Swollen fingers and hands, pain when bending the joints and bluish fingers: which woman will be delighted to see such a picture? Often, the swelling appears in the mornings after a tumultuous party or during pregnancy, but sometimes it can speak about rather unpleasant diseases that lurk in your body. The concept of "edema" is interpreted very simply - it is an excessive accumulation of fluid in the tissues of the body, which is not displayed by itself for various reasons. The tissues of completely different organs, both inside the body and outside, can swell. But the swelling of the hands causes considerable discomfort and sometimes even considerable pain, because we used to use this tool all the time. That is why it is worth figuring out why the hands are swollen and how to properly treat the swelling.
Causes for swelling of hands, fingers, and fingers
Sometimes we can definitely guess where in the morning swelling appeared on our hands. The most common reason for this is a large amount of liquid drunk the night before. This reason is not considered terrible, although, of course, brings a certain amount of unpleasant sensations. You’ve probably noticed that in the morning you can’t bend your fingers completely, they have an unusual color, and it’s almost impossible to remove the rings. This is just talking about puffiness.
Swelling may also signal more serious problems that may not otherwise manifest themselves. For example, edema speaks of diseases of the heart muscle. In older people, edema resulting from venous or cardiovascular insufficiency is not uncommon. This happens because the heart muscle is not working at full strength, therefore, the blood is not pumped at the desired speed and there is stagnation. As a rule, swelling due to heart failure begins to appear on the legs, gradually rising to the hands, hands and fingers.
If your hands are swollen, the reasons can be very commonplace: injuries, bruises, burns and cuts become the basis for this. Any traumatic tissue damage is necessarily manifested by edema, regardless of where it is located. A child, stumbling, falls and hits his knee on the asphalt - such an injury, undoubtedly, will swell up and hurt first, after which it will turn into a massive bruise. An adult will burn his hand, setting the form for roasting in the oven - and again there is hyperemia first, that is, reddening and swelling of this place, after which the puffiness may descend another one or two days.
The local allergic reaction in most cases is accompanied by swelling of the tissues. The following factors may contribute to this:
• Bites of bees, wasps, mosquitoes and other insects,
• An inadequate response of the body to any type of food, drink, or chemical substances, such as detergent,
• Individual intolerance to animal fur, contact with fur or feathers,
• Sensitivity of the skin of the face and body in relation to various cosmetics, such as hand creams, emulsions for tanning and other things.
In addition to the reasons described, the renal failure or the pathological process taking place in this organ seriously affects the appearance of edema. The kidneys are responsible for removing fluid from our body, and when they do not cope with the task, invariably there is swelling of different parts of the body, such as the eyelids, hands, fingers, feet and other organs. Due to the violation of the water balance regulated by the kidneys, the outflow of fluid is disturbed, it simply accumulates inside the body. Infectious diseases, as well as viruses that affect the work of the kidneys, can be provocateurs of slowing their work.
Among other things, it is worth mentioning the reasons why the hands may swell. These include:
1. Reducing the level of protein in the body
2. Fragility of blood vessels and congenital abnormalities of the vascular system,
3. Tumor processes
4. Hand swelling during pregnancy
5. Peripheral edema, that is, swelling of the arms or legs in the heat,
6. Postoperative swelling,
7. Endocrine disorders
8. Inflammatory processes in bone tissue,
9. Purulent inflammations
10. Leading a wrong lifestyle,
11. Excessive physical activity.
12. Long work without a good rest.
Hands are draining: how to understand that this is happening to you?
If one day you noticed unusual sensations in the area of fingers or hands, it is possible that this is swelling. It is usually possible to diagnose the swelling on your own by comparing the size of one hand with the other or, in the case of swelling of both, with the size of the hand of another person of similar build. If one hand looks inflated like a balloon, it is quite difficult to bend fingers or a hand in a hand, and a part of the body suddenly changes its natural color, immediately consult a doctor. The color gamut of a damaged arm can be different: from a purple-red hue to a bluish and even purple.
At the reception, the doctor will first carefully conduct a survey specifying:
• Did you take on the eve of excess fluid, including alcohol,
• What food did you eat,
• Has there been any injury in the last 24 hours, for example, blows or bruises,
• Did the insects bite you?
• Do you have any congenital or acquired diseases of the cardiovascular system, as well as nervous or endocrine diseases?
It is mandatory for patients to be assigned a urine and blood test, which is determined by the presence or absence of inflammatory processes. Next, the therapist makes a conclusion about the causes of the swelling and can refer you to more narrow specialists: an endocrinologist, if the edema accompanies thyroid ailments or hormonal disruption in pregnant women, as well as to a trauma specialist, an allergist or a cardiologist. If you need a more detailed analysis of the situation, you may be asked to donate blood for analysis on tumor markers or a table of allergens in order to exclude or confirm the diagnosis.
If you want to know why your hands swell, do not neglect the visit to the doctor. Only a professional specialist will help you understand the reasons and prescribe competent treatment.
Swelling of the arms and legs: how to treat in a hospital or outpatient clinic
As usual, the treatment of small and irregular edema is quite simple. The doctor will prescribe drugs:
• To remove excess fluid from the body. As a rule, the choice stops on diuretics in tablets.
• Antiallergic drugs, if the swelling of the hands or fingers can be attributed to the individual intolerance to food, household chemicals or cosmetics.
• Antibacterial medications are prescribed in case of infectious or purulent inflammation.
• Preparations of potassium and magnesium in order to stabilize the amount of essential trace elements in the body. They prevent the occurrence of edema in the future.
Sometimes doctors prescribe special ointments to patients with edema of the arms and legs, which help to remove the swelling locally, but they are all necessarily included in the complex therapy.
Surgical treatment of puffiness is shown in extremely rare cases. Often, this method is necessary for patients with purulent inflammations and sepsis, that is, conditions that seriously affect the human body, including blood poisoning or even death.
Due to the complex treatment of edema of the hands, hands and fingers, the swelling begins to disappear after only one or two weeks. You will notice the effectiveness of the therapy first at your fingertips, and then the swelling will disappear on your palms, hands, and so on.
Often patients of medical clinics become pregnant women who have swollen legs and arms. In a hospital setting, the swelling of the limbs in pregnant women is treated with the help of droppers and other drugs, depending on the severity of the disease. Not pronounced swelling is quite allowed to treat a special vitamin complex and a diet with fluid restriction. And when there are severe swelling, accompanied by pain, cracks and the inability to move normally and perform daily activities, therapy with magnesia and aminophylline is required. Both of these drugs reduce the increased pressure in the vessels and relieve their tone, improve blood circulation and have a diuretic effect.
Traditional methods of therapy when the swelling of the fingers and hands
Swelling of the hands and fingers are treated mainly with applications and compresses. For example, many people know that a compress from cooled black tea will help to quickly remove the morning swelling of the eyelids. You just need to brew natural tea, cool it and apply moistened cotton pads to the eyelids.
If you hurt your leg or arm, the cold will quickly ease the pain and prevent the massive swelling from spreading. This could be ice, a towel soaked in ice water, or even a piece of meat or a bag of dumplings from the freezer. It is enough to hold the compress for only 10-20 minutes, and the swelling will no longer be so huge.
When the swelling is allergic in nature it is necessary to drink the antihistamine present in your first aid kit. Unfortunately, sometimes a slight puffiness can be a symptom of a dangerous condition - angioedema. It is accompanied not only by hyperemia of the skin, itching and swelling, but it can also spread to the respiratory system. You will experience shortness of breath, faintness and dizziness. You should not joke with such symptoms, but you should call an ambulance as soon as possible, because sometimes the bill goes on for hours and even minutes. For example, the statistics says that from angioedema or anaphylactic shock after a bite of a wasp, 4 times more people all over the world die than from snakes bites. Qualified doctors most often use hormone preparations in injections to treat such edemas.
If you notice that your hands are often swollen, compresses and herbal baths will help to get rid of this problem. For example, quickly and effectively relieve swelling will help:
• Birch leaves,
• Rosehip,
• Horsetail,
• Chamomile,
• Parsley,
• Calendula,
• Juniper,
• Hypericum,
• Nettle and other plants.
Try to prepare a special tincture on birch leaves, and also make baths for hands with this ingredient. To create your own tincture, you need:
1. 50 grams of dry birch leaves,
2. Half liter can of water
3. Pan.
Birch leaves should be poured with hot water, placed in a saucepan on a steam bath and infused, thus, about 3-5 minutes. After this, we wrap the jar in a towel and leave it for 5-6 hours. Now you can take half a cup of tincture 3-4 times a day.
For the decongestant bath you will need birch leaves, water and a thick towel. Choose a comfortable water temperature so that it is not too cold, but not too hot. Dip your hands in the bath and ask someone to cover the container on top with a towel. Wait about 15-20 minutes. After a course of such birch baths, the swelling will gradually disappear.
In addition, an assistant in the process of getting rid of the swelling of the hands will be rose hips. It is available to any of us, moreover, it is quite inexpensive. You can simply brew a fragrant decoction of the fruit and drink it throughout the day. It is enough to fall asleep in a thermos 2 tbsp. l dog rose and pour 0, 5 liters of boiling water. Insist broth for about 20 minutes.
It is also recommended to make a compress or bath for quick removal of puffiness. To do this, brew juniper, mint, string and chamomile, add half a cup of broth hips. Dampen gauze in this composition, wrap your pens and leave it for half an hour. After that it is allowed to moisten them with your favorite cream.
Preventive measures: how to prevent swelling of the hands
If you know exactly the reason why the hands of you or someone from your family members swell, then just follow a few important rules, and you can certainly avoid this problem.
1. Try to drink less, especially at night and in the evening. If you really want, eat a cucumber, apple or a slice of watermelon.
2. Limit the use of salty foods and salt in principle. As you know, this ingredient only retains the fluid inside our body, and in general, salt is not such a useful seasoning. If you are a lover of salty food, season it with soy sauce.
3. Strengthen the vessels. Make contrast douche, tempering procedures, walk more often, especially before bedtime. So you will provide your body with normal blood circulation and avoid stagnation of blood.
4. In order to prevent puffiness that occurs in the morning, it is allowed to make baths and compresses for hands before going to bed. If you do not have time to cook herbal tea, make a compress from crushed cabbage leaves.
5. Ask your loved one to give you a hand massage. This will provide them with a more active blood circulation and fluid outflow.
6. Visit the therapist regularly and take a complete blood and urine test to determine the amount of protein in the body. When the level of protein in the blood decreases, edemas often appear.
7. Try not to contact with allergens known and dangerous for you, clean only with rubber gloves. Also, do not use cosmetics if you have an individual intolerance to one or another ingredient in their composition.
