Swollen Ankles - Side effects of Cruising?

[WeLoveCruising]

It happens to me, too. For me, it's not related to flying. I fly every week on business, sometimes on really long flights, and dont have a problem. It's only when I cruise. Would love to figure out why. Last cruise I tried drinking as much bottled water as I could, but it didnt help.

[mallbucks]

but I've found that cutting down alcohol consumption helps quite a bit. Beer seems to be the worst culprit for me. Going to the South Pacific Sept./Oct. this year and may try to drink mostly bottled water to see if that helps too. I will try the non-alcohol Warfsteiners they have aboard and see if that makes any difference.

[Ocean Dancer]

my legs, feet and ankles get so swollen on every cruise, nothing really helps but an asprin and a benadryl several times a day along with wearing support hose and elevating my legs. i've learned to leave home all the cute shoes because they don't fit by day two, i found a pair of dress shoes with stretchy straps for formal nights, and velcro adjustable sandals that don't look too bad. it must be the salt in the food and water, ice. i thought it was just me.:eek:

[lawyerrose]

My mom used to get extremely swollen ankles and into her feet every time we cruised. We could never figure it out. We live in Florida, so we didn't have to fly before-hand and we were used to the heat and humidity. She didn't use the patch or take any different medications. They would get so swollen walking was a problem. We always attributed it to higher sodium levels in cruise food, but I don't know if that was really the answer. She would just put her feet up whenever she could and that helped.

 

I've never noticed a problem myself, but my sister would also have ankle swelling the couple of times she's cruised. I've been left wondering what it could be and haven't found an answer that truly fits. :confused:

[LAFFNVEGAS]

WOW I am too glad to see I am not the only one with this problem, It was me that was emailing with Sheila and we were discussing the swollen ankles and I told her that she should post this on CC. I knew it would be much later today before I could even get into the HAL board to post.

Like I had told Sheila, it seems each time I cruise it gets worse and up till 2 years ago this never happened. Our last cruise this past December was the worst it had ever been our flight was a whole 45 minutes to LAX on Southwest so doubt that would have caused it. I had three whole glasses of wine the whole week, on a normal weekend end at home I have two to three glasses of wine so doubt that was it :confused:.......Oops I just thought of something that I rarely ever have at home but have had on my last several cruises....Margaritas :D and yes with salt on the rim. But like I told Sheila I actually drink more water on a cruise than I have at home and my ankles never ever swell at home just while on a cruise but each time the morning after we get home the swelling is gone and not seen again till about day two of the cruise.

 

This last time by day 4 my ankles hurt so bad I had to sleep with a pillow under them and I did only have two Margaritas the whole week so not really sure why this is happening. I just hope I am not allergic to being "At Sea" :eek:

[mamaofami]

It's not my ankles, but my feet that swell when it's humid. My feet are wide, so it makes fitting into shoes very hard. I don't drink, so it's not the alcohol, and i was on a low sodium diet on this cruise. I had oatmeal delivered by room service every morning so it wasn't breakfast. For me, I think it's just the humidity. It happens at home in the summer too.

[solocanadian]

I mentioned to someone today that throughout our recent cruise and since returning home from FL, my ankles have been swollen...really swollen. This happens every year so that for the last three, I've done the low sodium menu for dinner (but who knows how much sodium is in the food at the Lido at lunch or breakfast!).

She thought it would be a good topic for CC as it happens to her, too. So I'm throwing it out here.

We went from 18 degrees in MA to sunny FL and then 80 degrees throughout our cruise...plus the humidity. When we returned to FL for a few days, it was in the mid 70's.

 

I've started increasing my water intake and that seems to ahve helped today. I drank lots of water while sitting by the pool on the ship but perhaps with the increase in temps, it wasn't enough.

Has anyone else had this happen while cruising the Caribbean (or other warm climates)?

Happens to me every cruise. I take water pills while cruising & try to keep my feet elevated at all times, even sitting around the Seaview pool. My doctor has no reason for it. He also doctors for HAL a couple of times a year and says it's very common. He said to elevate the foot of my bed with a life jacket. This helps somewhat and some of the swelling goes down over night but only take an hour or 2 to puff up again. The cabin stewards know to leave the life jacket there & make the bed around it.

[innlady1]

Happens to me every cruise. I take water pills while cruising & try to keep my feet elevated at all times, even sitting around the Seaview pool. My doctor has no reason for it. He also doctors for HAL a couple of times a year and says it's very common. He said to elevate the foot of my bed with a life jacket. This helps somewhat and some of the swelling goes down over night but only take an hour or 2 to puff up again. The cabin stewards know to leave the life jacket there & make the bed around it.

 

Isn't it amazing? It seems to be a very common problem...for which we all wish we had an answer! My ankles and feet are pretty much "back to normal" in the morning, too; then, the swelling begins again!

[JamesEM]

My DW has the same problem, staying away from the soups, eating more salads and fruit really helped.

[startwin]

I don't get swollen ankles, but my fingers swell to the point where I always have to remove my rings. I figured it was higher salt intake. It only happens on a cruise! My feet swell when I fly, however.

[Zyzygy]

On my first cruise with a CPAP I used the ship's tap water for the first couple of nights. As the water in the CPAP humidifier evaporated, I was amazed at how thick the mineral residue was in the humidifier. I then requested a gallon of distilled water from room service, and there was no more residue.

 

I think Odleka is on to something. The very high residual mineral content in the ship's desalinated water may contribute to excessively high sodium levels. Bottled water may be a better, if more expensive, alternative.

 

The observation above about also seeing a doctor is valid. I had been experiencing swollen ankles for several months at home before learning of a hidden heart condition (bradycardia--slow heart beat). If I had seen a doctor and had my pulse checked, the problem could have been identified sooner. I now have a pacemaker, and my ankles have stopped swelling.

[Koshlong]

I've never noticed it on a cruise, but I'll be checking next time, now that it's in my mind! I have noticed it on long plane flights, though.

 

As a side note, I'm married to a man who routinely loses 6-10 pounds per cruise (depending on cruise length), and often including a Cracker Barrel diet enroute to said cruises. He eats every course, never misses a meal, rarely misses a Happy Hour, goes to several teas and has located the gym only once (and that was because our fitness freak daughter was joining us on the second leg and he felt he should be able to show her where it was). She worked out regularly, ate fairly sensibly and gained weight. I usually stick to 2 meals a day and stay even. I have never figured it out.

[baggal]

It's not my ankles, but my feet that swell when it's humid. My feet are wide, so it makes fitting into shoes very hard. I don't drink, so it's not the alcohol, and i was on a low sodium diet on this cruise. I had oatmeal delivered by room service every morning so it wasn't breakfast. For me, I think it's just the humidity. It happens at home in the summer too.

 

They probably put some salt in the oatmeal too. There's so much hidden salt in all of the ship's food including salads, cooked vegetables and cereals (read those little boxes - there's tons of sodium in them) that unless you're eating an unpeeled piece of fresh fruit like a banana or an orange, assume there's salt on it!

['The Bear']

'InnLady' -- Sheila, my ankles were also extremely swollen on this same cruise that you took, and they started on the previous cruise. My lower legs were extremely itchy as well!

 

I haven't ever noticed this on previous cruises,; but the good thing is, that everything returned to normal within a few days after disembarking!

[innlady1]

They probably put some salt in the oatmeal too. There's so much hidden salt in all of the ship's food including salads, cooked vegetables and cereals (read those little boxes - there's tons of sodium in them) that unless you're eating an unpeeled piece of fresh fruit like a banana or an orange, assume there's salt on it!

 

During the cruise, after my ankles had started swelling, I thought of the possibility of salt in the oatmeal so added "salt free" to the room service menu. Nothing seemed to help me much though.

[mamaofami]

I forgot that on my last cruise, my fingers were so swollen that I removed my engagement and wedding band and left them in the safe until we were going home. That happens to me during the summer too, but only the engagement ring. I've never had to take off the wedding band before.

[Hye Seas]

I mentioned to someone today that throughout our recent cruise and since returning home from FL, my ankles have been swollen...really swollen. This happens every year so that for the last three, I've done the low sodium menu for dinner (but who knows how much sodium is in the food at the Lido at lunch or breakfast!).

She thought it would be a good topic for CC as it happens to her, too. So I'm throwing it out here.

We went from 18 degrees in MA to sunny FL and then 80 degrees throughout our cruise...plus the humidity. When we returned to FL for a few days, it was in the mid 70's.

 

I've started increasing my water intake and that seems to ahve helped today. I drank lots of water while sitting by the pool on the ship but perhaps with the increase in temps, it wasn't enough.

Has anyone else had this happen while cruising the Caribbean (or other warm climates)?

I also had a problem with my ankles and legs swelling up and I'm convinced it was from the sodium in the food. I like salt, but the food was too salty even for my taste.

[Nutriosotoo]

Swelling of feet and ankles on cruises and air flights has plagued me for many years. Have tried many things to alleviate it with not much success. The most success I have had has been with compression stockings during flights and at night while cruising and not drinking tap water - only bottled. This would be a great topic for American Heart Association, or someone similar, to do a legitimate study about. It would be worthwhile to find out the answer since it seems to be such a common problem, ---- Penny

[Hlitner]

This topic has been previously discussed on CC and its amazing how many folks have the swollen ankle problem on ships..including DW. We started thinking it was due to the fact that restaurant chefs (and cruise ship chefs) tend to liberally add salt to nearly everything. The partial solution seems to be to drink lots of fluids (this helps flush the sodium out of one's body). Another contributing cause seems to be the heat and humidity found in certain parts of the world.

 

Hank

[bepsf]

'InnLady' -- Sheila' date=' my ankles were also extremely swollen on this same cruise that you took, and they started on the previous cruise. My lower legs were extremely itchy as well!

 

I haven't ever noticed this on previous cruises,; but the good thing is, that everything returned to normal within a few days after disembarking![/quote']

 

Bear--

A number of us had "the itchies" too - we began to think it might have been bedbugs... :eek:

...but we eventually figured out it was just No-see-ums from the beaches along w/ dry skin.

[innlady1]

Bear--

 

A number of us had "the itchies" too - we began to think it might have been bedbugs... :eek:

...but we eventually figured out it was just No-see-ums from the beaches along w/ dry skin.

 

I had those, too, Brian. Mostly on my feet, ankles, and lower calves. I finally figured it was the sun plus not spraying the suntan spray there. Next time I'm in the sun, I'll take cream/lotion.

Egads on bedbugs! :eek: Bedbugs are easy to spot, BTW. Lift up the mattress and check around the piping on the edges. That's where they hide out. The luggage "cloth" HAL provides is to prevent bedbugs that may have hopped onboard someone's luggage at the airport from moving on over to the bedlinens (our innkeeping assoc. had a seminar on the subject).

[woodley]

I too have the same problem on cruises especially if I'm doing a lot of walking on excursions. My doctor told me to make sure my shoes have good support and fit well and to get my feet up when possible. I was told that a diuretic (with doctors' permission) and increased water intake help too.

 

The ship's doctor on one cruise told me it's very common and sometimes includes a rash around the ankle area that can last a long time.

 

 

I get a rash on my feet everytime I go on a cruise. I have no idea why, but as it does not itch and goes away a couple of days after I get home I have never bothered to get it checked out. I live in Florida so I do not think it has anything to do with the heat and humidity or I would have it most of the year!

[Ocean Dancer]

i also get the rash too, cortisone cream really helps, plus i also have called room service for a large bag of ice and 3 extra pillows............:D

[innlady1]

Amazing...all the similarities! I've not had a rash but I have had some burning.

Home a week today...and just now, things are getting back to normal with the swelling.

[mains_dream]

Now we are leaving for a cruise in the carribean and I am getting a little worried. It was so bad I had to use a wheelchair.

 

I've lost 25lbs and hope it is better this time......but.......who knows.

 

I too am glad to hear I am not the only one with this problem. I haven't had it happen on flights before. I was thinking I may be getting allergic to cruising!!!!!:eek: That could be life threating for me!!! Well, maybe not, but it would certainly put a crimp in my style.

 

I think I will put a lot of your suggestions to the test in a couple of weeks. Support hose, herbal diuretics and NO ALCOLHOL???!!! Oh oh! Maybe just the first 2 suggestions;).