Usually it begins so slowly that you might not even notice it. Perhaps your clothing will not fit "right" in some area of your body. Your body part may feel heavy. The skin feels stretched. You have less flexibility in a joint, such as a knee, wrist or ankle. Jewelry is tight. Some part of your body just doesn't feel normal - it feels heavy, sore, weak, full - it's difficult to pinpoint the exact starting point of lymphedema. Nor can I tell you at what point you personally will notice it. Of course, if you have any swelling of unknown origin, or a hot feeling on any part of your body or unusual redness, see a physician as soon as possible. Please remember that I am not a medical doctor and have no formal training in lymphedema therapy - I am a lymphedema patient and advocate. All articles are based on my personal opinion about the condition, or my own experience, as a patient, advocate or grant reviewer. Most of the medical/technical information comes from the wonderful information available at http://www.lymphnet.org There are many reputable organizations which do good work in the field of lymphedema and I will focus on as many of them as possible in the future. For now, most are listed in the Links section. Feel free to email me with additional links, resources, comments.
Back to the symptoms - Lymphedema can appear in stages and some people may never progress past the first stage, which is a good thing. Others may see their lymphedema grow beyond the first level and it is possible to reverse the process a bit if early intervention and treatment is pursued. Lymphedema is a chronic condition. This means that while it is not usually life-threatening, it can be severely debillitating and persist throughout your lifetime. Precautionary measures, self-awareness and self-help and actual therapy may be indicated.
Stage 1 At this point, the tissue is in the "pitting" stage. That means that if you press on your skin with your fingertips, the area will get a depression and will hold that indentation. Usually, at this stage, the tissue's edema (or swelling) gets worse during the day and by morning, after sleeping, the area is pretty much back to normal size and shape.
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