Swollen Ankle and Foot

I am a 48 year old female. Three or four times a year my ankle and foot swells up so big that my toes look like they are going to pop off. I have had it in both ankles, but never both at the same time. It always starts the same way.First I get a tiny red blotch on my inner ankle that hurts to touch like its a bad bruise.  With in  three to four hours my foot and ankle is so swollen you cant even see my ankle bones.The slightest touch such as my hem of my pants or the covers in bed is extreemly painful. The first 24 hours I can barely walk on it. The second day my foot is still sensictive to touch, very  swollen, looks like I have a bright red sock on, it's slightly warm to the touch. Its not as painful to walk after the first 24 hours. We've monitored my foods and found no comon that causes it. Many of the symptoms are the same as gout, but my blood tests come up negitive for gout. I have Kaiser health care insurance. They have sent me to at least 9 different doctors and specialist and none of them know what is causing this. I asked it it could be congestive heart failure and they said no. This has been going on for 11 years now. I am normally fairly healthy. I don't know if it has any thing to do with my ankle, but I  have vitiligo. I loose more and more of my skin color every summer. Any advise you have for me would be greatly appreciated.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hi,

Some important causes of the swelling of the feet are heart failure, poor functioning of the kidneys or that of the liver. There can be some local causes also like varicose veins which can produce a swelling. Another important cause which is often missed is hypothyroidism, an impaired functioning of the thyroid gland, in which something known as non pitting edema occurs. It means that if you press the area of the swelling for at least a minute, no pit is formed. In some patients, something known as cyclic edema also occurs in which the underlying cause is not known but this edema comes and goes.

I think a physician consultation will definitely help and one who can search for all the possible causes and rule them out one by one by various tests.

I hope that helps.

Please do keep me posted.

Kind Regards.