Have you found that saline drips make you thirsty and make your hands and feet swell?

Have you found that saline drips make you extremely thirsty and make your hands and feet swell? Then you've had the same experience that I've had. It may well mean that you too are sensitive to salt, and that you too would greatly benefit by restricting your intake of salt and salty food. And if you ever have to have a saline drip in the future, it could be a good idea for you and your medical team to consider using a drip that contains potassium as well as sodium, instead of the usual saline drip.

The Queen: her feet look swollen

In this article in the Telegraph today, the photograph of the Queen's feet in patent leather shoes gives the impression that either the Queen is wearing shoes that are too small for her (unlikely) or that her feet must have swollen while she has been wearing them. It seems to me that she is experiencing that common problem of having feet that swell as the day goes on because of excess fluid gravitating downward.

The Queen was not overweight when she was younger, but her four pregnancies were probably a big factor in her developing excess fluid retention. I'll bet she's glad to get out of her court shoes at the end of her busy day and put her feet up!

The Queen's problem of fluid retention and swelling feet would be reduced if she were to cut down on salt/sodium and salty food. - If you too, dear Reader, suffer from swollen feet, I make the same suggestion to you. - You will feel sooo much better!

Female and got Big Feet?

I heard the item about women's big feet on Woman's Hour a few weeks ago and resolved to write about it, but being so tired, I've only just got round to it. (At the bottom of the webpage you can click on "CHAPTER 4" and listen to the item on big feet.) "New research has found that most women with size 8 or 9 feet are ashamed by their shoe size, and nearly half lie about how big their feet are. So, why all the fuss? Jane chats to Keren Miller a long time sufferer of big feet blues who has taken matters into her own hands, and asks podiatrist Lorraine Jones whether big footed women are fast becoming the norm."

Keren spoke about difficulties in buying shoes for bigger female feet and mentioned particularly the distress caused to her teenage daughter (who has size 11 feet) by the reaction of tactless staff in a shoe shop that did not have shoes big enough for her feet. Ms Miller enterprisingly and laudably decided to do something about the situation and now has this helpful website: http://www.prettybigfeet.co.uk/

My own feet/footwear problems lie not in large size as such, but in the fact that my once size 5½ width AA (i.e. narrow) feet have become much bigger. They are now size 7 and are wide - probably extra wide. Podiatrist Lorraine Jones explained how obesity causes bigger feet because with increased weight to carry, the arch of the foot gets more flattened and splays out, making the foot longer and wider. She also spoke of how insoles are helpful to her patients. I fully agree with her there; properly fitted cushioned insoles can makes shoes much less painful for the overweight wearer.

The women (and men too) whose feet have become longer and wider because of increased weight often have the additional extremely painful problem of their feet being swollen. Specifically, the swelling is swollen veins resulting from sodium and water retention, aka fluid retention. In my case the fluid retention was caused by inappropriately-prescribed prescription drugs. Prescribed medication is a very common cause of fluid retention/swollen feet/obesity. The swelling can be reduced by seriously reducing salt intake: see here. And see Obesity and the Salt Connection. See also prescribed HRT and steroids and prescribed antidepressants.

People whose feet are swollen, rather than just naturally large, do not need shoes with just extra length and width, they need extra depth too, especially in the toes region. Otherwise the already painful swollen veins will be squashed and become even more painful and damaged. There are special shoes, etc for painful, swollen feet. Cosyfeet is one such supplier. And Ecco and Hotter make shoes with very well-cushioned insoles. I'm sure there are many other good makes too. It is very important to get shoes that are big enough. It is better to shop for shoes later on in the day because swollen feet become more swollen as the day wears on and gravity sends more fluid to the feet.

Are you sensitive to salt? - Red in the face after a salty meal? Overweight? Short of breath? Swollen feet? Tire easily? Sick of dieting?

You'll find some helpful information and advice on
my website.
Lose weight safely.
Sodium in foods.
Groups vulnerable to salt.
Obesity and the Salt Connection.

If you are buying shoes/slippers/sandals for an obese or overweight person, here are some suggestions.

If you are buying shoes/slippers/sandals as/for an obese or very overweight person, then as well as getting a large enough size in length and width, I suggest that you try to get them deeper as well, with plenty of room for the toes. People who are overweight usually have swollen feet - often painfully swollen - and if the footwear is not sufficiently roomy then the pain will be made worse. Similarly with socks - extra roomy is best. And also, with socks, they are more comfortable if they are seamless and if they have a soft top which does not restrict the circulation. Other considerations are whether the footwear is too heavy and tiring to wear, and whether soft insoles would make walking easier.

How to lose weight.

Pang Ya: Poor little BIG toddler!

In the Telegraph's Pictures of the Day today, the very first picture is of a two year old Chinese girl, Pang Ya, who weighs a massive 41.5kg (6.5st), although she was normal weight at birth.

I hope you can recognise the tell tale signs of thin skin and huge fluid retention? - Her poor vastly swollen face is beetroot red, which is a clear indication that the skin is thin and is so overstretched as to be near transparent, and that we are really seeing the vastly distended blood vessels beneath. Her poor eyes are barely able to open. And see how terribly swollen her poor feet are beneath their covering? - From my own experience, I can tell you without needing to see the feet themselves, that like her face, the skin will be taut and overstretched, and that dark red veins near to the skin's surface will be making her feet look red or purple or near-black. And I can tell you that they will be very painful, especially if she ever tries to walk on them, with her heavy weight pressing on those swollen veins. And when she lies down the pressure on her face will increase. Poor, poor girl! Her problem is massive fluid retention/salt sensitivity/morbid obesity/oedema/abnormally high blood volume. She must be in constant pain from those swollen veins and thin skin. She needs to be fed food that has NO ADDED SALT. She will certainly not live long if she is fed salty food and she will be in preater and greater pain.

Salty food is what causes babies and toddlers to become fat. But Pang Ya's obesity is so extreme that I strongly suspect that sometime in her short life she has been treated with one of the many prescribed medications that cause fluid retention and are even more harmful to children than to adults. Doctors around the world tend to be very ill-informed about the side-effects sodium retention and water retention which inevitably cause obesity unless salt intake is kept very low indeed.

See Child Obesity

And see Sodium in foods

Women's average shoe size has gone up from a 5 to a 6 in the past five years

The Telegraph reports that women's feet are getting bigger and that in the last 5 years women's average shoe size has risen from 5 to 6. This is being attributed to the 'obesity epidemic'.

My personal experience is that my shoe size used to be a very narrow 5½ and it is now a wide 7½. This is not, of course, because my feet have grown; it is because they have become very swollen: swollen with the fluid retention that has resulted from my being inappropriately prescribed HRT years ago and negligently not warned to avoid eating salt and salty food while taking those tablets. The fluid retention is easy to see because it shows itself in the grossly distended, intensely painful and extremely delicate veins that disfigure my feet, making them blue/purple, rather than the white they were formerly.

If your feet have become swollen and your shoe size is now bigger, you can reduce the swelling and the pain/aching considerably by avoiding salt and salty food. As well as improving the state of your feet, avoiding salt will benefit your health in many other ways too, including reducing your excess weight and lowering high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Are you so fat that you can't reach your feet any more? - You are suffering from fluid retention and sensitivity to salt.

Are you so fat that you can't reach your feet any more? - You are suffering from fluid retention and sensitivity to salt. - It is easy to reduce fluid retention: you just need to cut down on salt and salty food. - This webpage Sodium in foods
gives you information about the salt/sodium content of various foods.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk

The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Vulnerable groups

FAT RETENTION

Legs like treetrunks? Heavy as lead and tight as a drum? - Avoid salt and salty food to reduce the fluid retention that has made your legs swell.

Obesity is actually caused not by overeating, but by fluid retention/salt sensitivity and can easily, swiftly AND SAFELY be reduced by avoiding salt and salty food.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Do you often feel faint? dizzy? disorientated? whoozy? confused? muddled? weak? fragile? tired? sleepy? in pain? - Are you sure you are eating enough?

If you are dieting/'slimming'/calorie counting/eating low fat meals/low calorie meals or other restrictive food regimes, then any of these could be causing your symptoms. - They could also be causing you to be anaemic, depressed, to have heavy periods and other menstrual problems, to have acne, eczema, swollen hands/feet, fluid retention, and a host of other unpleasant, difficult, tiring problems of ill-health.

But if you are wanting to lose excess weight, it is not necessary to restrict how much food you eat in any way at all! - EXCEPT - YOU NEED TO CUT DOWN ON SALT/SODIUM AND JUNK FOOD. - EAT LESS SALT AND SALTY MEALS. - Other than that, you need to eat plenty of REAL food, including plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables, and plenty of calcium. There is much more detail and much more information on my website:

Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
and see Sodium in Foods.
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Swollen ankles? Swollen, aching, red feet? Tired, aching legs? - Cut down on salt!

Cutting down on salt/sodium will reduce the fluid retention which is contributing to these problems. - It will help with many other health problems too and you will feel sooo much better...(o:

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html for information about high and low sodium foods.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Added in 2008: if your skin is thin, see also Thinning, fragile, itchy skin

Are you longing to put your feet up?

Your feet are swollen and aching and the sides of your shoes are digging in, perhaps? This is because your veins have been swelling up; your blood is accumulating in your feet as you walk/stand/run.

You can lessen this problem a lot, simply by reducing the amount of salt/sodium you eat. (And, additionally, if you have varicose veins or haemorrhoids, these also will become less swollen if you eat less salt.)

Have a look at http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html and see all the other health problems that can also be lessened by eating less salt!

Give your feet a break! - Eat less salt!