How do you know that it's not Deep Vein Thrombosis but something much less serious? See detail.

I sent this to our MD – Caravanfan.

You go to a dr and have it examined.

You don’t.

Maybe go to an urgent care to get it looked at sooner so you won’t spend days worrying.

Ultrasound will confirm/rule out the existence of a clot in the deep system. Is this person seeing a vein specialist? Or just a primary care? There are treatments for DVT that can be time-sensitive and may be able to reduce the likelihood of Post-Thrombotic Syndrome if done early enough. If the appointment is with a PCP, I would encourage them to visit an urgent care facility sooner than later, for peace-of-mind and also to get the process moving along more quickly. DVTs can be life threatening.

The person (I was wrong it is a 50 yr. old. Probably makes no difference.) is far from easily being able to see a doctor.

Thaks.

I wonder if removing salt altogether would help in the meantime. And is drinking a lot of water bad if fluid buildu is the problem?

Those are excellent questions, but it would be irresponsible of me to answer them since I’m not a doctor. I would encourage this person to contact their MD’s nurse, explain their concerns and have this conversation with them. I would not wait a few days to ask in person if they suspect a DVT.

If any one leg is swelling and there is no other known reasons, then I would assume its being caused by her or his veins. There are a number os minor things that can cause it. Standing all day or starting a rigorous new workout routine to thyroid issues. But I’m not a doctor and you need to see a medical professional to at least rule out DVT. If they can’t get a doctor appointment in person, see if they can do a video appointment with a doctor that can hurry an actual physical appointment.

Swelling in one leg? I would go immediately to urgent care or the ER. I would not wait three days. I would bypass urgent care if they don’t have the diagnostic tools to confirm whether it is or is not a DVT.

Doesn’t matter 50 or 70 years old. Plenty of 50 year olds get DVT.

DVT is one of the things I’m always trying to ward off. I dread the possibility of having one someday in the future. Terrifying to me, so I guess that’s why I think do not pass go, don’t wait.

I don’t understand how standing long can cause a problem. In fact hasn’t medicine been advising to stand instead of sitting down whenever possible, at work for example? And how about cashiers? They’re standing all day.

@flo, When I was younger I use to be a cashier and stood for 8 hours and I can tell you that your legs can swell. Standing isn’t walking. Walking at least helps circulate you blood but standing in my opinion isn’t any better. Although walking a lot can also cause your legs to swell. I went on a walk-a-thon when I was 18 and did 20 miles. When I got home my legs hurt so bad and were like tree trunks. It took 2 days for the swelling to go down. I didn’t even have varicose veins. Now I do and I have poor circulation to my feet and sometimes a short flight even can trigger my feet and calf to swell. I flew from Vegas to Atlanta and suddenly I felt my leg swelling up. Luckily when we landed and I hads quite the walk to my next flight, my swelling went down and the next flight didn’t have the same effect. I don’t know why that happened but it resolved itself with walking.

Thanks.

I asked in my other thread who are they talking about when they say standing all day.

And sitting too much is also a cause of the problem. Walking a lot can get the legs to be swollen (edited: so I don’t know what to make of it.

Walking a lot like 20 miles is more than most people would ever walk in a day. But it really depends on what a person is used to. I thought because I regularly walked everywhere and was active that I could do 20 but my muscles and my circulatory system said differently. Then there is the water retention aspect to legs swelling I know during the walk a thon we were advised to raise our arms above out heart level to help with circulation if we had hand swelling to help with our circulation and to remove any rings or tight bracelets as well.

I found this on Mayo Clinic site. Maybe it can clear up some questions you have about it. Leg swelling