Vascular & Endovascular Interventions of New York
EVERYTHING SHOULD BE PERFECT IN A PERSON... BUT THE MAIN THING IS CIRCULATION!
Continuation
Dr. Lev Markovich Khitin is a doctor of the highest category in general, vascular, cardiac and pulmonary surgery; member of the American Academy of Heart Surgery, corresponding member of the American College of General and Vascular Surgery, vice-president of the International Society of Cardiovascular Surgeons, author of numerous books, scientific articles and inventions in the field of circulatory physiology and operative surgery; founder, leading specialist and permanent president of the famous Institute for the Treatment of Vein Diseases of the City of New York. Due to numerous requests from our readers, today we are starting to publish excerpts from his working shorthand...
In the first part of the article, Anatoly Isaevich Sh. asked Dr. Khitin a number of questions regarding the origin of many diseases, as well as modern and traditional methods of treating and preventing them. A 78-year-old pensioner from Staten Island told the doctor a dozen of his ailments, doubting that they were caused by disorders of blood circulation in the body...
“You told me, Anatoly, that only your legs are swollen!” Apart from the legs, there is no swelling anywhere else. It follows from this that the cause of the swelling most likely lies in the legs, and not in some other part of the body. And this is despite the fact that, as you correctly noted, edema can be caused by problems with the heart, kidneys, liver, thyroid gland, adrenal glands, and so on. Secondly, note: your left leg is much more swollen than your right. Agree: if the cause of swelling was, say, heart disease, then the legs would most likely swell symmetrically.
Now about the treatment. Since, as we just found out, the cause of leg swelling lies in the legs themselves, diuretic medications are not only not indicated, but are strictly contraindicated! After all, your problem does not come from excess fluid in the body, but from its abnormal distribution. Diuretic drugs “do not know” this and remove water not only from the legs, but also from all other parts of the body, where there should be exactly as much fluid as required. Fortunately, our kidneys are smarter than diuretics: they do not respond to normal doses of diuretics, thereby protecting us from dehydration.
However, if the dose of the diuretic is sufficiently increased, the kidneys will “give up” and begin to produce more urine. Yes, this will relieve swelling of the legs, but... at the same time it will cause dehydration of other organs. As a result, you will develop chronic weakness, lethargy, and fatigue. This happens because the tissues of the body that are most sensitive to lack of water are those of the nervous system. Such chronic dehydration is often mistakenly attributed to a non-existent neurological condition - “chronic fatigue syndrome”.
In second place in terms of sensitivity to lack of fluid are the kidneys themselves. The result of dehydration of the kidneys is the so-called chronic renal failure. Diabetes mellitus undoubtedly also “helps” this process, accelerating the development of this deficiency.
But Parkinson's disease, which you mentioned, really does not apply to diseases of the circulation. Here you, Anatoly, are almost right. “Almost” - because if the only manifestation of this disease you have are cramps or spasms of the legs, then you don’t have Parkinson’s, but you have one of the syndromes of impaired circulation of the muscles of the lower extremities!
But we will talk about this in one of the next issues of the newspaper...
To be continued
Lev Khitin, MD, FACS
Vascular & Endovascular Interventions of New York
IF YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM PAIN, CRAMPS, OR WEAKNESS IN YOUR LEGS, IF YOU
IT'S DIFFICULT TO STAND OR WALK IF YOU HAVE
FEET ARE TIRED, BURNING, NUMB OR COLD,
contact:
WE WILL HELP YOU!
Lev Khitin, MD, FAC S
Doctor of the highest category in the fields of cardiovascular, thoracic and general surgery. Member of the American Academy of Surgery, corresponding member of the American Association of Cardiac Surgeons, chairman of the Scientific Council of the American Academy of Vascular Medicine, founder and permanent president of the New York Institute for the Treatment of Vein Diseases.
Manhattan, 400 East 56th Street
Brooklyn, 8607 21st Avenue
(718) 372-8346
