Swollen fingers/fluid retention

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Curious about this one, since I don’t often hear others talking about it. Anyone else have anything similar?

 

One of my symptoms I developed in tolerance withdrawal is swollen fingers (it would come and go sporadically - mainly flaring up when I’d eat something processed/unhealthy - but has been persistant ever since I started reducing). Sometimes I’d have some joint stiffness and pain, but not that often.

 

Every morning, I wake up and my fingers are so swollen. Like I mentioned above, it is especially bad if I’ve eaten something not-so-healthy, like a lot of gluten and/or sugar. It seems to be fluid retention, because it gradually goes down during the day and my fingers almost look their notmal size. But by evening, they start swelling up again. Repeat cycle.

 

I wonder what could be causing it - would this just be straight up inflammation? It does seems to be tied to some of my stomach symptoms, so I wonder if maybe the fluid retention is related to my weight gain/bloating?

 

 

 

 

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Do you have any heart problems like CHF?

 

I would go to your doctor as soon as possible. This requires meticulous medical examination and testing.

 

Swollen extremities and weight gain need to be evaluated.

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Nope, no heart problems - I’m 27 and was in otherwise in good physical health until all these benzo symptoms started popping up a few years ago when i hit tolerance withdrawal.

 

I did call it out to my PCP previously and she did agree that there was visible swelling in my hands. She have me do autoimmune testing and hand x-rays to check for rheumatoid arthritis. Everything came back clear. Since then, I’ve kind of just left it and chalked it up to the rest of the benzo withdrawal symptoms. I’m pretty sure my PCP thought I was insane anyway or had some sort of health anxiety (I double she gets many mid-twenties females in her office complaining about multiple maladies such as tinnitus, tingling/numbness, swollen fingers, dizziness, bloating/constipation, migraines, vision problems, etc etc).

 

The only way I’ve seen it reduce at times is if I eat VERY cleanly - like Whole30-like diet consistently, which makes me think it is tied to inflammation caused by the benzos, but I don’t really know.