Flying and crusing swollen feet

hog.newsread.com...
Any remedies!!!

Drink lots of water.


As a health care professional- drinking lots of water is NOT recommended if you
have or are prone to edema. Definately the wrong thing to do with an already
overloaded fluid in extremities.

"JLeary256" wrote in message
...
hog.newsread.com...
Any remedies!!!

Drink lots of water.


As a health care professional- drinking lots of water is NOT recommended
if you
have or are prone to edema. Definately the wrong thing to do with an
already
overloaded fluid in extremities.

Insufficient fluid intake makes it hard for the kidneys to do their job. If
the kidneys aren't working optimally due to not-enough-liquid-intake, then
swelling happens. Drinking water is *critically* important to this process.

My professional credentials are in maternal health, personally.

If someone is taking in a ton of salt (as on a cruise or doing a lot of
restaurant eating) it is *impossible* for the kidneys to do their work if
they are also restricting fluids!

When someone cruises (particularly someplace warm and humid) they have
several different factors which affect edema:

1. Immobility with legs down (best treated by getting the legs up, getting
moving, or getting in water)
2. Increased salt (requires increase in fluid intake to help the body
excrete the salt properly)
3. Heat and humidity (increased sweating helps offset the increased salt
intake, but if fluid intake is not sufficient, you can't sweat properly)

Add to this the pre-cruise flight (and yes, drink plenty of water is ALWAYS
good advice on an airplane for someone whose feet are swelling!), any car
travel, etc., and it's a wonder we don't all drop dead of clotting.

Osmosis, the mechanism which moves fluid in and out of the tissues, is
controlled by balancing sodium and fluid intake. If the body can't clear the
excess sodium out, swelling results. Not enough salt in the bloodstream?
Swelling results as sodium in the tissues pulls liquid out of the
bloodstream.

Do people have to take in "lots" of fluids? They need to take in enough
fluids that their kidneys can do their job easily. This is most easily
judged by urine color. If a regular toilet bowl with water in it turns pale
yellow, it's a sign someone is getting plenty of fluids. If it's darker,
then they need to drink more.

Dehydration combined with travel is a serious risk for blood clots,
particularly for the one in twenty people of Northern European descent who
have Factor V Leiden, or people with other clotting disorders.

My advice stands.

Jenrose

On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 02:10:57 GMT, "Jenrose"
wrote:

Osmosis, the mechanism which moves fluid in and out of the tissues, is
controlled by balancing sodium and fluid intake.

That's osmoregulation.