Hi all. I visited my FIL today at home, he has been home for two weeks discharged from the hospital.

Today his legs, feet and ankles were extremely swollen to the extent that his skin was shiney. Last week when I saw him his skin seemed yellow, today it was ok (normal colour).

I am having the doctor visit him at home in the morning, the carer said that his legs/ankes and feet had been swollen for a few days, so I am getting him checked tomorrow. Although my FIL does not want to be seen by the doctor, I feel that he should be.

I must admit he hasnt been moving about too much, only trying to get up to use his commode and occassionally he will get up to ring me on the telephone, but most of the time he is 95% sitting in his armchair.

Is swollen legs/ankles/feet anything to do with having LBD? He also has parkinsons disease.

Thanks for any advice!! Kind regards Lee

Lee,
Not to my knowledge, does he have heart problems? It is good you are calling the DR I am sure he can give better advice.

Lee,
It blew my mind when I read your post. To have so many people effected by LBD with the same symptoms yet the treatments have to be so varied is unreal.
We have been dealing with my dad walking a lot and not sleeping much at all since Dec 07. We felt his swollen feet was caused by him walking all the time. We finally found something to help him sleep but the swelling has just recently spread to his legs. Whether it's LBD or not I can't tell but he did have bypass surgery several years ago.
The Dr took him off Lasix yesterday and prescribed Bumex. This is supposed to be more effective. We're waiting to see if it helps. Meanwhile we have to deal with the problems that come with a med change.
I hope everything works out ok.

Edema can be caused by medication for orthostatic hypotension and also by urinary retentions.

Lee -- You did the right thing in arranging for your FIL to be seen by a physician. The edema in his feet and legs, although possibly related to the LBD, may be a sign of heart issues. Please let us know what you find out.

Hi all. My FIL had the doctor come and visit him at home. Checked his lungs (OK), heart (OK), for his legs, ankles and feet, very swollen has prescribed water tablets. I asked the doctor how long would he be on them for and the doctor said that it would be an ongoing thing.

I dont know much about water tablets apart from the fact that you make you pee a lot. I hope there are not any side effects, he gets enough of them from his parkinson medication.

All for now,
Lee-Alison

Lee-Allison --
You might want to ask your pharmacist whether the water pills (diuretics) will affect his potassium. If so, you might want to check with the doctor on whether you will need to supplement his potassium.

My husbands feet, ankles & legs have also been really swollen. I keep asking the nurse and doctors at the facility to check them. I have asked about possible heart problems but they did not seem too concerned. But now after one month they finally told me he should be seen by a doctor to do an ekg and other tests. They also started him on a water pill. I had never heard of any other lewy body patient having this problem until now. My husband will see his doctor on Monday.

Hi thanks for your replies.

It is now 2 weeks since my FIL has been out of hospital. (Had a 4 month stay)

Regarding the swelling, the doctor has said that taking the water tablets will be an ongoing thing. I really hope that this carers - he has 4 a day go in to see him for 15 minutes a time are going to be able to cope ok.

Im concerned with the fact that my FIL is incontinent day and night and water tablets are only going to make this problem worse, I should think.

Unfortunately as I dont live near my FIL, I only get to see him once or twice a week. I do all of his shopping and cleaning, but the rest is left to the care agency. When I visiited last time, he seemed ok with me, but when it was time for me to go I think he was pleased. He likes the piece and quiet of his living room with the television off.

Unfortunately my FIL is dyslexic and never did learn to read or write properly. I dont want him to be sitting around getting bored. He cannot do crosswords or read a book. Any suggestions what I could get him, something for him to do as all he does is sit in his chair cat-napping.

Another concern of mine is this. He isnt getting any kind of excersice (proberly why the swollen legs/ankles/feet), he has his bed and commode in the living room and is basically just living in that one room. He is given strip down washes by the carers as he is unable to get upstairs, even using the stair lift is too much of a risk. I reckon if he managed 20 steps a day I would be exaggerating. Im worried about the effect this will have on his overall health. I am worried about pressure sores, and muscle wasting etc. Also I try to call him on the telephone he wont try to answer it and wont try to call me back. Ive not spoken to him since my last visit and if I need to get a message to him I have to ring the care agency.

Starting to get concerned what the next two weeks will be like.

All for now. Lee-Alison

Shawna, hope all goes ok for monday.

Lee-Alison -
Can you pay for someone to go to your FIL's apartment and try to walk with him, ideally, or have him sit in a chair and exercise, or give him range-of-motion exercises while lying down? Even 20 steps a day is something. Yes, bad things do happen when people are immobile.
Robin

My husband has had Parkinsons for a number of years and LB dx for 2. His feet and ankles were swollen for at least two years. Many doctors, many tests -- no congestive heart failure, no vein blockage, etc. Finally I took him to a new family doctor. He prescribed Metolazone 25 mg 1/2 hour before Lasix 80 mg, three times a week. His feet and legs were back to normal in three weeks. It is remarkable. Hope this helps someone. Carole

Just an update regarding swollen ankles. My father-in-laws feet, ankles are still swollen even though he is taking water tablets and has done for quite some time now. He has trouble putting his socks on so often goes barefoot now.

The other day when i was visiting him, I noticed that his toe nails required trimming, so after soaking his feet in a nice bowl of warm soapy water for 10 minutes or so, I trimmed them for him, I didnt mention it to him but I was surprised that some of his nails were nearly falling off the nail bed. I wondered if this was because of his swollen feet. He didnt seem to be in any pain when I trimmed his nails but I just wondered if anyone else's LO had this problem.

Lee-Alison,

Regarding the nails about to fall off, I would contact the physician about that. Did you notice any possible fungus under the nails?

As far as exercise: there is a program called Sit n' Be Fit. Things you can do while sitting, in a wheelchair, bed, etc. Its good for people who would normally loose balance if exercising while standing up. I was introduced to it after a foot surgery that left me in a wheelchair for 4 months recouping. I have my LO do these exercises when he is agreeable to it. Walking is still the best even if he only does a little several times a day to prevent muscle atrophy.
My LO doesn't like to read...he's a tv watcher. Recently I set up a jigsaw puzzle on a table to see if I could get him interested in it...with the mind you "use it or loose it." He will sit with me for a little bit here and there while we work on it together. Always thinking of new ways to exercise his mind.

Hope all works out for your FIL.
Dianne

At one point, my father also developed swollen foot (only his left one). We saw a huge improvement after the physician prescribed potassium supplements. This mineral is not always available in all foods and the bodies of the elderly have a hard time absorbing it in good quantities. After the potassium pill treatments the swelling went down drastically. Now we just make sure he eats one banana a day and it seems to help a lot.
The swelling now is much less and we think it is just caused by him sitting all the time and his lack of movement.
My 2cents worth!
SS