The following symptoms and complaints may occur together with leg swelling (“leg edema”):
Leading symptom
- Leg swelling
General accompanying symptoms
- Peripheral edema (water retention)
- Pain (dolor)
- Overheating (Calor)
- Feeling of heavy legs (tired legs), especially after long periods of sitting and standing (note: no certain relationship to the severity of the disease).
- Localized peripheral cyanosis (blue coloration of the skin).
- Erythema (extensive reddening of the skin)
- Atrophic skin changes (loss of skin elasticity).
- Doughy swelling of the skin/subcutaneous tissue
- Often dry, itchy skin
- Cold skin
- Spider veins
- Varices (varicose veins)
- Tendency to hematomas (bruises), spontaneous or from minor trauma.
- Stasis eczema and ulcers (-ulcers) on the legs.
- Fever
- Tachycardia (heartbeat too fast: > 100 beats per minute).
- Inflammation
- Congestive liver
- Ascites (abdominal dropsy)
- Influence congestion of the neck and arms
- Stasis gastritis (gastritis due to overload of the venous system (right heart failure/right heart weakness)).
Symptoms and complaints of systemic leg swelling:
- Bilateral
- Symmetrical
- Affected are forefeet, ankles and lower legs
- Soft and depressible
- Leave dents when pressed in
- Painless
Symptoms and complaints of cardiac (affecting the heart) leg swelling:
- Begin in the ankle area or pretibial (in front of the tibia); in pronounced cases, the thighs and gluteal muscles may also be affected.
- Glossy skin
- Redness (Rubor)
- Vesicles on the lower leg or stasis dermatitis (sometimes).
Symptoms and complaints of hepatogenic (caused by the liver) leg swelling:
- Symmetrical edema of the ankles and lower legs.
- Soft edema
- Fine-spotted pigmentation in the lower leg area (also in the area of the forefeet and back of the toes)
- In men, the hair in the affected area is absent
Warning signs (red flags)
Thrombosis is accompanied by the following symptoms: in arterial thrombosis.
- Pain
- Partial ischemia – lack of blood flow.
- Complete ischemia – sometimes complete absence of blood flow to an organ.
- Localized peripheral cyanosis
In the case of venous thrombosis
- Fever
- Tachycardia (heart rate greater than 100 beats during normal physical exertion)
- Inflammation
- Overheating
- Swelling (e.g., swelling of the calf)
- Slight bluish discoloration
- Pain in the area of the affected veins
Caution. The symptomatology of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) can be very nonspecific. Localizations
- All blood vessels possible
- Leg veins more common than arm veins (the latter more common in men)
The following symptoms and complaints may indicate a pulmonary embolism:
The symptoms depend on the size of the thrombus! If there is a massive pulmonary embolism (ie, obstruction of more than 50% of the pulmonary circulation; in about 5-10 of the cases of all pulmonary embolisms), then the full picture of a pulmonary embolism described below.Leading Symptoms
- Acute onset of chest pain* (chest pain), sometimes felt as annihilation pain.
- Anxiety
- Anxiety
- Dyspnea* (shortness of breath) and tachypnea (increased or excessive respiratory rate).
- Hemoptysis (coughing up blood)
- Cough
- Sweats
- Syncope (brief loss of consciousness)
- Tachycardia (pulse too fast at > 100 beats/min).
- Central cyanosis (bluish discoloration of skin and central mucous membranes).
- Hypotension (blood pressure below normal).
- Shock
* Atemsynchronous pain with resting dyspnea (onset of dyspnea at rest).
Depending on the size of the blocked vessel, pulmonary embolism can be asymptomatic or lethal (fatal).
