Day 17 - Swollen Ankles

[paula_bear]

I'm on Day 17 of my Whole 30. Last night I noticed my flip flops were tight and saw that my ankles were swollen. Today it became worse and my ankles are swollen to twice their normal size. I went for a brisk 45 minute walk after dinner. I don't keep track of my water intake, but I know I had at least 64 oz of clear water, plus 3 cups of herbal tea and a 16 oz kombucha. This is what I ate today:

M1 - 6:00 am: 2 egg omelette with spinach & onion fried in coconut oil, 1/2 large potato fried in coconut oil with onion & red pepper, 1/4 cup cashews, small granny smith apple

M2 - 12:15 pm: spinach salad with grated carrots, red pepper, alfalfa sprouts and grilled chicken breast with olive oil & vinegar. 1/2 avocado.

Mini-meal at 3:30 pm (a wave of exhaustion rolled over me as it often does at this hour) 1/4 cup raw almonds & small granny smith apple

M3 - 6:30 pm: 2 egg omelette with asparagus, mushroom & onion fried in coconut oil, 2 pieces of compliant sausage, 1/2 potato fried in coconut oil with red pepper & onion.

I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary. I don't have high blood pressure and I've never experienced this before. I'm not pregnant (I only mention it because one of my coworkers asked.) Any idea what could be causing this? I will also mention that on Day 2 I broke out in a rash that lasted about 5 days. I also have Hashimoto's thyroiditis and a wheat allergy. One other thing is that I was gluten free for about 6 weeks and dairy free for a week before starting my W30, but the Friday before I began, I binged on my favorite snack, pretzels and milk.

Thanks in advance for any insight you may have to offer!

[MeGA"gardener"]

I have less experience but I'll tell you I do get swollen if I have too much sodium as in canned fish etc I also take supplements and do drink half my body weight in water with fresh lemons It seems to help keep down the bloat

Carbs also help retain a certain percentage of water I use kosher salt less sodium and measure 3/4 tsp per pound of meat if I brine it

I use nuts rarely on occasion with a salad

Hope this helps somewhat

The Moderators would know best

[ShannonM816]

Nobody here is a doctor, so if you're really worried about this, or if it continues for more than a couple of days, or if it's actually painful, you really ought to contact your doctor.

 

I'm not really sure why this would be happening to you. It's possible you need more water, we usually recommend 1/2 oz per pound of body weight, so if you weigh 120 lbs, at least 60 oz of water. Could be the nuts, although they seem to be more likely to cause digestive problems than swelling. Might be too much salt, although I wouldn't think that would be very likely if you're just salting your food to taste and not to the point that it seems overly salty. 

 

Sort of a random, TMI-type question that you don't necessarily have to answer here, but definitely think about it -- are you peeing a normal amount? If you realize maybe you're not going as often as you usually would or seem to have less volume, you probably ought to call your doctor and rule out any kind of urinary tract stuff. It's pretty unlikely to be that, but if it is, you'd want to get treatment for it asap.

 

I know you said you don't have high blood pressure -- when is the last time you checked that? Is there any chance it's changed since then?

 

I know that when my ankles have been swollen in the past, it helped me to elevate them -- you can use pillows under your knees to help elevate them in bed, or if you're ok with getting on the floor, lay down on your back with your feet up on the wall for a little while. This should help the swelling to go down. 

 

 

(Totally unrelated -- your meals could actually stand to be larger. Try three eggs in the omelette, or some other protein source like you did in meal 3. And I think if you beef up your salad, maybe you can avoid the 3:30 pm slump -- if you really like salad and want to have salad, that's fine, but throw in some denser vegetables -- I like roasted sweet potato chunks in salad, or try beets, have the whole avocado, and that granny smith apple from your snack -- chop it up and throw it in the salad instead.)

[paula_bear]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to see a doctor. I just had my blood pressure checked on Monday when I donated blood. I'm peeing a normal amount. As far as the size of my meals goes, I don't think I can eat larger ones. It takes me at least half an hour to chew all that food and I feel quite full afterward. I'm only 5'3" and my weight was around 150 lbs when I started my Whole30.

[MeGA"gardener"]

Good for you Paulabear

I hope you find out soon

Ya know Why aren't there doctors as Moderaters??? I'm sure there are nurses and doctors members I've read their responses here and there on the forum

[ShannonM816]

Good for you Paulabear

I hope you find out soon

Ya know Why aren't there doctors as Moderaters??? I'm sure there are nurses and doctors members I've read their responses here and there on the forum

Even if there were doctors as moderators (I'm pretty sure one of the current mods is a nurse, but I won't say names in case I'm remembering wrong), while they might be able to give different advice than those of us who have no medical training, they still couldn't really diagnose quite the same way a doctor can in person -- the liability issues would be horrific if they were known to be a doctor and misdiagnosed something and ended up hurting someone, and it would have to be really difficult to diagnose anything just based on what someone says on the internet anyway. All they could really do is throw out more educated guesses and still end up saying, if you're worried or in pain go see your doctor to find out what exactly is going on.

[SpinSpin]

If all is good with your medically, and if your ankles still swell, have someone massage your lower legs-- from the knee down. I am a diabetic, so I need to keep my circulation good, and during the heat and if I sit too long without taking a break my ankles swell. If they are not cooperating and going down with elevation and more water, I will have my husband massage my legs for me and that REALLY helps. I also have discovered that within 30 minutes of the massage, I am running to the bathroom to *ahem* get rid of that extra fluid. Something to think about! 

[Carlaccini]

I'm going to throw this one out there.  Just because I've had some personal experience.

 

For the last year and a half I have been dealing with a knee and hip injury.  Actually when the chips are down my left knee and hip are shot for whatever reasons - weight, poor diet, the fact that I used to be extremely accident prone....  Whatever.  There is no way of truly knowing.

 

The pain was fair to middling, it's more annoying than sharp exacting pain per se.  But because of the pain I avoid doing any stressful exercises etc.  I also noticed a small *little* thing.  My wrists were very often inflamed and swollen in the morning.  Not later on in the day - only in the mornings.  So I began too wonder....I am eating more eggs than I ever have in my life - I wonder if they are affecting me.  I cut them out for approximately 5 days.  Pain went away, inflammation went down, wrists were normal throughout the day.  I had eggs again - everything came back within a half our.

 

So maybe, just maybe eggs (or something else entirely) could be bothering you.  Eggs are known to cause some inflammation (hence why they are out while doing an AIP whole 30)