I'm curious as to how our experiences are similar or different. I haven't read much about the onset of symptoms-- when and how they developed.
For me, the swelling started when I was in college at the age of 19. In January/February, I noticed sometimes my left foot would hurt and my boot felt tight when I got up after sitting in class. By March, the pain got worse and my foot was constantly swollen around the ball of my foot and toes. I thought that I injured my foot, and went to a podiatrist and got an x-ray, they found nothing wrong (I realize now that the pain was just from wearing tight shoes on a swollen foot). After staying off my foot for a while, the pain went away but the swelling didn't. In April, I noticed that my right foot started to swell, too. I started seeing every kind of specialist doctor, all the tests came back negative. Pretty soon, the only shoes that fit on my feet were loose sandals. In June, I went to a music festival (camped outside for 4 days in heat and high humidity) and by the end of it, the swelling noticeably extended all the way up my legs and I could barely bend my knees. I went to the ER, they ran more tests and they all came back negative. Shortly after, another doctor misdiagnosed me with Lymphedema, but I never really believed it.. finally, after a little more a year I found Dr Check and was correctly diagnosed.
Of course, bregle! Interesting that you had tons going on too. Maybe we had the swelling & it was mild & the stresss threw it over the edge...Seems like there’s some correlstion. The whole consipation thing isnt something I recall having issues with hen I was young or even now. So interesting the similarities & differences!