Lymphedema/estrogen linkage?

Funny you should ask, mncheese! On another thread we've been talking about a possible link between lymphedema swelling and the 24-hour day/night cycle (circadian rhythm), so just yesterday I emailed Michael Bernas, a researcher at the University of Arizona to ask about it. Here's his answer, which mentions the monthly cycle (and unfortunately that there are as yet no studies that consider it):

"There is no information that I know of concerning the daily cycle. You will hear people speak about the effect of gravity and I think everyone would agree that over the course of a day, swelling does enlarge in areas that are more dependent (and conversely areas tend to somewhat improve at night when the body is fairly flat). There has also been some reports concerning the monthly cycle and how that influences ebbs and flows of swelling. Unfortunately, I don't think any of this is documented and I would bet that the individual variation would make a study extremely hard to do unless you had thousands of patients to overcome the individual differences. It may be interesting to ask your colleagues if the appearance of swelling changes, say, if they were outside in the humid summer all day or if they were sick and stayed in bed all day which may be more severe variations of their
routines." 

Yet another interesting area for future research to look at!

Welcome to bc.org! I'm sorry for the reasons you're here, but really glad you found us.

Be well,
Binney

Many women will retain fluid before their menses and my LE therapist cites it as a trigger (just like eating too much salt):

I'm peri, and on tamoxifen, and along with mega-PMS, a menstrual cycle makes my LE worse, it's just that the cycles aren't totally predictable, so when I get it, it all finally makes sense.

Makingway: I swelled up when I was pregnant, and couldn't wear my wedding rings, and the nurse in the delivery room asked if my husband and I were ever going to get married....Now, my LE is in my left hand and the rings are off again.

Kira 

This has crossed my mind but I didn't think to post about it.   A little about me -  I hadn't had a period in over 12 months after starting chemo in Dec 2008.  I started again last month.  Interestingly enough, about a week after my period completed, I started having pain on my surgery side - arm, underarm, breast and chest.  My LE therapist thinks there could be a link.  Hormones are crazy things!