Just got out of the hospital after 4 days and no diagnosis.... and I

[onecent]

wonder why I even had to stay in there so long.

First, I have great insurance (senior 61 yrs old)...

Edema in feet/legs/ankles, cannot breathe..and WHEEZING . Bad wheezing.

Ran the dye through my heart on Monday. My heart is perfect.
Still have edema. Still have wheezing. But I can breathe easier.

Went home with Zocor (high chol), 80 mill. of Lasix and lots of potassium.

I must say I feel better this evening, but I'm one of these kind of people who want to know why I have the edema.

Put me on a low sodium diet. I know absolutley nothing about low sodium diets. I am, however, a true expert in Low Carb, or Low Calorie...or Weight Watchers...etc. Do I even get sent to a nutritionist as they suggested? No they just leave it to the internets...and friends heresay.
Im going back to work next Monday. And the new building is quite large and I walk and walk and walk. I don't mind walking, but this is when the edema starts to kick in (when I sit at my desk all day doing data entry)... Which I love, by the way, gives me some chunk change.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

[Justitia]

1. Did they check your kidney function? My son has kidney disease which causes severe edema.

He "wheezes" when the fluid builds up in the lungs.

I see they have given you a diuretic for the edema. The low sodium diet is to cut back on the edema (sodium makes you retain fluid).

Read up on acceptable sodium limits, here's a hint: eat nothing that comes from a can.

Careful with the edema, esp since you wheeze, that concerns me.

Please tell me they checked your kidney function (BUN test) / creatinine!

Here's a link that will explain that test: http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/bun/test.html

People w/kidney disease suffer edema because their kidneys are not properly ridding the body of excess sodium.

Let us know how you are.

[onecent]

3. Thank you to you and Night Owl. I have a follow up appointment

next Friday.

They ran every test they could on me in the hospital. They thought I had bronchitis. Then they told me I had congestive heart failure. After running dye thru heart, they said heart was fine. Talked of sending me to a lung specialist.

I have lost 15 lbs and am being very careful of my sodium intake. My ankles look better than they have in 40 years (lol). Didn't know I had 'em anymore.
I love the oxygen. I sleep better and feel rested in the a.m. They said my oxygen levels dropped too low at night, but I cannot stay on the oxygen more than a year - could damage my heart.

I plan to ask my doc for a nutritionist. (He is wonderful and gives me what I want or need) within reason, so I expect no problem. A pharmacist friend of mine told me I could intake to LITTLE sodium which would not be good...so I need to get educated about sodium.

I went to the store today by myself (husband golfed in Missouri - yippee) and I spent about 2 hours looking at labels. I had fun, actually. Spent $80 on low sodium foods.

Turkey, chicken, veges, fruits and some organic things that just looked good (which probably taste like ---sh*t)

Thank you so much for your response. I have to say I am still concerned that they don't "know" what was wrong. That seems to happen to me all the time. I have met alot of nice friends - I have done seasonal work at the IRS for 5 years (data entry) and I LOVE it. They called today to see if I was coming back...so I'm praying I don't retain any fluid, because I don't want to quit working there. These 4 walls get crowded sometimes. Especially after a long cold winter.

By the way, there still is something going on with my chest, and since a lung specialist was mentioned in the hospital I'll probably be seeing one.

Hugs

[Nite Owl]

4. Do you think that there is any

chance that it could be allergy? Not everything manifests itself as a runny nose or itchy eyes, did they test for anything like that? Allergies can develop at any time in life so even if it were something you have done or eaten for years you could still develop an allergy all of a sudden.

[Nite Owl]

2. Hope you are still feeling

better onecent. Do you go back to the doctor for a followup soon?