Hi
I'm a 45 yr old male who has had chronic generalized edema (i'd estimate about 20-30 pds) for several yrs now without any medical explanation. I've seen several specialists, including a cardiology team, for extensive workups, but nothing abnormal so far (echos, metabolic panels, EKG, CXR, stress test, etc). When the water retention is at it's worst, I'm usually extremely dried out to the point that I feel dehydrated and often exhausted. GP tells me I'm "third spacing" but doesn't offer a possible reason or underlying cause. I also tend to get up from sleep several times per night to urinate, when the trapped fluid seems to return to my vascular system. Prior to the edema, I slept soundly throughout the evening and only urinated upon waking in the morning.
I don't have any shortness of breath that I'm aware of and I don't experience any breathing issues while lying down, which, I understand, is a common symptoms with heart failure patients. Additionally, the edema symptoms have been ongoing for years but haven't gotten worse, as far as I can tell. Given the extensive testing and examinations, is it possible I could have an issue with right heart failure that's being overlooked? The reason I ask is because none of my doctors can come up with an explanation for the edema and I'm not aware of any other possible causes, aside from heart, liver, and kidney diseases. I do have some additional GI issues, as well, but I don't think they're related to the edema. My next step is The Cleveland Clinic