Oedema, fluid retention, odema

Oedema: Natural measures can help banish fluid retention

Do your shoes feel tight towards the end of the day and do your ankles ache with swelling that restricts your movements? Are your eyelids puffed up or your fingers so swollen that rings no longer fit?

This type of debilitating swelling is caused by oedema, a build-up of excess fluid that leads to puffy, shiny skin with a doughy feel. Sustained pressure, such as from the elastic tops of socks, may leave an indentation that is slow to disappear.

This abnormal fluid build-up in the tissues can be a sign of serious illness such as congestive heart failure, kidney disease or chronic liver disease, so it’s very important that you see your doctor to get a proper diagnosis.

In most cases, however, oedema results from one or more of three causes: high blood pressure pushing fluid out of the vessels into the surrounding tissues; excess fluid loss from capillaries with weak walls (a condition called chronic venous insufficiency); or an imbalance of sodium and potassium levels, which causes water to move out of the blood vessels and into the tissues. In addition, some drugs, such as steroids, antidepressants and calcium-channel blockers, can cause oedema as a side effect.

Some diuretic drugs can just make matters worse

If you’re diagnosed with oedema, your doctor is likely to prescribe a diuretic drug (water pills) to stimulate your kidneys to increase water output via your urine. However, these drugs can cause a range of unpleasant side effects including low blood pressure, dizziness, tinnitus, impotence, stomach upset and nausea.

Some diuretics even cause the body to lose potassium, so upsetting the sodium-potassium balance and making the problem worse. In fact, diuretic drugs don’t address the underlying problem of too much fluid leaking out of the blood vessels and causing fluid retention under the skin.

The answer in most instances is to reduce blood pressure if it is too high, strengthen the capillary walls to prevent fluid loss and redress the balance of sodium and potassium by eating less salty foods and more vegetables.

An extract of French maritime pine bark, called pycnogenol, has been found to reduce the oedema associated with varicose veins and chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). In an Italian clinical trial, 40 patients with CVI, between the ages of 30 and 74, were randomly assigned to take either 100mg of pycnogenol three times a day, or placebo, for two months. The pycnogenol group reported a massive 64 per cent reduction in leg pain and swelling, while the placebo group experienced no significant changes (Fitoterapia 2000; 71(3): 236-244).

Another study in Switzerland has since confirmed pycnogenol’s potential to significantly reduce lower leg oedema due to CVI (Phytotherapy Research 2002; 16 (Suppl 1): S1-S5). The recommended dose is 100mg of pycnogenol, three times a day.

Follow these top 5 tips For overcoming oedema

1. Drink plenty of water – up to 2 litres a day. Although many people think that if they’re retaining fluid in their bodies then a sensible solution is to drink less, this isn’t the case. Drinking water does not make you retain fluid but it does promote proper kidney functioning, which is vital for controlling your body’s water balance.
2. However, avoid tea, coffee and alcohol, which have a dehydrating effect and can cause fluid retention.
3. Put your feet up at regular intervals throughout the day and rotate your ankles frequently to prevent fluid build-up in your legs. Wearing support stockings can also help.
4. Limit your salt intake and eat more potassium-rich foods, such as seaweed, spinach, dried apricots, butter beans, soya beans and Brazil nuts. A controlled trial found that a low-salt diet (less than 2,100 mg sodium per day) resulted in reduced water retention after two months in a group of women with unexplained oedema (Acta Med Port 1991;4:236–41).
5. Add fresh parsley to your meals... it’s a natural diuretic that helps cleanse your blood and stimulates the movement of toxins through your kidneys.

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In fact most salad vegetables exert a gentle diuretic action, celery in particular.

Stinging nettle extract is just as effective as a leading prescription drug

The humble stinging nettle is credited with having many medicinal properties, including an ability to help combat water retention and oedema. When researchers compared a nettle leaf extract with the prescription drug frusemide (a powerful diuretic), they found their diuretic effect to be almost identical. They also found that the nettle leaf extract decreased blood pressure by acting directly on the arteries (J Ethnopharmacol 2000, 73(1-2):95-100).

While the two treatments were equally as effective, frusemide can cause side effects like abnormal heart rhythm, dizziness, confusion, nausea, digestive problems, gout and muscle pain. While nettle leaf can also cause occasional side effects, these are far milder, such as stomach upset or a skin rash – both of which soon disappear after stopping the treatment for a few days.

The herb gotu kola (Centella asiatica) contains plant chemicals called triterpenes, which are believed to enhance the production of collagen – a tough, fibrous protein found in connective tissue. Gotu kola can strengthen the walls of veins and capillaries by increasing their collagen content and also improves blood flow.

Doctors at two London hospitals collaborated in a series of studies on the effects of gotu kola on the circulatory system, which showed positive benefits in terms of increased vein strength and reduced leg swelling (Angiology 2001; 52 (Suppl 2): S9-S73). Take 60mg a day of a gotu kola extract standardised as TTFCA (which stands for “total triterpenic fraction of Centella asiatica”).

CoQ10 and taurine – a powerful duo in the fight against oedema

An effective way of treating oedema through controlling blood pressure is by supplementing with a substance produced naturally in your body, called co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10). For many people, it can lower blood pressure as effectively as prescription medication and without the adverse side effects. In fact all its side effects are good ones – like lowering cholesterol and preventing diabetes and gum disease.

In a double-blind clinical trial, a group of 76 patients with hypertension took 60mg of CoQ10 or a placebo for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, the CoQ10 group had an average reduction of 18 points in their blood pressure, leading the researchers to conclude: “CoQ10 may safely be offered to hypertensive patients as an alternative treatment option” (Southern Med J 2001; 94(11): 1112-7). Take 60mg to 120mg of CoQ10 a day.

The amino acid taurine – taken at a dose of between 2 to 6 grams a day – also helps combat oedema by lowering blood pressure. It does this by reducing the production of the hormone adrenalin, which is known to raise blood pressure. Another way it benefits sufferers is that it helps balance the ratio of sodium to potassium in the blood (Circulation 1987; 75(3): 525-32).

20.09.2007

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