Sudden influx of salt can cause edema
Dear Dr. Gott: While on vacation in Mexico last year, my ankles swelled one day, and by the next my whole body was blown up. A local doctor gave me a shot and water pills and blamed the sun. This year in Hawaii, the same thing happened. What could cause this to happen to a person who has always enjoyed sunning?
Dear Reader: There are several reasons why a sudden change in climate might cause a person to retain excess salt and, hence, water in the body.
First, a trip to Mexico or Hawaii usually involves an alteration of diet. In your case, you may well have consumed more salt than usual, starting with airline fare and possibly other food, such as fish and condiments.
When faced with a sudden influx of sodium, the body may take several days to adjust to the new salt load. Fluid retention (edema) often results until the kidneys can excrete the excess mineral.
Such fluid accumulation may be worsened by a warm, humid climate, as the metabolism strives to achieve a new balance. This adjustment is common in northern climes as well, leading to an increase in blood volume that causes the lassitude we term “spring fever.”
Finally, the sun also plays a role. Ultraviolet light readily burns untanned and unprotected skin. This produces an initial edema of the skin (and, often, the underlying tissues as well), until the skin adapts to the sun’s effects.
During your next southern holiday, I recommend that you severely limit salt in your diet and go easy on the sun for the first few days. Further, you might ask your family physician if the use of a prescription diuretic such as Dyazide might help you avoid edema when you travel.
Dear Dr. Gott: Can a nurse tell a person’s blood pressure by a pulse beat?
Dear Reader: The traditional Western medical teaching is that an observer, no matter how keen, cannot determine the blood pressure by feeling the pulse. In fact, tomes have been written about the correct method to obtain blood pressure readings with the standard cuff, the proper use of which takes training and experience.
Nonetheless, proponents of Eastern alternative medicine point to the fact that their practitioners claim to be able to discover an amazing array of information – including blood pressure – by carefully noting the quality of the pulse beat.
I am not qualified to judge whether this practice is valid. Because my training is in Western medicine, I prefer to obtain blood pressure readings with familiar equipment that I know is accurate and scientifically valid. I suspect that most nurses would agree.
To give you related information, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Hypertension.” Other readers who would like a copy should send a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope and $2 to Newsletter, P.O. Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title.