Legs feel "bloated"

[cmuberti]

Hi everyone:

Every once in a while (like today) my legs feel like they are retaining water. This morning, I road my bike for 10 miles (very easy road work). Then in the mid afternoon I walked the dogs on a trail of moderate difficulty, only for about a half an hour.

On the way back, my legs really started to get this bloated feeling. It's very humid today and warm (but I don't know if that has anything to do with it).

I spent some time this evening doing some gentle yoga postures, leg waves while lying on my back and also putting my legs up against a wall while lying on my back. But this didn't really provide any relief.

Has anyone ever come across something like this? If so, is there anything to be done about it?

Thanks very much,

Christine

[Scott Sonnon]

Christine,
Could you describe in more detail what you mean by your legs feel "bloated" - when it happens, following what activities, how it feels, local or general?

[cmuberti]

Hi Scott:

It feels like I have pressure all around my legs. Sometimes it's only in the lower leg -- around the shins and calves; sometimes it's the entire leg. It feels like they need to swell up.

So, I would say that it is a general feeling in the entire leg, bilaterally and symmetrically. IOW, I've never felt it in one leg and not the other and if it's only in the lower leg on one side, then it's the same on the other side.

As far as what activity it follows, I will have to start keeping a log. For today, I know that I had an easy bike ride, then about 7-8 hours later, went on an easy-moderate hike. I noticed it during the hike (it became very distracting) and persists now, about 6-7 hours later.

Sorry I can't provide more definite details!

cmu

[Doug Szolek]

Stupid Question Time:

Have you been drinking enough water?

-Coach Szolek

[cmuberti]

Hi Doug:

That's not a stupid question and probably I am not drinking enough water. I try to push fluids, but I haven't been keeping track.

Would that make my legs feel that way?

Thanks!

cmu

[Scott Sonnon]

Definitely.

[Doug Szolek]

Generally speaking when we don't get enough water our bodies feel like we are in a drought so as a survival tool they begin to retain water (bloat up). If you haven't been getting your ideal daily amount then that could be the reason for the bloated leg symptoms. Frustrating to know that most Americans live there entire lives in a state of dehydration and don't know it.

I'll end there before I get out the old soap box, hope this helps,
-Coach Szolek

[cmuberti]

Thanks. It does help. I won't make your soap box any higher, but have you read, "Your Body's Many Cries for Water," by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj? It's amazing.

I believe that it's still in print.

Best wishes, cmu

p.s.
(And now you're going to ask me, "How in heck could you allow yourself to become dehydrated after reading that book?")

[Scott Sonnon]

Christine, especially when I was doing ultra-distance runs, I had to be proactively on top of hydration. It takes approx. 20 minutes for your body to uptake water you drink. So, if you wait until the dehydration symptoms, it's too late (especially with phantom joint pain, migraines, skin flushing and dizziness.)

Start with a half glass of water before you run. And then the best option in my mind is to carry water (especially mixed with a packet of Emergen-C to compensate electrolyte depletion) while running and sip every five to ten minutes. The downside is that despite urinary retention, you'll need to go. I never endorse holding urine (unless the white elephant's charging :wink:)

View running as a highly intricate skill of dynamic relaxation. In general practice running, don't train running. People typically do it in reverse and become a litany of injuries. Because of improper perspective, most ultra-distance marathoners are a Frankenstein quilt of grafts, pins, replacements and scar tissue.

[Doug Szolek]

p.s. (And now you're going to ask me, "How in heck could you allow yourself to become dehydrated after reading that book?")

:lol:
As for, Your Body's Many Cries for Water,
I haven't read that one yet but this is the second recomendation I've had for it, so come pay-day it's off to the book store for me.

Best wishes in your practice and I look forward to following your running log.
-Doug.

[cmuberti]

Speaking of hydration: This is very geeky.

Today I ran with a CamelBak. The water wasn't finished, so I left it on while I worked on the Indoboard. Then I refilled it and did the laundry and other more mundane things.

(My husband says that I am getting practice for the End Times and that some day we will all need still suits...)

Thanks to the both of you for your great advice! I'm really having a lot of fun (despite the multiple trips to the loo).

Best wishes,

Christine

[Russell Baillie]

Doug - You will love that book !

I quite often go out on the trails with a camelbak on - there's this one trail in particular which I find gruelling due to the constantly uneven terrain , new plant growth, fallen tree's , rocks, water, burns and brachen! The trail take me around 45 minutes but at the end of it after a quick scramble up a rock face the view is worth all the effort and internal torments! Sometimes I make a day of it and go spin fishing up there for brown trout! carry a lil roll of tinfoil and light a small fire and just camp out there on the shore reflecting on life and its pleasures. On these days without the camelbak or enough water can tell you that my performance severely diminishes! We take for granted our bodies "cries for water" and more often than not wash them away, dismiss them as weakness or as a nuisance.

I have to constantly remind my athletes of the simplest factors , water being one of them and have witness far too often an important race, match whatever being sabotaged by our own ignorance of these factors!

Regards
CB

[Scott Sonnon]

Back in the Paleolithic days of rubber suits, I found myself 4 pounds overweight with only 30 minutes remaining until Sambo weigh-ins finished. Three rubber suits and way too many BWEs later, I got on the scale at 163.3 - my class 163.5. In my second match, my tongue became so swollen from dehydration that I couldn't speak save grunts and moans, nor breathe except through my nose (which itself was desert dry.) I had to bite hard down through my tongue in order to get any air. It was pretty disconcerting to say the least - especially when my opponent was a former Soviet Nat'l Judo team captain.

Poor preparation = self-sabotage. I would have had more energy, greater strength (and health), and significantly enhanced performance if I just went up a weight class, and gassed up on H2O.

Dehydration is a terrible foe and very stealthy. Well, at least I didn't sweat much that match. :roll: