-A high carb diet can cause a spike in insulin, which is associated with the consumption of glucose. This spike in insulin can lead to additional retention of sodium, contributing to fluid retention and edema.
What is the role of potassium in preventing edema?
-Potassium acts as an antidote to sodium in terms of fluid retention. When the body has sufficient potassium, it can buffer the effects of sodium and prevent the retention of fluid that leads to edema.
How can a ketogenic diet help with edema?
-A ketogenic diet, which is low in carbohydrates, can help with edema by reducing the body's need to store glycogen and the associated water retention. This type of diet can lead to a quick loss of water weight, alleviating symptoms of edema.
What is the connection between MSG and edema?
-MSG (monosodium glutamate) can cause edema as it spikes insulin, similar to the consumption of sugar. This leads to water retention and can cause puffiness and swelling, especially in the lower extremities.
How can liver and kidney damage lead to edema?
-Liver and kidney damage can lead to edema because these organs play crucial roles in protein synthesis and filtration. Damage to these organs can result in low protein levels in the blood, which attracts and retains water, causing fluid to accumulate in tissues and lead to edema.
What are some common medications that can cause edema as a side effect?
-Common medications that can cause edema include NSAIDs (used for pain and inflammation), calcium channel blockers, diabetic medications, and steroids.
How can one manage edema caused by medication?
-Managing medication-induced edema involves discussing with a healthcare provider about possible adjustments to the medication regimen. It may include exploring alternatives with fewer side effects or using natural remedies like milk thistle to protect the liver and mitigate side effects.
What is lymphedema and how is it different from other types of edema?
-Lymphedema is a condition where there is a backup of lymphatic fluid, often due to issues with the lymphatic system's ability to drain properly. Unlike other types of edema, which involve fluid accumulation in tissues, lymphedema is specifically related to the lymph system and often requires specialized treatments such as manual lymphatic drainage and compression garments.
What dietary recommendations are given for addressing edema?
-The script suggests that a low carb, higher fat diet can be beneficial for addressing edema. This approach can help reduce water weight and alleviate symptoms associated with edema, particularly when combined with an increase in potassium-rich foods or supplements.
Outlines
🍽️ Diet and Edema: The Role of Sugar and Sodium
This paragraph discusses the impact of diet on the occurrence of edema, particularly in the lower legs and feet. It highlights the role of sugar and high carb diets in causing fluid retention due to the body's need to store excess sugar as glycogen, which绑带钾 and water. The speaker shares their personal experience with pitting edema and explains how a low carb, ketogenic diet can help alleviate symptoms. Additionally, the importance of maintaining a balance between sodium and potassium is emphasized, as potassium acts as an antidote to sodium's fluid-retaining effects. The paragraph also touches on the depletion of B1 caused by refined sugars, which can contribute to edema.
🥗 Food Choices and Sodium Intake: Impact on Edema
The focus of this paragraph is on how food choices, specifically the consumption of sodium-rich foods without a potassium buffer, can exacerbate edema. It discusses the common practice of consuming fast foods high in MSG, which can lead to insulin spikes similar to sugar consumption, resulting in fluid retention. The paragraph also addresses the use of diuretics, which while effective in removing fluid, can also deplete potassium levels, potentially worsening the condition. The speaker suggests natural diuretic methods, such as consuming foods high in potassium, to mitigate edema. Additionally, it explores the connection between liver and kidney damage, heart problems, and thyroid issues with the development of edema, emphasizing the need to address underlying health issues to effectively manage fluid retention.
💊 Medications and Medical Conditions: Further Causes of Edema
This paragraph delves into additional causes of edema, including hormonal imbalances, genetic factors, and the side effects of certain medications. It discusses lipedema, a condition related to abnormal fat accumulation in the lower body, which is associated with hormonal and genetic factors. The speaker also touches on thyroid-related edema, known as mixed edema, which is distinct from typical fluid retention. The paragraph further addresses the impact of medications on edema, advising viewers to consult with their doctors to adjust prescriptions and explore safer alternatives. Lastly, it introduces lymphedema, a complex condition affecting the lymphatic system, and suggests various therapies and lifestyle changes that can help manage symptoms.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Pitting edema
💡High carb diet
💡Glycogen
💡Potassium
💡Sodium
💡MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)
💡Diuretics
💡Liver damage
💡Kidney damage
💡Congestive heart failure
💡Lymphedema
Highlights
Pitting edema in lower legs can be resolved by addressing the underlying causes rather than just treating the symptom.
A high carb diet and sugar consumption can lead to water retention due to the body storing sugar as glycogen, which binds with water and potassium.
Consuming excess sugar not only leads to fluid retention but also causes a potassium deficiency, which exacerbates fluid retention due to an imbalance with sodium.
A low carb, ketogenic diet can help alleviate edema by reducing the consumption of sugars and refined carbs that contribute to fluid retention.
The balance between potassium and sodium is crucial; potassium acts as a buffer against the water-retaining effects of sodium.
MSG, a common additive in fast foods, can cause insulin spikes similar to sugar, leading to fluid retention and puffiness.
Diuretics, often prescribed for fluid retention, can have the side effect of causing low potassium (hypokalemia), which can worsen fluid retention.
Low protein levels in the blood, often due to liver or kidney damage, can lead to edema as the blood's ability to attract and retain water is diminished.
Heart problems, such as congestive heart failure, can result in fluid congestion in the lower extremities due to poor pumping of the heart or high blood pressure.
Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can cause a condition called mixed edema, which is a buildup of a waste product from metabolism rather than actual fluid retention.
Lipedema, characterized by abnormal fat accumulation, is associated with hormonal imbalances and can be triggered by changes in estrogen levels.
Certain medications can cause edema as a side effect, and it's important to discuss alternatives or adjustments with a healthcare provider.
Lymphedema is a complex condition involving the lymphatic system, which lacks a pump and can lead to backup and congestion.
Manual lymphatic drainage, compression garments, low-level laser therapy, and regular exercise can help manage lymphedema by aiding the flow of lymph fluid.
Addressing the root cause of edema is essential for effective treatment, whether it involves dietary changes, supplements, or addressing underlying health conditions.
Potassium electrolyte supplements can be beneficial for those who struggle to consume enough potassium-rich foods to counteract sodium's water-retaining effects.
For those on medications that affect the liver, natural remedies like milk thistle can help mitigate potential side effects and protect the liver.
Transcripts
you know I actually had pitting edema in
my lower legs in my late twenties
so
I'm a lot older now and I don't have it
so I'm going to share with you some of
the things that I did as well as
um some other causes common causes rare
causes and what to do with each one so
specifically I want to talk about edema
in the lower legs and the feet so a lot
of people have it a lot of people take
medication but they don't actually at
the same time correct the underlying
cause so cause number one is
sugar and a high carb diet
and as that relates also to a spike in
insulin okay so it's kind of a
double-edged sword when you consume
excess amounts of sugar
what happens your body has to store the
sugar as glycogen okay what is glycogen
glycogen is a series of
glucose molecule stuck together
with potassium okay so they're going to
basically when you consume sugar you're
gonna it's gonna use up potassium to
store this glycogen and water so with
every glucose that you're going to store
okay you're going to store three water
molecules okay so you're going to store
a lot more water compared to glucose
when you consume glucose you know slash
sugar so this is all retained fluid this
is why when someone goes on a low carb
diet they just dump a lot of water like
real quick within the first week it
could be anywhere between seven to
thirteen pounds of water weight so
eating sugar and refined carbs
causes water retention from glycogen it
also causes a potassium deficiency when
you consume sugar too and when you lower
your potassium okay ratio to sodium we
have this retention of fluid so in other
words we all know that sodium retains
fluid well potassium is the antidote to
that so the less potassium I have
available because it's all locked up
within this glycogen then you're going
to actually cause retention of fluid
just because of the relative sodium in
your body in low potassium but also the
spike in insulin okay which is
associated with these the glucose
causes an additional factor of retention
of sodium from the spike in insulin this
is why diabetics are just like they have
this puffy fluid retention in the lower
legs and the feet because they have a
high glucose running through the
bloodstream all the time because
obviously they didn't discover
the low carb diet connection to solving
this mystery now on top of that when you
consume refined sugars you get a
depletion of B1 and a B1 deficiency can
also cause edema or swelling in your
legs in your feet so the solution can be
corrected by going in a low carb diet
it's called the ketogenic diet all right
number two
consuming a lot of sodium without the
buffer called potassium potassium
protects you against too much sodium in
fact it's not even a big concern if you
have a lot of salt in your diet as long
as you have the protective potassium
that comes along with it and you
definitely need at least twice as much
potassium than you do sodium so the
requirements for potassium are kind of
shocking to people once they find out
how much they need the rdas call for 4
700 milligrams that's how much potassium
we need so if you have that much
potassium you can buffer the bad effects
of sodium like fluid retention so
anything that increases the sodium
without the same time increasing
potassium can create a problem so let's
talk about
what can do that well number one
consuming a lot of salty foods without a
lot of potassium foods like I know this
might be shocking but some people don't
like vegetables right so they don't
consume much vegetable now why am I
saying that because the average person
in America at least consumes only one
and a half cups of vegetables per day
do you realize to get your potassium you
would have to consume at least seven to
ten cups of salad every single day so
that's a lot of greens but that will
provide the potassium to really help
buffer this sodium and get rid of a lot
of fluid now some other people what they
do is they do a combination they
increase their vegetables but they also
take a potassium electrolyte supplements
so they can actually get more potassium
to push out the fluid and that can
happen pretty quick in fact if you take
potassium and the next day when you wake
up you'll notice that wow my puffiness
in my legs are much less now another
hidden source of sodium is MSG mono
sodium glutamate which you would get in
a fast food restaurant right all these
you know delicious tasting addictive uh
junk Foods or fast foods are loaded with
MSG MSG dilates your taste buds to make
things taste better than it really is
you'll usually be hungry like an hour
and a half later MSG also spikes insulin
so it's kind of like eating sugar so
it's a double-edged sword because the
next day after consuming it's really
tasty food from a fast food restaurant
you'll notice the next day like you're
all swollen you can't pull your rings
off your your feet are all puffy listen
I used to do that I have firsthand
knowledge of that I used to live on fast
food for a few decades so just do an
experiment just cut out those Foods
start increasing potassium and watch how
the fluid goes away now another thing in
relationship to sodium so when people
have
high blood pressure or they have fluid
retention they're usually given a
diuretic diuretics get rid of fluid
because they cause an excess release of
sodium so it gets rid of sodium so it
gets rid of the fluid problem solved
right
well there's one minor complication it
has a side effect of something called
hypocalemia now what is hypokalemia that
means low potassium that's right those
diuretics decrease your potassium so
here you are trying to get rid of your
fluid getting rid of your sodium but
you're also getting rid of your
potassium guess what that's going to do
it's going to make things worse as a
natural diuretic you can just eat foods
high in potassium sometimes you can even
um take the Rind of watermelon just the
Rhine part or any melon and juice that
and drink that and you will wake up the
next day and you'll just like get rid of
a lot of fluid and the Rind of these
melons are loaded with potassium another
cause of fluid retention is low protein
in your blood but this most likely is
not stemming from you not consuming
enough protein
coming from either liver damage or
kidney damage you see your liver makes
certain proteins like albumin and when
the liver is damaged like in cirrhosis
or a fatty liver you can't make
sufficient amounts of that protein so
now we're going to have low protein in
the blood and what happens is like this
protein the blood attracts water so it
keeps the water in your blood when the
protein goes down you lose the water and
it goes out of the bloodstream and it
starts to accumulate in between the
cells causing edema and swelling this is
why with Advanced liver disease you
usually see pitting edema in the lower
legs you see people with a lot of
swelling usually the liver problem will
cause swelling on the right ankle and
leg before the left and the left ankle
or foot or lower leg is more heart
initially but then it kind of spreads
off into both also when you have kidney
damage
kidney is a filter so if you can't
filter
this Blood okay and help recycle these
proteins you end up losing a lot of
protein in the urine and this is one way
they diagnose kidney disease is by
having protein in the urine
so that means you're losing protein in
the blood and that means you're going to
retain fluid from that so both liver
damage and kidney damage can Create
Edema number four a heart problem so if
you have heart disease congestive heart
failure there's a lot of different types
of problems with the heart it's either
not going to pump the fluid that well
and then what's going to happen you're
going to get congestion in the vascular
system through the capillaries and that
can show up in the lower legs or it
could be partly because of the high
blood pressure that's pushing fluid and
you're ending up with edema from that
angle but of course the solution is to
fix the heart I have a lot of videos on
what to do for that natural things that
you can do for heart health but of
course a bad heart can definitely create
fluid retention in the lower extremities
now the next one has to do with the
thyroid now this can happen in both
hypothyroidism as well as hyper
thyroidism it's called mixed edema it
looks like it's a fluid retention such
situation but it's not and you see it
kind of like in the could be all over
the body it's kind of like this puffy
um like tissue in the lower extremities
like around your lower legs it could be
in the arms and again it's not edema
it's not even fat it's this kind of this
um
waste product from your metabolism and
the name of it is called a
mucopolysaccharide so it actually has
sugar connected to this protein and
because of that it does retain uh bind
to some fluid but it's very very
different than like edema that's in your
legs and apparently they don't know
exactly what causes this but it has
something to do with a spike in the
thyroid stimulating hormone and there
has been some results with this if you
catch it in time by giving the person
iodine or whatever the thyroid needs to
support the thyroid Health but again the
solution always has to be aligned with
the underlying cause so you have to
start working on why you have this hyper
or hypothyroid problem in the first
place and I have a lot of videos on that
I'll put a couple videos down below now
the next one is called lipedema and this
has to do with this abnormal fat
accumulation
in your tissues primarily in the lower
part of your body
they don't know a lot about it but it's
associated with the person having this
hormonal slash genetic problem with too
many estrogen receptors because estrogen
can cause fat in the lower part of the
body it can actually just make more fat
and a lot of times this condition is
triggered when someone is pregnant or
even in puberty when they have the spike
of estrogen even sometimes in menopause
when you have this it's a relative
higher amounts of estrogen compared to
Progesterone that's a completely
different situation
it's not fluid and it's very difficult
problem to solve but there's been some
studies and I'll put the link down below
of some pretty good dramatic benefits
from going on a low carb higher fat diet
so definitely you want to try that if
you have this condition number seven has
to do with the side effects of
medication if you start getting edema
from the side effect from a medication
you're gonna have to get with your
doctor and make some adjustments and I
would always recommend when you talk to
a doctor always you know
ask questions about like what's really
causing uh this problem why don't we get
to the root cause and also how long do I
have to be on this medication does it
actually ever correct this problem and
are there safer Alternatives in the
maybe herbal area that have lesser
amounts of side effects but if you can
pinpoint when you start getting swelling
in the lower legs and then what happened
just before that medications are a big
cause so you might want to get with your
doctor on that one and just as a side
note on that anytime you're on
medications the number one organ that
seems to be affected most is the liver
so milk thistle is a great kind of a
liver protective natural remedy to help
buffer some of these sound effects or
complications that might occur from just
taking the medication so milk thistle is
a good remedy but common medications
that can cause edema is NSAIDs usually
use for pain and inflammation calcium
channel blockers and diabetic
medications and also steroids last point
is lymphedema now this one is a very
difficult thing to work with because
you're having this problem in the lymph
system and the lymph system is
kind of connected to the arterial system
but it's doesn't have like a pump
so you have a lot of backup congestion
in the lymph system and so manual
lymphatic drainage is a great therapy
for this using compression garments is
another solution low-level laser therapy
has also been known to produce some good
benefits as well as regular or
consistent exercise can help to push
some of this lymph back into the place
where it needs to be in and out of your
lymphatic system all right so now that
you have a lot of potential reasons for
edema I think the next most important
video for you to watch would be the one
on what to really eat
for the majority of problems related to
this edema and for that information I
put this video up right here check it
out
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