An oedema is an abnormal accumulation of liquid in one or several of the body's tissues. You can also have an oedema on the back of your hand as a result of a wasp sting or it can appear after a blow.
However, an oedema, can also be the result of the heart not pumping sufficient amounts of blood around in the circulation. Typically, swollen feet and ankles can be seen in elderly people as a sign of poor circulation (this kind of oedema in the legs and feet and also in the lungs is also called stasis).
Water constitutes 3/5 of your body weight. The liquid constantly moves between the vessels and the surrounding tissues. The actual exchanging of liquid takes place in the smallest blood vessels called capillaries. Liquid is squeezed out from the blood vessel into the surrounding tissues after which it is drawn back from the tissues into the blood vessels (osmosis).
Some of this liquid never returns to the blood vessels but instead turns into lymph (a clear, aqueous, sometimes slightly yellowish liquid containing white blood cells that circulate in the lymphatic vessels).
The kidneys contribute to maintaining the fluid balance as they regulate the amount of salt and water that is being excreted in the urine. The "filling" supposed to replace the salt and water lost in the urine comes from what you eat and drink.
However, there are various complications or sufferings that can disturb the body's fluid balance. In cardiac failure, for example, blood pools in the veins because the heart cannot manage to sufficiently pump it further on. This causes the blood pressure to rise and the increase in blood pressure is transmitted back to the capillaries. The result is that the tissues cannot get rid of the liquid which then accumulates, causing oedemas in the legs or lungs.
Loss of protein through the urine occurs in nephrotic syndrome which is a kidney disease that results in loss of proteins and salts through the kidneys.
In this way you will be deficient in important nutrients present in the blood because the proteins in the blood are the ones maintaining the amount of liquid in the blood vessels and when the amount of protein is reduced, liquid will seep out into the tissues resulting in odeama in the legs. This phenomenon is called osmosis.
In renal failure, the excretion of salt through the urine is reduced. Therefore, salt is accumulated in the tissues and the salt binds liquid, resulting in oedema. However, oedemas can have other causes such as:
- Lack of dietary protein (reduces the blood protein content and thereby disturbs the osmotic function). forstyrre
- Cirrhosis of the liver (often leads to accumulation of blood in the hepatic veins).
- Lack of vitamin B1 (often observed in alcoholics).
- Treatment with adrenocortical hormone (cortisone) and oestrogen (contraceptive pills).
- Pregnancy (pre-eclampsia).
In other words, oedemas can be caused by both relatively harmless conditions and more serious disease, so it is important to investigate the reason why fluid accumulates in your body.
Historically, the herb foxglove, Digitalis lanata and Digitalis purpurea, has been used as a cardiac medicine in case of an enlarged heart and in chronic cardiac failure which can also cause oedemas in the lungs or legs.
