When I consume fairly salty foods lately, my feet and ankles blow
up like balloons...to the point that my mom and housemates have
made unprompted comments about it.  So usually I try to keep my
salt intake way down (my {*filter*} pressure is low normal so other-
wise I wouldn't be hyperconcerned about this).

Last Wednesday, however, I consumed something with a LOT of salt,
and as usual my feet blew up (soup--needed to eat something and
that's all that my co-op had lying around ready to eat).  The
problem is that my feet have STAYED swollen since then...I'm        
writing this Monday evening.  They go up and down a little, but
have not gone back down to normal.

Does anyone know of a way to get them to go back down, like soak
them in something, is there something one could consume, etc.?
I would also like to know if this might be a symptom of a serious
or nonserious health problem, and, if so, possibilities.  It's
driving me up the wall...

Thanks, please either post or mail (preferred) to      

Your help is appreciated!

-Stephanie Wukovitz

Some things I *didn't* mention were (OK, it was late...sorry):    

     1. I've been diabetic for 20 years though I'm apparently in
        excellent health.
     2. Arthritis runs in the family.  My mom became mildly
        arthritic at age 24 (never has gotten much worse) and
          I am 24...my sed rate is always very hh.
     3. Mom's ankles swell very noticeably after salt and/or
        MSG, though they do not stay that way.

I wasn't planning to rely on a diagnosis from sci.med!  I just
thought it might be good to hear what people might think...that
it might possibly get the health center to see me faster if I
could truthfully suggest that something might really be wrong.
Also, if it was going to take a while for them to see me, I was
after a way to reduce the swelling without having to wait for
their advice...      

Well, I went there today and got seen within a few hours.  The
doctor asked me a bunch of questions about my {*filter*} sugar control
(generally pretty good) and urine color and various aches and
pains and so forth.  She doubts that it's kidney disease, but
she ordered a {*filter*} sugar check (good to do from time to time I
guess), urine test, sed rate (surprise, surprise), and a thyroid
test of some sort (one possibility I didn't expect).  

Ouch $$$$$ (insurance will eventually cover it but OUCH still).
At least I'll know within a few days what's going on.

Thanks!

-Stephanie