WHAT IS LYMPHEDEMA?

Have you had surgery for breast cancer?  Are you obese and more specifically morbidly obese?  If either one of these conditions are a part of your current or past medical history and you have swelling, tightness or heaviness in your arm(s) or leg(s) and torso, you may be suffering from a condition known to the medical community as lymphedema.  When the swelling, heaviness or tightness is in the legs and you are morbidly obese, you may have a condition known as elephantiasis which most probably will be diagnosed as lymphedema. When the lymph nodes in our body are compromised and not filtering foreign substances or excess fluid, that matter escapes and is then dispersed into the cells and ultimately space between the tissues in our bodies. This accumulation of fluid emission is what causes the swelling, heaviness and tightness. 

 

Additional Lymphedema Indicators

 

Many breast cancer patients who have undergone breast surgery or received radiation therapy develop lymphedema following their treatment.  The medical community has not been able to determine why some patients do and others don’t when similar procedures occurred.  In the case of morbid obesity the lymphatic’s are pressed by the excess weight and become unable to function and the fluid is forced into the tissue spaces which results in the swelling, tightness and heaviness.  Other indicators of lymphedema are changes in the appearance of the skin, oozing, increased pain or aching in the affected areas and the inability to ambulate with ease.

 

Is There A Cure?

 

Currently there is not a cure for lymphedema, however good lymphedema products are available.  Someone with the disease should seek, through their medical provider or through a personal search, these aids that will help them to treat the condition.  Most treatments and products will provide some relief from the side effects of this disease.

Tags: body, Health, lymphadema